Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post requests for information about people you've lost touch with, and would like to contact again.

Moderator: Moderators

kazpod
2nd Former
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:00 pm
Real Name: Karen Mordaunt

Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by kazpod »

Hello,

This is a bit of a long shot..

My Dad Joseph Mordaunt attended CH from 1936 - 1943 I believe. He was dismissed in 1943 for apparently
participating in making a bomb which damaged another boys hand.

He was in Maine B and his master was G.W. Newbury.
I received this information about him by a fellow student contacted via friends reunited, but am looking for
any further information I can gather about his life as he passed away in 1980 when I was 9 years old and without going
into my life story have few photos or information about him..My sister and I did contact the school but they did not have on record the reason for his removal!

Could anyone help me on the right path please. It would be great to have a picture of him, I know he lost some teeth
to rugby and was a keen sportsman, can anybody remember him???

Thanks
User avatar
gma
Grecian
Posts: 679
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:03 pm
Real Name: Geraldine Sutch (Lord Help me!)
Location: Berkshire

Re: Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by gma »

I really hope that someone has PM'd a response to this enquiry - I struggle to believe that with the knowledgable grandees on this forum that someone cannot point them in the right direction. I was very struck by the sense of loss that his posting evoked - how sad to wish to know and understand your parents and be unable to do so - is anyone helping? :(
Gerrie M-A (GMA) - 2:34 71-75

"If you cannot have what you want, then learn to want what you have"
Anon or The Guru or someone worthy like that.
Wasn't DR.
Definitely not.
User avatar
CHAZ
Grecian
Posts: 947
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2008 1:15 pm
Real Name: Charles Ian Forster
Location: FRANCE

Re: Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by CHAZ »

Nell the Notorious, Beany and JG Steele seem to have dates that would coincide..perhaps they might be able to throw some light?
Charles Forster
PeB 1978-1984
Angela Woodford
Button Grecian
Posts: 2880
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:55 am
Real Name: Angela Marsh
Location: Exiled Londoner, now in Staffordshire.

Re: Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by Angela Woodford »

An explosives technician and a fearless sportsman - sounds like quite a guy! I hope somebody has some memories?
"Baldrick, you wouldn't recognise a cunning plan if it painted itself purple, and danced naked on top of a harpsichord singing "Cunning plans are here again.""
User avatar
Mid A 15
Button Grecian
Posts: 3172
Joined: Thu May 19, 2005 1:38 pm
Real Name: Claude Rains
Location: The Patio Of England (Kent)

Re: Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by Mid A 15 »

If somebody has access to The Blue archives for 36-43 there maybe reference to his sporting activities as he was a sportsman or, if lucky, a snippet(s) in the house notes section.

I suspect that photos may be hard to come by because of wartime economies but one never knows...

I'm not sure who would have access to the archive though.
Ma A, Mid A 65 -72
User avatar
J.R.
Forum Moderator
Posts: 15835
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 4:53 pm
Real Name: John Rutley
Location: Dorking, Surrey

Re: Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by J.R. »

Mid A 15 wrote:If somebody has access to The Blue archives for 36-43 there maybe reference to his sporting activities as he was a sportsman or, if lucky, a snippet(s) in the house notes section.

I suspect that photos may be hard to come by because of wartime economies but one never knows...

I'm not sure who would have access to the archive though.
John H, our illustrious Ed. might know !
John Rutley. Prep B & Coleridge B. 1958-1963.
Foureyes
Grecian
Posts: 926
Joined: Mon Dec 25, 2006 11:26 am
Real Name: David
Location: England

Re: Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by Foureyes »

Kazpod,
Because I am working on something else I have a complete run of The Blue from mid-1939 to end 1949. That said, I very much regret that I cannot be of much help.

The first thing I can say with absolute certainty is that there is not a single photograph of any description in any of the issues.

Secondly, finding an individual name would be rather difficult. I have checked Maine B House Notes for 1943 and can see no reference to the departure of John Mordaunt. I have also looked through the House Notes for 1940-42, but whoever it was in Maine B wrote them clearly considered himself to be something of a humorist. As a result, his notes are full of what he thought to be funny references to mostly un-named people and are very thin on actual news or names of individuals. I am not saying that your father's name is not mentioned anywhere in The Blue - only that I have not found it.

The Housemaster's name was Newberry, Incidentally, not Newbury.

When you say you "wrote to the school" I presume that your contact there was the Counting House. I suggest that you write again, but this time address your letter to "The Museum". The Museum is now manned on at least one day per week by very active volunteers and while they will probably not be able to give you the reason for your father's departure, they should be able to find some Maine B pictures covering the period you are interested in.

Sorry I cannot be of greater help,

David
User avatar
J.R.
Forum Moderator
Posts: 15835
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 4:53 pm
Real Name: John Rutley
Location: Dorking, Surrey

Re: Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by J.R. »

Foureyes wrote:Kazpod,

The Housemaster's name was Newberry, Incidentally, not Newbury.David
Was he a 'fruit' perchance ???

:axe:
John Rutley. Prep B & Coleridge B. 1958-1963.
User avatar
englishangel
Forum Moderator
Posts: 6956
Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2005 12:22 pm
Real Name: Mary Faulkner (Vincett)
Location: Amersham, Buckinghamshire

Re: Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by englishangel »

If ever there was a pointless post, that's the one.
"If a man speaks, and there isn't a woman to hear him, is he still wrong?"
kazpod
2nd Former
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:00 pm
Real Name: Karen Mordaunt

Re: Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by kazpod »

Hello

Thank you all for your replies. Just for the record his full name was Gwilym Joseph Henry Mordaunt and he was born in 1927. I believe he was mostly known as Joseph but presumed with an unusual surname like Mordaunt he would be easier to find?

