Walter George Sanders (1902-1971) and his sister Nancy (1907 - 1987)

An interview with their daughter Patricia Lindsell in 1963


Walter George Sanders was born on the 28th March 1902. He had an older brother William, born May 13th 1897, d. 1947 and a sister, Nancy born August 21st 1907 and a younger brother Albert born August 1st 1910.

Their father was a woodcarver by trade and spent a great deal of time working away from home, mostly in Birmingham, where he did mainly church work. His best remembered work is of a bust of Josiah Wedgewood, now in the Unitarian Chapel at Newcastle-under-Lyme and work in Deddington Church.

Their father was a very stern man, he never shouted at them but if he told them to do something they had to do it, he always meant what he said and if they disobeyed him they were beaten (boys). He tried to teach his sons woodcarving while they were still at school (Deddington), he made them practice for half an hour in the lunch hour and for an hour at night. Their mother’s discipline was more lenient, she would shout, but her bark was worse than her bite. Walter and Nancy both agree that their childhood was a happy one, but feel that this was so only because their father was away so much of the time. 
  
Walter started at Deddington School in 1907 as all the children started school when they were five years old.  There were two classes, the babies and the infants. At seven the children were transferred to the secondary school. The secondary school had six standards and the children were moved up each year unless they were backward and then they had to remain where they were for another year.

Not many children stayed at school to the fifth or sixth standard. The first thing that all the children did was to learn the alphabet and tables, up to twelve times. The syllabus provided for arithmetic, reading, scripture, history, geography and spelling, drill, sewing for the girls and drawing for the boys. The children used ink except the infants who wrote on a slate. The school day was from 9am to 4pm and was divided into half hour periods. They had one and a half hours for lunch as they had to go home as school meals were not provided.

During the First World War, all the male teachers left the profession for war work. This left mainly women teachers who were generally liked by the children, except the head teacher who Walter describes as ‘a vixen’. The punishment inflicted was the cane for the boys for serious offences. Lines for the boys and girls were given frequently. On one occasion Walter was sent to the head teacher’s husband, who was on leave from the army, for misbehavior; he thought he was for it this time, but surprisingly the man had little to say. Walter was head of the gardening group during the war. It was their war effort to provide as many vegetables as they could. The boys would dig a trench, and put manure into it and then fill it in.  Now, one day when they had dug the trench they decided to play soldiers. They made ammunition with the mud and water and bombarded each other with it. Unfortunately for them the head teacher came round the corner just when they were at the height of the attack, one of the balls hit her on the side of the head.  She was so angry that she sent every boy in except Walter who she made stay and clear up the mess thinking that it would be a punishment for him for not keeping better order. Walter saw to it that the work lasted all afternoon as it was a nice day and he was quite enjoying himself.

On another occasion a friend told Walter that he was not going back to school that day but was going to follow the hunt. Somehow the teacher found out and sent Walter and another boy to fetch the first boy back. Again crafty Walter saw to it that they did not find the boy too soon. The three of them had a wonderful afternoon following the hounds and they did not arrive back at school until near the end of lessons.

One of Nancy’s tasks in the winter time was to escort the head teacher to school to see that she did not slip over on the icy roads. Also in winter Walter would go and fetch a boy from a poor family to school. This boy had bleeding chilblains on his toes and could not walk, so Walter would carry him on his back all the way. Both Walter and Nancy made good attendances and received certificates for good conduct and scripture.  Walter received several books for good attendance, among them were “Black Beauty”, “Grimm’s Fairy Tales”, “Children of the New Forest” and “Young Buglers” presented during the year 1913-14.To cap it all Walter received the last silver watch that the Oxfordshire Education Committee presented for perfect attendance, the inscription on the watch reads “Oxfordshire Education Committee. Deddington School. January 1916. Presented to Walter George Sanders for good conduct and perfect attendance for five years”.

Nancy left school when she was fourteen and went as an apprentice dressmaker to an Oxford firm in Ship Street. She received five shillings a week and qualified after four years when her salary went up to twenty-five shillings a week. She stayed with the firm for eight years then she left to be married to Reginald Lambert.

Walter also left school at fourteen and was sent to Birmingham to work as an improver and wood carver. He stayed for two years and then left as he did not like the work. As their father was in the army he did not have much say in what they did for a living. When Walter left the woodcarving trade he and his brother, William, would to go around the different markets in the Birmingham area selling things. The first thing that they offered to the public was petrol lighter parts; later they made toy aeroplanes and sold those; and then they started to sell sweets. Walter carried the sweets in large bags and William carried the scales and bags. They went by train carrying their supplies, and renting a stall when they arrived. They did a very good trade.
When their father was demobbed from the army he decided to join the boys and also tried to take over the organisation. The boys did not like this but put up with it as one did not argue with a father such as theirs.  When the business had prospered sufficiently they bought a pony and trap to carry their supplies to markets and fairs. Unfortunately, the pony was very wild and each morning they had a job to catch him, and when they did catch him and got him between the shafts he would immediately bolt. This was not very good thought Walter and took the training of the pony onto his own shoulders. For some time they travelled around the fairs and markets selling sweets. They had side-lines as well, such as 'Bunty pulls the string', three pence a go, and 'Roll a penny'. But for some unknown or forgotten reason things were not going well and the boys had a disagreement with their father, who then decided to leave and find other employment. Walter and William decided to stop going to fairs and markets and to travel around the rural areas of Oxfordshire instead. It was difficult for people to get into the towns so they thought there must be an opening for them. By now they were about a hundred pounds in debt, so William thought that it would be best for him to leave and find other employment.

