Children of Reuben Alexander and Ruth Elizabeth Beck

Alec, my eldest brother, had an unpleasant accident. He had made a makeshift tent on the Lines, the field opposite our house. A blanket was hung over the railings & fastened to the ground with stones, or housebricks. Alec was in the tent with his head forming a bulge in the blanket when a boy passed, picked up one of the bricks & banged it against the bulge! Alec suffered a nasty gash on the head—probably needed a stitch or two, but I don't remember any further details.

I don't know whether you knew my eldest brother had spent three months in Wormwood Scrubs, you probably didn't know that.

He was a solicitor's clerk, and he was quite independent-minded, my eldest brother, and he got involved in playing billiards at a Burton's club. Well he used to play billiards very often there, during his lunch breaks—because it wasn't far from his solicitor's office—and it wasn't long before he started betting on the games, and then it started to betting on horses, because billiard rooms are always a place where there would be a bookmaker's runner, or somebody willing to take bets, run off to the bookmaker to make a bet. He got involved with gambling, and of course as always it's a question of robbing Peter to pay Paul, and, working in a solicitor's office, solicitor's clerks are often trusted with quite large sums of money, to pay into the bank, and they weren't very adequately supervised. He learned that it was very easy for him to use some of that money to pay his betting debts, or he would use the money to place it on a certain winner, that he thought it was going to rescue him from all his debts. Of course, when it came to the office asking him where the money was, then he was in difficulties, and he had to borrow from another later account. Of course this went on for quite some time, until—unbeknown to our parents—he landed himself into difficulties; and he was eventually caught and sacked from his solicitor's office. He had to serve three months in Wormwood Scrubs. I was employed at this time, in the Civil Service—but I know this caused a great deal of worry and trouble to my parents, and aged them quite a lot. In those days, of course, the newspapers published very detailed accounts of all cases like this, so his name, and my parents' names, was sort of headline news in the local paper. There were reams, you know, columns and columns of evidence about it. So that was an unhappy period for them.

I remember going and meeting my brother when he came out of Wormwood Scrubs—my mother put me up to it, I mean she wanted him to come home and settle down again, and she didn't like the idea of him coming out of Wormwood Scrubs and then perhaps not wishing to face coming home. So I went and met him outside Wormwood Scrubs, and accompanied him home on the train—we didn't talk about it . . .

Well in fact he never got employment again as a solicitor's clerk; he got employment as a clerk in the electricity office, working for the local electricity department, and he went straight at that.

SOLICITOR'S CLERK SENTENCED.

At Chatham on Wednesday Alexander William Beck, aged 23, of Stafford St, Gillingham, Kent, a solicitor's clerk, was sentenced to three months imprisonment in the second division on four charges of embezzling sums amounting to £205 from his employer, Mr. Kenneth Redfern, of Gillingham. Beck said he was married, with two children, had had a long struggle owing to illness, and had taken to betting.

Went to Chatham Police Court to hear the case in which my eldest brother Alec was accused of obtaining money under false pretences from the Gillingham Corporation Tontine. He was acquitted of all four charges.

He did get into difficulties later on, because he became the treasurer of one of these Christmas clubs—a friendly society—well it was not only Christmas club, but it was a self-help club where you could have paid in so much a week, and if you were wanting a temporary loan you could borrow from the fund, so long as you paid it back within a certain period. My brother, unwisely, took on this job of handling this money. We didn't know about it of course—he was married, and quite his own boss. We didn't know about it until, again, he was accused by the club of embezzling some of the funds. But he disputed it, and claimed that he was being framed by his accusers, people who'd borrowed money from him and weren't acknowledging their debts, were refusing to pay him back the money they'd borrowed. Again this went to another court case—his name was splashed all over the paper, much to my parents' distress.

Well he was found not guilty—or not proven, really, it would amount to. He was not guilty—he did defend himself successfully. But I was never happy in my own mind that—he was partly to blame for what had gone wrong; I didn't think he was completely the innocent victim.

I have not had a good winter, although have managed to keep going. I seem to nearly get something or other, & that seems to be worse than actually having anything wrong. I was 50 last birthday, perhaps that is the reason, but there are times when I feel 70. My left eye bothers me at times, & I have to report to the Eye Hospital at the end of this month.

He got ill while Aunt Mary was in hospital after a cancer operation, she went back early to be with him (to their daughter's) & he died soon after, in the night, heart trouble (apparently never diagnosed by the doctors though had suspected it ages ago). He had not been really fit for 2 or 3 years.

"Percy I remember was very quick at adding sums, tots, & was always being commended."

I visited my brother, Percy, on Sunday and found him a sad sight. His recovery from his stroke is taking longer than I expected and his right eye and ear are not functioning properly, indicating he has some brain damage which might, or might not, be permanent.

