William John Bedford

William John Bedford (Born April 1919, died September 1999)

A short narrative by his granddaughter Jen.

During WW2 a young man called William John Bedford enlisted in the army.
Private W J Bedford service number 6459205. He enlisted with the Royal fusiliers who have their garrison at the Tower of London.
At some time during his service he transferred to The Royal Army Medical Corp. and was with 32nd RAMC at the fall of Singapore on the 15th February 1942.
The Queen Alexandra hospital came under heavy Japanese shelling. A Japanese soldier was sighted and a British soldier went out to meet him pointing at his red cross arm band recognised to protect military personnel during armed conflict. The Japanese soldier ignored this and shot at the soldier though he missed. Further information can be found here:- BBC WW2 peoples War
I cannot envisage what happened next but the survivors, about 200, were tied up and forced to march to buildings a fair distance from the hospital. Many were not spared on the journey.
These survivors were divided into three rooms with no ventilation or water, some died during the night.
11 am the following morning men were told to leave in groups of two on the pretext of getting water . As the screams and cries cold be heard it became clear that the Japanese were executing the prisoners when they left their room . Those that survived became Japanese prisoners of war.
Why Bill Bedford, as known after the war, was spared I do not know, he very rarely ever spoke of war, probably to protect his children and grand children . I know he bartered for his life. I know that he helped save Japanese lives to spare his own. The funny thing is, if you ever asked him, he would say it was never that bad.
How he got home I am not too sure as he is no longer with us and the army records have no proper record of him returning.
This is a small part of the history I have of a remarkable man that without him I would never be.
The war years were never good for the living or the ones that died.
He only met my nan because her mothers house was bombed when a lot of family were home on leave, and as his sister was dating one of my nans brothers. Many of who died when the bomb fell on my great grandmothers house - but that is another sad story of love and sadness
LEST WE FORGET those that died, those that endured , all that fought to give us hope. Let us show respect not just for one day but in how we live our lives everyday.

Retrieved from the War Office Records:

Tottenham Grammar School - Graham Bedford

Although I didn't shine academically at school, I will always be very grateful that I had the privilege of attending this school. 

In my opinion, Grammar schools should never been abandoned because as well as the high academic  standards, they also taught pupils the value of loyalty, honesty and self discipline. They also opened students eyes to a wider vision of the world and the opportunities that lay ahead.

This school had a four hundred year history, producing many notable characters over the years and yet within two decades of being made a comprehensive school it was closed down, demolished and turned into a housing estate! The following text is taken from Wikipedia.

 

Tottenham Grammar School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tottenham Grammar School
Established	1631
Closed	1988 (grammar in 1967)
Type	Voluntary aided grammar school, and later comprehensive
Founder	Sarah, Duchess of Somerset
Location	White Hart Lane Tottenham Middlesex (Greater London) N17 8HL England, UK
Local authority	Middlesex then Haringey
Gender	Boys
Ages	11–18
Houses	Somerset, Morley, Bruce and Howard
Fate	Became Somerset School in 1967 then closed in 1988
Website	TGS

Tottenham Grammar School (TGS) was a renowned grammar school in North London, with local football connections.

History

A Tottenham grammar school had existed for centuries. Its origins are unclear, possibly dating back to 1456 but in 1631 a legacy was left by Sarah, Duchess of Somerset to extend the existing school house and provide free education to poor children from Tottenham.

Tottenham Hotspur

In 1882, pupils from the school and from St John's Presbyterian School formed Hotspur F.C. at All Hallows' Church. The name came from the Hotspur Cricket Club, of which boys from the school were members. This football club subsequently became Tottenham Hotspur F.C..

Former building

In 1910, the old school was knocked down apart from the Masters House (later to be destroyed by bombs in World War II). The new building on Somerset Road, built by Middlesex County Council, was used as the school until 1937. The new building was opened by Algernon Seymour, 15th Duke of Somerset on 12 October 1910, and cost £10,327. The school had four houses - Somerset, Morley, Bruce and Howard.

In 1971 it became the Education Department of Haringey Council.

New building

On 26 February 1938 due to increased numbers at the school, a site was opened on Creighton Road near White Hart Lane by Middlesex County Council. It housed 450 boys. In the early part of the war, at the time of the Blitz, the boys were evacuated to Chelmsford, to be taught at King Edward's Grammar School in the afternoons.^[2] The boys lived around the village of Writtle, west of Chelmsford; some also went to Hatfield Peverel, specifically Hatfield Peverel Priory.

From 1941, once the Blitz had finished (10 May 1941). An Army Cadet Corps was formed, along with an Air Training Corps in 1942 - 1571 Squadron,^[3] now known as Aylward Squadron.^[4]

V2 explosion

On 15 March 1945, a V-2 rocket landed on the corner of White Hart Lane and Queen Street, killing two fourth-year boys, with another losing his right arm.^[1][5][6]

New buildings

In 1960 new buildings opened for the sixth form and laboratories. By this time the school had 700 boys.

Comprehensive

In 1967 the school merged with the Rowland Hill Secondary Modern School in Lordship Lane, which was named after Sir Arthur Rowland Hill and had opened in 1938, to form the Somerset School, a voluntary-controlled boys' comprehensive school. The school's houses were now Baxter, Coleraine, Drayton and Hill.

