Ethel Usher (nee Jackson) Account of John Edward Usher
The family lived in the Old Manor House on Boulby Bank, Whitby. He had 9 Brothers and sisters and probably there had been more deceased. He attended the Board School on Church Street, where often he played truant. When he went to school the teacher would greet him with “Good Morning Lord John. Are you going gracing us with your presence today?”
He had an Aunt who would defend him at school when he got into trouble ie when he spent his school fees she would make it up for him or go to the school to give him excuses.
He would go swimming in the harbour in the summer and if they saw the kid catcher coming they would dive in off the bridge. He preferred days in the country and knew all the plants by local names and knew where to find frogs, newts and other things.
His brother Robert was his closest friend. Once they had been banished to the bedroom for misbehaving, they climbed down the tree outside the bedroom, then one knocked on the front door and while their mother answered it, the other slipped into the kitchen and stole a rabbit pie out of the oven. They disappeared with the pie, for the day giving their mother time to cool down. Their mother used to chase them with the broom.
Belonging to such a large family there were always many of them around, especially as many of his brothers and sister were married and had families. His father died when he was 9 years old, and to help his mother, he worked as a delivery boy for a farmer delivering milk with a horse and cart. After school he was an errand boy at Tylers Shoe Shop.
At 13 Years old he left school to go to sea, as his mother could not afford to keep him at home. He was apprentice to Thomas Smailes, a local shipping company – joining a ship 2nd June 1913. He was aboard a ship in the Mediterranean when war broke out in 1914, (16 years old) meeting with many actions.
During his many years in the merchant service he saw most of the world. He was in the Far East many times and experienced an earthquake and his ship was washed on to the shore by a tidal wave.
While on shore leave he met Ethel Jackson, who was visiting his home with a niece Martha. The first words she heard him say was “Martha where’s my socks?” They were married in 1928.
He served in the merchant navy for many years. Between the wars he had some time at home working at various things but never really enjoyed it.
When the Second World War began in 1939 he immediately went to volunteer but was turned down, as he was 41 years old, so he joined the local fire service, but found it boring as there wasn’t enough action. Later on seeing a notice in Hornes Printers window asking for a minesweeper crew, he joined up immediately.
He saw a lot of action. He was stationed at Lowestoft where he was commended in the event of bringing down 13 German planes and helping to explode a mine. He was serving as Chief Petty Officer on the Strathgarry. He successfully amputated the leg of one of the crew and was mentioned in dispatches on 6th July 1943 and got the Oak Leaf signed by A.V. Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty. He was peppered with shrapnel and later admitted to Cardiff Hospital with cordite poisoning and almost lost his sight.
Later he was stationed at a training school at Lowestoft where he taught navigation until the end of the war and was given a skippers ticket for taking any vessel in coastal waters. His eyes were a weakness though.
The sea was his life and he never really settled to anything on shore. He spent some time on hoppers (tugs) on the Tees and same on Whitby dredger and other things.
He was away so much he did not have an easy relationship with his family and was not an easy man to live with when he retired.
When he was a young man he helped to keep his mothers home going until she died. The family home was lived in again, by the family when aunt Martha Cox moved into it again. It sold not long before she died.
John died October 17th 1974 aged 76 years.