My last post referred to the possible link between Cardinal David Beaton and the Beeton family. The link with my family is from the marriage of Annie Beeton to Bernard Silver, my daughters grandparents. Whilst in New Zealand with my daughter and her family I managed to publish a small book recording the recollections of Bernard Silver of his experiences in India throughout two World Wars. I or Louise will send the book to any family member who might like a copy, perhaps in return for a contribution to the printing and postage costs. Here is the preface from the book:
I did not know my father in law as he had died long before I met and married his daughter Janet. But I often heard of him and was fascinated by the notebook in which he recorded his thoughts and observations about his service in India in two world wars. Janet transcribed the entire notebook and this book is the result of scanning her transcribed version. The following title page and introduction are as written by Janet. This version does not include the detailed page numbering and referencing but we have carefully preserved Janet’s original work.
Janet passed away in September 2007 and her daughter Louise was assisted greatly in all that needed to be done by her cousin Graham Caulfield, also a grandchild of Bernard Silver. The photographs and other information used to produce this book were amongst Janet’s possessions that Louise took back to New Zealand where she lives with husband Mark and her two daughters Abigail and Frances, Bernard’s great grandchildren. Bernard Silver’s legacy is in the many lives he has touched and particularly his 3 children, 6 grandchildren and at last count10 great grandchildren. This book is written for them and their families.
Bernard Silver completed his service with the Reading University College Contingent of the Officer Training Corps in May 1912 when he was awarded the Senior Division ‘Certificate B’ (shown aside) entitling him to “the privileges conferred on the holders of this certificate as set forth in the regulations concerned”. The photograph reproduced later shows that on the onset of the Great War those privileges may have included the granting of Senior NCO status whilst awaiting commissioning into the regular army. Bernard Silver was commissioned into the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers as a Lieutenant and embarked for France with the British Expeditionary Force in 1914. He commanded an infantry platoon of the 2nd Battalion in the most horrific campaign of the start of the war at Mons. He was very soon promoted to Captain and transferred to the 4th Battalion. The Reading Chronicle recorded his promotion. Bernard’s Journal begins with the massively understated comment “After a spot of bother in France in 1914 I spent a considerable amount of time in hospital and eventually found myself shunted out to India…”
Bernard Silver served in India throughout the remainder of the Great War and, by then commissioned into the India Army, throughout World War 2. In July 1945 he was granted home leave. He began his journey by air to the UK on Saturday 14th July 1945 and arrived in the UK at Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, 6 days later on Friday 20th July after a journey of seven legs! It seems to be on this journey that Bernard used a Field Service Notebook to record his thoughts, as well as to make lists of people to see, things to do and shopping he needed. Most of his recollections relate to the World War One years, but some observations are of a more general nature and others relate to the period immediately before his journey home. The notebook includes Bernard’s itinerary for his return to India by sea which began on Tuesday 2nd October 1945. arriving in Bombay on Tuesday 6th November. The notebook also includes a letter he drafted throughout the journey to the UK to his wife Anne, written en-route variously to Cairo, Malta and Marseilles. If he intended to take the pages from the notebook then the letter was never posted. By 1948 Bernard was once more back in the UK and with his second wife Phyllis. Their son Andrew was born in April 1949 and Janet in February 1952.
This book was put together with Louise whilst visiting my family in New Zealand in August 2008. It is a first stab, to fulfil my promise to present the journal in some form. Bernard’s own family history is fascinating, not only through his father’s background but also through his mother and the Beeton family who can trace their roots back to the 11th century and in more modern times to Isabella Mary Mayson (‘Mrs Beeton’) who married Samuel Orchart Beeton. I hope to rewrite this book and correct the mistakes I am sure I have made, add more information about the family background and to access service records and other available information. I am sure that there is far more to say and that more material will come to light, so this first offering is just a beginning, and I’d be delighted to receive comments, corrections, and above all new material from all those who come to read it. In Bernard Silver’s own words, we have a long way to go yet.
Alan J Sharkey
THE RECOLLECTIONS OF BERNARD SILVER
ISBN 978-1-905729-10-4 £6.99
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