My brother, Percy, is still in hospital I'm afraid, although my brother Bill, who had been to see Percy before Xmas, found him much improved and possibly fit enough to live at home, if Eileen had been able to look after him. But she is not well, and not a good nursing person, so Percy is probably better off in the hospital.

I know you would have liked to have gone to Percy's funeral and to meet members of the family, but it is not easy to drop everything & your interview was important. You may be glad you did not go when I tell you the funeral service was conducted by the Jehovah Witnesses! Eileen had found them helpful in the past but had cut herself off from them some months ago, but they offered their services and she was glad of their help at short notice in providing refreshments etc for the family mourners. My brother & sister, Bill & Gladys, were unhappy with the arrangements and tried to change them to a more Church of England service, but Eileen was too weak to insist on last minute changes. I was glad I had an excuse not to be there!

. . . "had a very nice voice—still has, quite a nice voice" . . .

. . . he had the unpleasant experience of having pepper stuffed up his nose & in his mouth by an older boy who lived a few houses away from us. Bill had been trapped by the boy in the alleyway which joined the back gardens of the houses in Marlborough Rd & College Ave. I think I heard about it when I came home & perhaps Dad spoke to the boy's parents as there was no repetition or further trouble.

. . . had been presented to the King & Queen at Portsmouth on Thursday & had to tell them of his recent experiences in France &c. He said they talked to him for 8 minutes. The Queen soon put him at ease.

Daphne Bill & Johnnie (aged 6) arrived from Gillingham about 5.0 p.m. They couldn't come earlier because of their dog which had to be left with a neighbour. Bill entertained us in the evening with some tales of Malaya & his adventures by submarine & canoe & in the Jungle. He told us how, once while waiting for deer in the jungle, a leopard sprang at him while he was squatting against a tree. The leopard hit the tree & fell on to Bill's back knocking his rifle into the ground & jamming in the "cut-out". Bill recovered quickly & hit the leopard with the butt of the rifle which forced the "cut-out" out again. Before the leopard could spring again Bill had managed to cock his rifle & killed it instantly.

I suppose a brother is not expected to say anything very wise about his sister. I can say this however that you see me looking very well & healthy to-day which is in part a tribute to her cooking. I would also like to say that for kindness, consideration & attention from a sister her brothers could not have wished for a better. One thing too, in which Bill is fortunate. She certainly knows how to deal with men, having had 5 rather difficult men to rule. I feel sure then that they will be a well-matched couple.

. . . my younger brother, Edgar, when he was in the Navy in home waters, at one stage I think his boat called at Newcastle, I think my parents must have given them Aunt Elsie's address, and he had called on them, and made one or two visits to them. I don't know whether it was on one of those visits or not, but at one stage he did a cycle tour from their house, I think—went off cycling to the Lake District, and back.

The Laforey was a destroyer of 2,000 tons, armed with six 4.7-inch twin dual-purpose guns in three closed-in turrets. She also had ten torpedo tubes in two sets of five. Her speed was thirty-five knots. Whe was one of the most successful of all our destroyers and one of the largest.

Between 30th January and 21st February, Laforey spent fourteen days off Anzio, providing bombardment support for the Army ashore and anti-aircraft protection to the ships in the anchorage. By night we patrolled to seaward to protect the anchorage from attacks, particularly by E-boats. It was an arduous time, spent very largely closed up at our action-stations; there were constant alerts and frequent spells of bitter weather. We made two short trips to Naples to take in more ammunition, stores and fuel, and after each of these we had very pleasant "let-ups"; the first of these was a two-day visit to Torre delle Annunziata, the second was two days at the world-famous island of Capri. On 21st February we returned to Naples from Anzio once more and again had two days' relaxation, this time at Sorrento, after which we went back to Naples.

The search lasted until 30 March, when after sustaining several hours of depth charge attacks, U-223 surfaced, and was then attacked by the destroyers with gunfire at a range of 1,500 yards (1,400 m). U-223 was able to fire three torpedoes which struck Laforey. She sank quickly, resulting in the loss of most of her company, including her captain. There were only 65 survivors out of the 247 on board. One survivor was Petty Officer Ronald Sired, who gives an account of life on board and the sinking in Enemy Engaged, published in 1957. U-223 was sunk soon afterwards, and the survivors from Laforey and U-223 were picked up by Blencathra, Hambledon and Tumult.

Captain Armstrong, for reasons best known to himself decided not to sound off full action stations. The crew were therefore at defence stations, only half the armament manned and many men were asleep in the mess-decks. With hindsight, one can say that many of the 179 men who lost their lives, would have been saved, had they been closed up at action stations.

I visited Gillingham to see the unveiling of the extension to the Chatham War Memorial by Duke of Edinburgh. Took a photo of the panel with Edgar's name on it.