It was a Teenage Wedding and ... John and Val Harris May 2017
One of the charming group photographs taken on John and Val's wedding day showing: Audrey Moules, Jimmy Wareham behind Pat Alderman (child), John and Val, Alec Smith, Sandra Hillier, Margaret Harris (All photographs including this courtesy John and Val).
The words of Chuck Berry's 1964 hit You Never Can Tell could almost have been written for John and Val Harris: It was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well. They married when Val was 16 and the old folk who attended the wedding were some of the most respected people in Box in the twentieth century.
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Harris Family Kenneth John Harris was born in Lullington, Frome in 1933. His family weren't originally from Box but they were old folks in the sense that John's grandfather and father, George and Ernest James, were agricultural labourers employed in the old-fashioned work of annual farm labouring contracts. As a child John lived in a variety of houses in Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire, including Lullington, Standerwick, Newbarn, Norton St Phillip, Sterton, Biddestone and Corsham, before coming to 109 Southlands, Boxfields, in 1945. |
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Above Right: John's Grandfather George Harris, wife Edith and children at Gasper, Zeals, near Stourhead.
Below: The Harris family at Boxfields. Back row: father Ernest James, sister Vera, and John; Front row: sister Margaret, mother Dulcie Maude in 1955-56.
Below: The Harris family at Boxfields. Back row: father Ernest James, sister Vera, and John; Front row: sister Margaret, mother Dulcie Maude in 1955-56.
It was a poor start to anyone's education; John went to many different schools, including Corsham Council School until aged 16.
In 1949 he took an apprenticeship with the building firm of RJ Dyer in Box where he attended further education at Bath Day School one day every week. The extra schooling paid off and he completed a five-year apprenticeship in four years. He left
RJ Dyer part-way through his apprenticeship and joined Hulbert & Light, Chippenham.
National Service
This part of John's life came to an abrupt end when in August 1954 he was called up to complete two years National Service. This was compulsory military service for young men aged 17 to 21 which existed in Britain between 1948 and 1960. As well as giving a military training, the National Service regime also provided a rites of passage experience not unlike modern university.
John spent most of his time in West Germany at a time when the Cold War was expanding with the Suez Crisis and the Sinai War in Israel, albeit that the Korean War had just ended. Much of Corporal Harris' time was at the British garrison in Osnabruck, Saxony, the largest British garrison in the world at that time and part of the British Army of the Rhine, responsible for defending Western Germany against potential Soviet invasion. It was also a chance to see more of the world and to mature, but it could have been very different with a Third World War.
In 1949 he took an apprenticeship with the building firm of RJ Dyer in Box where he attended further education at Bath Day School one day every week. The extra schooling paid off and he completed a five-year apprenticeship in four years. He left
RJ Dyer part-way through his apprenticeship and joined Hulbert & Light, Chippenham.
National Service
This part of John's life came to an abrupt end when in August 1954 he was called up to complete two years National Service. This was compulsory military service for young men aged 17 to 21 which existed in Britain between 1948 and 1960. As well as giving a military training, the National Service regime also provided a rites of passage experience not unlike modern university.
John spent most of his time in West Germany at a time when the Cold War was expanding with the Suez Crisis and the Sinai War in Israel, albeit that the Korean War had just ended. Much of Corporal Harris' time was at the British garrison in Osnabruck, Saxony, the largest British garrison in the world at that time and part of the British Army of the Rhine, responsible for defending Western Germany against potential Soviet invasion. It was also a chance to see more of the world and to mature, but it could have been very different with a Third World War.
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Above: Learning military skills in the event of a Russian invasion and
Below: Experiencing the world, sport and comradeship, including visit to honour graves at Belsen, Nazi concentration camp.
Below: Experiencing the world, sport and comradeship, including visit to honour graves at Belsen, Nazi concentration camp.
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After National Service John returned to Box, married Val and set up a firm of local builders. He built many of the new houses in the village in the 1960s and 1970s, at Ashley with White Smocks and Rustings; infill sites in the Ley and extensions to houses throughout Box. The village would be a very different place today without his efforts.
Because he married a local girl, Val Smith, John was immediately accepted as a local resident and became a Boxonian. Of course Val came from traditional Box ancestry.