Due to falling numbers this school closed in 1988, by which time it was situated on one site on White Hart Lane. The Lower School was demolished to become a housing estate on Somerset Close. The Upper School was demolished in 1989, becoming a housing estate on Somerset Gardens, and a site for Middlesex University - halls of residence for the Tottenham Campus, which closed in 2005 (the former St Katharine's College teacher training college).

Foundation

The sale of the school provided £9.1 million, which was used to set up a charitable foundation, the Tottenham Grammar School Foundation.

Notable former pupils

• Martin Benson (actor)
• Prof James A. Beckford
• Sir Patrick Bishop, Conservative MP from 1950-64 for Harrow Central
• David V. Day, British theologian, teacher, and former Principal of St John's College, Durham
• Eric Deakins, Labour MP from 1970-4 for Walthamstow West, and from 1974-87 for Walthamstow
• Sir Archibald Forster, Chairman and Chief Executive from 1983-93 of Esso UK, Manager from 1964-9 of the Fawley Refinery, and President from 1985-6 of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, and from 1988-90 of the Institute of Petroleum
• Ralph Harris, Baron Harris of High Cross, Head from 1957-88 of the Institute of Economic Affairs
• Prof William James, Professor of Botany from 1959-67 at Imperial College London
• Gary Lefley, general secretary for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
• Adrian Love, radio DJ
• Dr Geoff Manning CBE, physicist, and Director from 1979-86 of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
• John Mastel CVO CBE, police officer
• Sir Alec Merrison, physicist and Vice-Chancellor from 1969-84 of the University of Bristol
• Mick Newmarch, Chief Executive from 1990-5 of Prudential Corporation plc
• Laurence Payne, actor known for Sexton Blake (TV series)
• Roy Perry, Conservative MEP from 1999-2004 for South East England, and father of Caroline Nokes
• Sir Leslie Plummer, Labour MP from 1951-63 for Deptford
• Arthur Blaikie Purvis, Canadian industrialist and war purchasing agent
• Geoffrey Roe, Director-General from 1991-5 of Defence Contracts at the MoD
• Sir Owen Williams, civil engineer who designed the first section of the M1
• Mike Winters, comedian (Mike & Bernie Winters)
• Anthony Bailey, Channel Swimmer, Swam the English Channel using Breaststroke on September 7th 2014 in 25hrs 56min. The 11th person to complete this swim using this stroke since Captain Matthew Webb in 1875. There were 2 previous attempts in 2007 and 2012.

Dad at Gestetners - Manufacturers of Duplicators

After his time as a milkman Dad had several years of ill health which was put down to damage to his stomach when  held as a Prisoner of War. Needless to say he found it difficult to hold down a steady job. However, as his health improved he managed to get office based work at Gestetners, the duplicating machine manufactures ( further down see a youtube video of a typical machine of the 1950's)
Although we may smile at the antiquity of the machine, in those days it was cutting edge technology!!
I'm not sure exactly how long Dad worked for Gestetners but it was over 10 years, as can be seen by the photo below.

 

Jen has the actual book for safekeeping

 

 

Mum & Dad enjoying a dance at a Gestetners' Party

Below is a link to Youtube:

A typical 1950's Gestetner machine! 

Gestetner's in Broad lane, Tottenham were once one of the largest employers in the Tottenham area and was world famous for the manufacture of the stencil duplicator.  The company opened in Tottenham in 1906 having first been established at premises in Cross Street, Islington, London.  At their height as a business in the 1950's and 60's the company employed in excess of six thousand people from the local area and were widely recognised as being one of the finest companies to work for. At the time most people knew of either family, friends or neighbours who worked for Gestetner's such was their reputation as an excellent employer.

The company was founded by David Gestetner who was born in Hungary in 1854. As a very young man he worked at the stock-market in Vienna where he was employed to make copies of the day's activities by repeatedly handwriting the results. He decided there had to be an easier way and, as a result of his efforts to try and find a better method, his experiments led him to invent the use of a stencil to reproduce multiple copies of documents. His innovation in office copying machinery changed the landscape of the business and finance industries effectively heralding the beginning of the modern office and the demise of the City clerk, whose main function was to copy documents by hand.	THE PLAQUE AT 124 HIGHBURY NEW PARK, ISLINGTON  THE HOME OF DAVID GESTETNER FOR 42 YEARS
David Gestetner moved to London and in 1881 established the Gestetner Cyclograph Company to produce stencils, stylos and ink rollers. To protect his invention he took out many patents and he was also to invent other notable devices such as the nail-clipper and the ball-point pen although the latter is generally credited to his fellow Hungarian Laszlo Biro. David Gestetner had been born into a Jewish family and remained devout throughout his life. He had married his wife Sophie, nee Lazarus, and they were to have seven children of whom his only son Sigmund Gestetner succeeded him on his death in March 1939.  David Gestetner died whilst on holiday at the Hotel Ruhl in Nice on the 8th March 1939 and he is also buried in Nice.	DAVID GESTETNER -  OUTSIDE HIS HOME IN ISLINGTON C1906