Walter, who had been the most determined of the three, said to his mother, "I am determined that we shall do well." He kept his word but for several years it was very hard going. The following is the earnings and expenditure for one of those early weeks:

Earnings ending 27 September 1922


 £
 s
 d
William
 2
  5 1/2
North
18
 10
Shop
 3
   0
   0
Tackly
19
   2
Steeple Aston
 2
   6
   6 1/2
Shop
 1
 13
 10
Total
 10
   1
 10 1/2
Expenditure week ending 27 February 1922
Writing paper

6
Oats
16
 6
Stamps

8
Moseley's
 5
 0
 0
Shoeing
6
 0
Hudson
13
 8
Vincent
 6
 3
 0 1/2
Leach
 3
 2
 6
Mother
 1
 10
 0
Walter
2
 0
Nancy
2
 0
Total
 18
 0
 1 1/2
This must have been a worrying time as a loss of £8 was an enormous sum in those days. But it shows Walter's determined character, indeed, also Nancy's and their mother's. Walter only allowed himself and his sister two shillings a week. Their mother's housekeeping was also reduced as she had received two pounds a week when her husband had been woodcarving. George says that they were not poor, two pounds a week was a good housekeeping allowance when one remembers that farm labours' wives were only receiving around ten shillings a week at this time.

Walter, Nancy and their mother made slow but sure progress over the next few years and then things began to get easier for them until today Walter has a very prosperous business.

Nancy's character was that of a hard worker, she never minds hard work and still has a job today although she is drawing an old age pension and her husband left her comfortably off. She is an extremely kind person and rarely has a bad word to say for anyone. She is socially inclined and enjoys an almost nightly drink in the local public house, in fact, it is almost her whole life now that he husband is dead and she has no family (children). She likes to meet her friends for a drink, a chat or a game of darts, she also likes to go to a whist drive. The most powerful of her characteristics is the thriftiness. She likes to 'make do and mend' all her clothes having first made them. She also knits everything. Very rarely has she bought new furniture for her house, and when she has it is invariably cheap, although she could have afforded better. She rarely 'treats' herself to a luxury and this is probably due to her early days as an apprentice when she probably found it hard to make ends meet. Lastly, Nancy is very polite and respectful to her 'betters' she knows 'her place'. She is an extremely nice person and very easy to get on with.

Walter shares many of Nancy's characteristics; he has been a very hard worker all of his life, working from early morning until late at night. Now, at sixty-seven, he works nearly as hard. This determination of character has earned him a very profitable business but it has sometimes been difficult for his family to always show the same determination. Sundays, for years, was a business day as he had a Sunday paper round covering twenty- two villages. Walter, like Nancy, is also a thrifty person; his policy throughout his business life has been to put any profits back into the business.

Walter is a stubborn man, also very dogmatic in his opinions He dislikes his routine to be altered such as watching television from seven o'clock when he closed the shop until bedtime. This annoyed his wife who could not tolerate so much television so she would often go into the dining room and plays the piano for her own enjoyment. His eating habits are most peculiar, he has few food likes but those he does have he wants almost every day. He insists on bacon and eggs for breakfast and has had them almost every day of his married life; he insists on a certain knife and fork for lunch and creates a fuss if they are not on the table; his lunchtime potatoes must be mashed and he must have apple and custard for dessert, he will condescend to custard and the juice of some other fruit if apples are not available; for tea he has a cup of tea and a slice of cake; and for supper invariable brawn; at weekend nothing will do for Sunday lunch but a joint of lamb. Walter even took his own tins of brawn to Germany because he did not think that he would like the German sausages - he was right.

It seems that Walter became 'head of the household' in his father's absence, from a very early age; even when his father returned from the army little is heard of him, and after William had left the business it was always Mother and Walter and how they ran the business together. This early responsibility must be the reason for his dogged determination to succeed, and the early fear that there was the possibility of failure has made him unable to relax. He was responsible, his authority was never questioned, and therefore he always thinks he is right. Despite some of his faults he is generally liked as he is so cheerful and jolly. One thing that is annoying and finally beats his opponent in an argument is the fact that as the argument progresses his voice gets louder until he is almost shouting. It is said that if one shouts loud enough a foreigner will understand. This is probably Walter's reason for shouting and he believes it works because his opponent will suddenly, to end the argument, begin to agree.

Nancy had the character of one who has been looked after all of her life; she is fairly submissive and aware of other people's opinions. This is probably the result of being the only girl and having three brothers. Her life has been smooth and uneventful and she has always looked to her husband for guidance.

Walter and Nancy are both law abiding citizens, they are aware of their position in society and I would think that they are typical of the age that they were born into.

©Patricia Rendell 1963