Val's Parents
Val's family reads like a Who's Who of notable Box Methodist families. She is related to almost all the people who feature in the twentieth century history of the village: the families Greenman, Bow, Tiley, Moules and others.
Valerie's father was George Alexander (known as Alec) Smith, Box Station signalman from Kington Langley, Chippenham, who married Miss Emiline Dora (known as Dora) Greenman, daughter of the late John Greenman and Annie Bow. It was called a Silver Horseshoe wedding, a good-luck gift presented by Janet Tiley to her aunt Dora.[1]
Because he married a local girl, Val Smith, John was immediately accepted as a local resident and became a Boxonian. Of course Val came from traditional Box ancestry.
Val's Parents
Val's family reads like a Who's Who of notable Box Methodist families. She is related to almost all the people who feature in the twentieth century history of the village: the families Greenman, Bow, Tiley, Moules and others.
Valerie's father was George Alexander (known as Alec) Smith, Box Station signalman from Kington Langley, Chippenham, who married Miss Emiline Dora (known as Dora) Greenman, daughter of the late John Greenman and Annie Bow. It was called a Silver Horseshoe wedding, a good-luck gift presented by Janet Tiley to her aunt Dora.[1]
Val flanked by Alec and Dora
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Dora Smith (nee Greenman)
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Dora worked for the bakers Cobb & Co, of Lansdown View, Bath, and they made the wedding cake and presented her with an eight-day chiming clock on her marriage. It was real family occasion, Dora given away by her step-father Edwin Bow and the occasion enhanced by the bride's bouquet being later laid on the grave of her father and that of the maid of honour, her sister
Mrs Nellie Moules, being placed on the grave of Mrs Annie Bow.
Mrs Nellie Moules, being placed on the grave of Mrs Annie Bow.
Edwin Bow was a remarkable man, for many years a signalman on the Great Western Railway, for fifty years the driving force at the Box Methodist Church, organist, preacher and secretary. His house, Claremont, 5 Valens Terrace, was at times home to various members of the family. In September 1939 living there were Edwin himself and Alec Smith and with his newly-wed wife Dora, Val's mother.
On the outbreak of war in 1939 Val's father, Alec Smith, was described a Journeyman Upholsterer and House Fitter. He was a very responsible person, joined the Home Guard in the war and became a special policeman afterwards. He later joined the Great Western Railway and, as many Box villagers remember, was an umpire for Box Cricket Club and refereed for Box Rovers.
On the outbreak of war in 1939 Val's father, Alec Smith, was described a Journeyman Upholsterer and House Fitter. He was a very responsible person, joined the Home Guard in the war and became a special policeman afterwards. He later joined the Great Western Railway and, as many Box villagers remember, was an umpire for Box Cricket Club and refereed for Box Rovers.
Back Row: Graham Moules, bride & groom Peter & Audrey (nee Moules) Jones.
Front Bert Moules, Annie Bow, Nellie Moules, and Ada Major, Alec Smith's mother.
Val remembers her childhood at Valens Terrace where several servicemen were billeted during the war, including Sandra Hillier. Sandra and her parents lived with the Smith family at Valens Terrace. Her father Ken was stationed at Corsham and her mother Dorothy worked in the factory of Murray and Baldwin (now Dodd's factory) in the Market Place, Box. When Sandra was three the Hillier family moved to Germany with the Royal Air Force.
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John and Val started by writing to each other while John was undertaking his National Service in the Army after 1954. Their courtship survived John's military service and the lack of privacy which existed throughout the 1950s when older generations were keen to impose stability on society after the disruptions of wartime. It gave some interesting views of Box captured in primitive Brownie cameras, including the backdrop of Boxfields seen right where much of their courtship was conducted in full parental view in the early 1950s. |
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Married Life
As teenagers John and Val enjoyed the entertainment on offer at the Bingham Hall. They had their first dance together there and their courtship in the hall included barn dances and cinema. They married on 29 October 1956, when Val was sixteen. The couple are seen below left on their Wedding Day with Dorothy Hiller, Sandra's mother, behind John.