He never talked much about his school years to my mum and as far as I know was quite a character..he certainly had what sounded to me to be an unusual lifestyle. I think he had a hard upbringing, his dad died when he was 2 of the same condition he died from. Maybe it was Christ's that hardened him up - he was to most people a lovable rogue - all 6ft 4 of him.!

I will try and look into the other avenues suggested - but please in the meantime, if anybody knows anything or can suggest any other means of finding information, please let me know.

Thankyou.
Ajarn Philip
Button Grecian
Posts: 1902
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2007 7:30 pm
Real Name: AP

Re: Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by Ajarn Philip »

I saw this thread with interest, but didn't have anything useful to contribute. I'm not sure that I do now, other than a few words of encouragement.
gma wrote:I really hope that someone has PM'd a response to this enquiry - I struggle to believe that with the knowledgable grandees on this forum that someone cannot point them in the right direction. I was very struck by the sense of loss that his posting evoked - how sad to wish to know and understand your parents and be unable to do so - is anyone helping? :(
This post struck a chord with me, along with kazpod's original request.

My father was 55 when I was born and died when I was 18. We had a good relationship, but he had led a different life long before I was born. He was born in 1902 and was training to be an accountant when his father died quite young. Aged 18 he suddenly had to learn to become a master bootmaker. During those years including a previous family, he was also a semi-professional conjurer and member of the Magic Circle, as well as a singer and MC.

But I knew nothing of all that until after he died. His life changed completely during and after the War. Never having known any of my grandparents (all long gone by the time I arrived), in my 30s and 40s I became quite curious about my 'roots' and started to investigate my family history. Without going into all the details, probably of interest only to me, I have to say that I learned a lot about the background of both my parents, as well about the kind of life people led in the 19th century. It was fascinating stuff, and the amount of information available on the Internet is increasing year by year. By following old lines back into the present day, I also got in touch with a few 'cousins' (umpteen times removed) and came up with all kinds of information and photographs. Many libraries have startling photographic records, if you know roughly what to look for.

My own little quest stopped when things started to get tricky - I wasn't quite ready to start trekking around the UK looking at gravestones and old church records - but I have enough information that, with a little imagination and informed guessing, will make an interesting journal to pass on to my own children one day.

The very best of luck in your quest, kazpod.
User avatar
gma
Grecian
Posts: 679
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:03 pm
Real Name: Geraldine Sutch (Lord Help me!)
Location: Berkshire

Re: Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by gma »

Thank you for that Prof U - my Mum and Hon Stepfather are doing their respective family trees at the moment and have turned up a few real wierdies -

Firstly my Mum, who lives 'in sin', bless her, (for tax and pension reasons she claims but I think she just enjoys being wild in her old age), found out that one of my Hon Step-f's distant cousins is married to my live-ins previous step-father! (are you keeping up with this?) Then she found that her live-in has some cousins that he spent huge amounst of time with when he was evacuated from London during the war who now live about 1/4 mile from my house......

(Also have a great great great blah blah blah hung as a horse thief who's name was John Nagge!!)

So the moral of the story is, get onto the family history websites, Kazpod, you may find that your father is appearing on the peripheries of someone else's family tree research. Good luck and merry christmas to you.
Gerrie M-A (GMA) - 2:34 71-75

"If you cannot have what you want, then learn to want what you have"
Anon or The Guru or someone worthy like that.
Wasn't DR.
Definitely not.
kazpod
2nd Former
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:00 pm
Real Name: Karen Mordaunt

Re: Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by kazpod »

Hello,

I have already done the family tree bit. It revealed a whole new life about my dad (wont go into it here) just in case it
upsets anybody..
Hasten to add, it only revealed a lot more secrets and a whole lot of unanswered questions which will take a lot of unravelling.!! The problem is my mum, not in the best of physical or mental health has always been secretive about him, (we now know why!!) and unfortunately he was an only child and has his father died when he was 2, his mother died after him in 1987 and he only had one aunt, who didnt like my mum so had nothing to do with us!!
I just wanted some pictures more than anything, or if somebody had known him it would have been great to hear what they had to say about him.
To be honest, I am quite saddened by it all, the secrets, lies and disregard for somebody's life. Sorry..just venting my angst.
I think it is important to know our ancestry, I have just helped my partner, who was adopted at birth find his biological mum and dad and he feels he needed to do it, even if it didn't have a fairytale ending.
I will in the meantime plod on and see if anything comes up...
Thankyou all.
User avatar
NEILL THE NOTORIOUS
Button Grecian
Posts: 2612
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 10:01 pm
Real Name: NEILL PURDIE EVANS

Re: Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by NEILL THE NOTORIOUS »

I have only just noticed this Thread --- (Senility !) but -----
I was born in 1928, so we must have been at CH together, I was Ba B, so the "Right" end of the Avenue.

I regret to say, that I don't remember a Mordaunt --- BUT --I do remember a bit of a Gossip about a chap who had put together Carbon. Saltpetre, Sulphur, in the "Appropriate" quantities, and struck them with a hammer of some sort, in the Fives Courts !

He lost a finger----- would this incident be relevant ? "A bomb" seems extravagant, but ------- ?
sejintenej
Button Grecian
Posts: 4092
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 12:19 pm
Real Name: David Brown ColA '52-'61
Location: Essex

Re: Looking for Info on my Dad from 1930/40s

Post by sejintenej »

gma and Kazpod: please check your inward pms. The stuff might be a bit out of date by now
Post Reply