Charles the Printer

Charles James Upson was born at 11 Brandon Grove, Ilford on 1^st March 1889 and was the first child of Charles and Elizabeth Upson. At the time of his birth his father was working as a milkman. Two years after his birth, the young Charles was living with his parents at 7 Southborough Street, Little Ilford. At the time, his father was still working as a milkman.

When Charles was 5 years old he was joined by younger brother, Wilfred Owen Upson. His birth certificate states that he was born in Plumstead in Kent which suggests the family moved. However, by early 1897, when another by the name of Arthur was born, they were back in Ilford. A further brother, Albert Edward, was born during the summer of 1899.

By the time of the 1901 census, when Charles was 12 years old, he was living with his family at 29 Park Cottages, Ley Street, Ilford. In the years that followed, the family grew further. Later in 1901 a baby sister named Rose Ellen was born and then in the summer of 1904, the family was completed by the birth of Elsie Maud Upson. By this time it is probable that Charles had started an apprenticeship to become a printer.

By 1911, now aged 22, Charles was working as a machine minder at a print works. The census records him still living with his parents at 63 Ley Street, Ilford. This may well have been the same address as in 1901. At that time his younger brothers, Wilf and Bert, were working in a grocers shop.

Charles met a young woman named Violet Lily Snow who was the daughter of a railway coach engineer and they embarked upon a serious relationship. Soon afterwards she fell pregnant. They were married, no doubt with pressure from their parents, on Sunday 3^rd August 1913. The wedding took place at parish church in Little Ilford and the weather on the day was fine and sunny with a temperature of 76 degrees Fahrenheit. At time of the wedding, Charles was living with his parents at 16 Frances Avenue which was close to the railway line and just off the High Road. Later, Charles and his new wife moved to their own home at 81 Stanley Road, just 10 minutes’ walk away.

Their first child, Violet Maud Upson was born on 8^th January 1914. Later that year Britain was at war with Germany. Charles was now 25 years old. Some young men of his age were caught up with the patriotic fervour and volunteered to serve in the army. Charles did not volunteer but continued working as a printer.

Charles worked in the print room for the local newspaper, The Ilford Recorder. His workplace at 169 High Road was just a short walk from home. The newspaper had been in circulation since 1898 and had gained a good reputation. On 2^nd January 1915 there was a particular local news story that gained national coverage. At 9:20am a packed commuter train on its way to Liverpool Street had just passed Ilford station when it was struck by an express train from Clacton. Nine people were killed and many were injured.

On 27^th January 1916 the government introduced the Military Service Act, thereby forcing conscription into the British Army. Initially it applied to all unmarried and widowed men between the ages of 18 and 41, but on 25^th May 1916 this was extended to married men. Charles now had to fight for his country.

By this stage of the war, conscripted men had no choice of which service, regiment or unit they served with, although if a man preferred the navy it got priority to take him. Charles was assigned to the Machine Gun Corps, but as the MGC often had teams assigned to different infantry units, it is difficult to know where he served. Charles would have been trained to use the Vickers machine gun which was the standard issue weapon.

The Vickers machine gun was fired from a tripod and was cooled by water held in a jacket around the barrel. The gun weighed 28.5 lbs, the water coolant a further 10lbs and the tripod 20 lbs. Bullets were assembled into a canvas belt, which held 250 rounds and it could fire for 30 seconds at a rate of 500 rounds per minute before it required reloading. Two men were required to carry the equipment and two the ammunition. A Vickers machine gun would have also had two spare men.

A total of 170,500 officers and men served in the MGC of which 62,049 were killed, wounded or missing. Following the end of the war, Private Charles J Upson received two campaign medals: the Victory medal and the British medal. In early 1917, following Charles’s departure to fight in the trenches, his wife had given birth to another daughter who was named Ivy Winnifred Upson.

On his return from the war, Charles resumed working as a printer and settled back into his old life in Ilford before the war. Within a few months of his return, his wife was pregnant again and on 8^th January 1920 a third daughter named Constance Irene Upson was born.

After having three daughters, Charles was keen to have a son. He got his wish on 29^th August 1923 when Roy Charles Upson was born.

As far as we know, the 1920s were happy times for the Upson family. In 1927/28 they moved to a brand new house 26 Clifton Road in Newbury Park, not far from the recently built Eastern Avenue. Charles continued work at the printing press and was became a printer’s machine room overseer while his wife stayed at home to look after the children.

In 1931 tragedy struck. Charles’s wife fell seriously ill and was admitted to King George Hospital. She died on 2^nd September 1931 of pulmonary thrombosis and malignant endocarditis. It must have come as an awful shock to Charles and his children.

Following Violet’s death things must have been incredibly difficult. Charles would have needed to carry on working to support the family and the role of childcare must have fallen to his daughter Violet who would have been only 17 years old.

We do not know whether Charles was looking for a surrogate mother for his children or whether he simply fell in love again, but less than 18 months after his wife’s death, he married again. He married Freda Gwendolyn Hubbard at the local registry office on 18^th February 1933. Auntie Gwen, as she liked to be known, was initially not accepted by Charles’s children and life at home was probably rather strained. Despite this, Charles and Gwen had a child together and in 1935 Julie Upson was born.

Charles continued working as a printer’s overseer until his retirement at the age of 60 which would have been in around 1949. By this time Charles had become a grandfather. My mum remembers sitting on his knee as a small child and playing with the hook that he had in place of the hand that he had apparently lost in a printing accident years before. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to determine when this accident took place, but the fact that he was fit enough to serve in the trenches suggests it happened following his return from the First World War.

When Charles retired he was still living at 26 Clifton Road with Gwen and their daughter Julie. Unfortunately poor Charles was not to have a long retirement. He died of a massive heart attack on 17^th September 1952. Charles and Gwen had been on holiday at Myrtle Cottage in Winchelsea Beach, Sussex at the time. The suddenness of Charles death took everyone by surprise and it was must have been a huge shock for the family to bear, but at least he did not have to suffer a protracted illness. By the time of his death, Auntie Gwen had been accepted by her step-children and the family was united.