Later they had the chance to buy the wooden hall but, at a price of £400 with no planning permission, they declined and
Norman Neale bought it and re-sold it as a building plot. Instead they bought 1 Valens Terrace (immediately below) in 1960, which Mrs Sawyer owned until her death in 1956 after which it was rented out. They were a few doors up from Val's mother at
number 5, seen bottom right.
As teenagers John and Val enjoyed the entertainment on offer at the Bingham Hall. They had their first dance together there and their courtship in the hall included barn dances and cinema. They married on 29 October 1956, when Val was sixteen. The couple are seen below left on their Wedding Day with Dorothy Hiller, Sandra's mother, behind John.
Later they had the chance to buy the wooden hall but, at a price of £400 with no planning permission, they declined and
Norman Neale bought it and re-sold it as a building plot. Instead they bought 1 Valens Terrace (immediately below) in 1960, which Mrs Sawyer owned until her death in 1956 after which it was rented out. They were a few doors up from Val's mother at
number 5, seen bottom right.
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Now after over 60 years of marriage, John and Val can look back on their lives with great satisfaction. In different ways they have left their marks in Box both in the buildings and the families of the village.
And looking back on those years, as Chuck Berry said, "C'est la vie, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell."
And looking back on those years, as Chuck Berry said, "C'est la vie, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell."
Family Trees
Harris Family
Grandparents: George and Edith Harris
Parents: Ernest James and Dulcie Maude Harris. Children:
John (b 1933); Vera; Margaret (b 1942)
Smith Family
Maternal Family
Grandparents: Herbert Harry James and Annie Greenman.
Their children include:
Arthur John (b 1908);
Margaret Lucy (b 1910);
Ellen (known as Nellie) who married Bert Moules in 1936; and
Emiline Dora (known as Dora) Greenman (born 29 October 1915 at Henley and died 5 January 2000) who married George Alexander (known as Alec) Smith (Val's parents).
Step Family
After John Greenman's death, Annie married Edwin Bow (b 24 September 1862 and d February 1941) in autumn 1924.
Val's step-siblings include:
Hilda (b 1898);
Ivy who married Mr Baker and moved to Nailsea;
Edwin who lived in Westbury;
Queenie, who married Mr Hopkins and moved to Bristol;
Olive (b 1899) who married Mr Johns and moved to Barry;
Bessie (b 1901);
Eva (b 1903)
Leonard John Bow (b 1910) who served in Royal Army Ordnance Corps.
Paternal Family
Grandparents: Ada and Mr Major
Parents: Father George Alexander (known as Alec) Smith, Box Station signalman, was born on 26 June 1912 at Kington Langley, Chippenham, and died on 5 August 1991. He married Val's mother, Dora Greenman.
Children include: Valerie A Smith (b 1940)
Harris Family
Grandparents: George and Edith Harris
Parents: Ernest James and Dulcie Maude Harris. Children:
John (b 1933); Vera; Margaret (b 1942)
Smith Family
Maternal Family
Grandparents: Herbert Harry James and Annie Greenman.
Their children include:
Arthur John (b 1908);
Margaret Lucy (b 1910);
Ellen (known as Nellie) who married Bert Moules in 1936; and
Emiline Dora (known as Dora) Greenman (born 29 October 1915 at Henley and died 5 January 2000) who married George Alexander (known as Alec) Smith (Val's parents).
Step Family
After John Greenman's death, Annie married Edwin Bow (b 24 September 1862 and d February 1941) in autumn 1924.
Val's step-siblings include:
Hilda (b 1898);
Ivy who married Mr Baker and moved to Nailsea;
Edwin who lived in Westbury;
Queenie, who married Mr Hopkins and moved to Bristol;
Olive (b 1899) who married Mr Johns and moved to Barry;
Bessie (b 1901);
Eva (b 1903)
Leonard John Bow (b 1910) who served in Royal Army Ordnance Corps.
Paternal Family
Grandparents: Ada and Mr Major
Parents: Father George Alexander (known as Alec) Smith, Box Station signalman, was born on 26 June 1912 at Kington Langley, Chippenham, and died on 5 August 1991. He married Val's mother, Dora Greenman.
Children include: Valerie A Smith (b 1940)
Reference
[1] Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald, 15 July 1939 and The Wiltshire Times, 15 July 1939
[1] Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald, 15 July 1939 and The Wiltshire Times, 15 July 1939