Percy Newman:
Percy Newman was born in 1915, in Abercorn Crescent, Harrow, Middlesex. His home life as a youth was considered normal, he lived with his mother and father for the majority of his life. In 1940, he married his love interest, who was his next door neighbour throughout childhood, they where married for two years until Percy sadly passed away, during the war. During their two years of marriage, they conceived a child Margret Newman (my Grandma), who was only 4 months old when her father passed away.
After talking with Grandma, exploring her father’s passed. I asked her about memories with her father to which she replied “I do not remember my father at all.”. She has kept all the documents below for all her life, in memory of her father who she never really met or got to know. These documents are “precious” to her, as it is the only thing she has left of her father, allowing her to have a basic understand of the life he lead and the type of personality he had.
At age 24, when the Second World War broke out, At this time he was a member of the ground engineers and worked on the instruments inside plane’s. He worked on fixing war aircrafts to ensure they were ready and fully working, to be used to attack the apposing enemies. However, on documentation he was falsely recorded to be a pilot for these aircrafts, and the documentation can be seen below.
Although he worked for the British Army, he did not die because of the war. Him and two others were killed after a collision between a motor lorry and a coach near Welton on Wednesday 27th May. Alongside this collision 6 other men were seriously injured but did not die. This event hit the local papers shortly after, and the extract can be seen below. On top of this, I was also able to see my Great Grandad’s death certificate which certifies the date and way he died and other personal details about him.
Below is the only picture on record of my Percy with his wife, and his only child Margret Welling. This photograph is one of Grandmas most cherished items as it holds a lot of meaning and sentimental value to her. The happiness found on the couples faces as they look down upon their child, shows ho much care and love they had towards Margret, and the thought that she has no recollection of him, only begins to show the importance of the image.
I then sifted through the other photographs within the archive and selected the photographs, which I think clearly represent his life. The images include, picture of his daughter growing up, pictures of him and his wife, pictures of him at school, and a photograph of his funeral. The photographs hold a lot of value not only to my Grandma but also to me know, as I understand the life my Great Grandad had, who I sadly could never meet.
Looking through these images allowed me to explore my family history which I did not know much about, and informed me that my family has links to the war, which present the themes of occupation and liberation, as well as nicely fitting in with other work which I have produced where I have looked at Jersey’s different archives.