My Father's Father
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That Old Lie: "Dulce et decorum est pro patria moni" "It is sweet and meet to die for one's country" Wilfred Owen
"When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power then the World will be at Peace" John Lennon
Ceramic Crosses by AL Peters Rathbone Studios Birkenhead Dedicated to my Grandfather & All Unknown Soldiers |
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The Known Unknown about my Father’s Father– My Grandfather
My grandmother Ada Mottram Philips was a young woman working as a chambermaid in a Southport hotel
in 1916 when she became pregnant to a ‘ranking officer’ from a Manchester Regiment.
This information was belatedly given to me by my aunt Dorothy Williams (Dorothy Louisa Claudia Philips)
when she informed me that she had or had seen a letter confirming this previously undisclosed secret about
my Father’s Father. Aunt Doll unfortunately passed away before I could arrange a
meeting at her residence in West Derby, Liverpool.
My father was born on the 25th March 1917 in Southport Lancashire.
Being born out of wedlock was seen as a disgrace to the family during the early
twentieth century so he was placed in a Southport orphanage.
His Birth Certificate has his name as Peters later to become William Peters.
George Frederick Peters and Hannah Lanceley married on 9th February 1893.
Their son William Frederick 'Pops' Peters was an orchestra leader at the Olympia Theatre
Liverpool opposite the Hippodrome and they lived in Vivien Street.
When Ada married my step grandfather William Frederick ‘Pop’ Peters
my dad was integrated back into the family.
Unfortunately little is known about my Fathers Father as he was killed in France
along with his regiment in the carnage of WW1.
My grandfather on my mother’s side was John Stanley Delemore
a coalminer from Pontypridd Glamorgan South Wales
(spent time as a Japanese prisoner of war WW2).
My mother Edith Margaret Peters (Delemore) knew there was something amiss
whenever I asked my father where he was born and always abruptly
asked me not to discuss it any further.
My father was Lance Bombardier No 974927
in the Royal Artillery in WW2.
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168a Lord Street Wilfred Owen's Lodgings in 1916 |
The Queens Hotel Southport where the 5th Manchesters Officers stayed. |
The stairwell from the main entrance of the Queens Hotel |
Upon reading a book of poems by Wilfred Owen that my brother gave me for my birthday
I discovered that on page xv in the Biographical Table
"19-20th October 1916 the 5th Manchester's went to Southport, Lancashire.
The officers in the Queens Hotel.
Wilfred Owen has lodgings for a few days at 168a Lord Street".
(The Poems of Wilfred Owen edited by Jon Stallworthy)
Alan William Peters
aka AL ‘Bluesman’ Peters
I was described as 'unsuitable' for National Service as I could not take orders
insisting that I became a bandsman rather than a squaddie!
For more information regarding Wilfred Owen please check out www.wilfredowenstory
If anyone has any information regarding the 5th Manchesters please contact groovin.records@phonecoop.coop
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BELIEVE IT OR NOT – READY OR NOT-THE WHOLE TRUTH & NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH? ANTI-AMERICAN = NO ANTI-NEO-CON = YES I am not ‘Anti-American’ but believe in a transparency that reveals the TRUTH! I love and have been greatly influenced by great American musicians (Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Muddy Waters, Gene Vincent, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Roberta Flack, Joni Mitchell etc) writers (Jack Karouac, Charles Bukouski, etc) film makers (Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Cohen Brothers, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Moore etc) But cannot tolerate the ‘corporate bullies’ that set out to dominate the world hiding behind registered companies in the United Kingdom and Europe because they are too afraid to reveal their true identity and sense of purpose. These companies are endorsed by morally bankrupt politicians and ‘world’ leaders who after leaving their term of office further line their soiled pockets with corporate directorships their consciences not bowed by their bloodied deeds, deluded ideals and inflated egos.
If only that silly American with the ‘sore throat’ that accompanies the crap trailers that promote dire all action/no plot films that dominate our TV channels after 10pm would retire and give way to more intellectual talent. I enjoy very much THE DAILY SHOW with JON STEWART broadcast from Comedy Central New York even though it is a couple of days behind the news when we receive it. He is one person who was not afraid to lambaste the likes of Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld and Wolfy the ‘quintet of bullshit’ and this show translates well into the British sense of political satire. Unfortunately we’ve got ‘yankee arse-lickin’ politicians of all persuasions who are too scared to criticise the White House’s and it’s disastrous neo-con foreign policies that continue today so we also have to rely on brilliant satirists like RORY BREMNER to give a more realistic portrayal of those who have been elected in the UK’s corrupt undemocratic system of ‘first past the post’. I’m still praying for a truer democracy so that we can become citizens of Europe and throw off the shackles of being the ‘51st State’ (What a crap film) and subjected to the rule of the Royal Family and the Establishment. I wish politicians would refer to us by our correct titles - ‘subjects’ which we are instead of ‘citizens’ that we are not! But that would mean telling the TRUTH!
ANOTHER TRUTH = The Declaration of WAR = The Legalisation of Murder? Having been prematurely brought into this world and given up for dead due to a bomb being dropped on Cardiff Station when my mother was on her way to the ammunition factory during WW2 and coming from a family that has been traumatised by military action I can honestly say that what the armed forces and politicians are brilliant at is the ART of BULLSHIT! Also known as the ART of COVER-UP! Talking of the TRUTH do you not think that it takes far more courage if not somewhat deluded to strap a bomb to one-self in the knowledge that death is inevitable than it does to drop bombs from a great height or use unmanned drones without the fear of death when both are an act of depravity in the knowledge that innocent women and children could be blown to pieces no matter how precise and targeted the intention of the bombs? To all those religious people out there please explain to me the commandment ‘THOU SHALT NOT KILL’ when it comes to blessing soldiers prior to going into battle. My father asked that very question when he verbally attacked the reverend of our Huyton Parish who had come to console him after the murderous campaigns in France and Germany. It is of importance to know that my father was orphaned at birth as the result of an alliance during WW1 with my grandmother and an ‘UNKNOWN SOLDIER’ who was wiped out with his regiment the Royal Manchester’s somewhere in France in 1917 – Name not known or a convenient cover-up!
PS To the President: I know you are short of cash even though we have paid off our WW2 debt to you (What are friends for?) and now that the ‘Credit Crunch’ is still in full flow thanks to your shifty mortgage deals so please could you do us a favour and remove all your troops, bases and nuclear arms from our once green and pleasant land. Thanking you in advance for your co-operation in this matter. The Rev AL Willard Peterson
PPS Below is a photograph of a German Luftwaffe POW my father was looking after (Please note 'not abusing' ie ABU GHRAIB, GUANTANAMO BAY!)
My father fell foul of the military on many occasions being promoted and then demoted. After all his campaigns during WW2 and on reflection of what he experienced in France and Germany he learnt that "the powerful few corrupt the minds of many and that his comrades in arms and his much 'demonised' enemy, the foot soldiers are but 'pawns in a master game' and after all that is said and done in the name of righteousness the taking of just one human life demeans the perpetrator no matter what the motive or cause even in defence".
Note the inscription on the back of the postcard reads to my friend 'BILL' from Werner Friedel
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My Father's Army & Civic Medals
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My father's medals with the top three all that remains of his WW2 effort after a burglary in 1979. All the other medals are for his civic duties as leader of the Conservative Party and year as Mayor of Knowsley 1982-1983 and his Masonic Lodge. |
A letter from Harold Wilson to my father in 1969. Even though our politics were world's apart my father was an honourable man who served his community in his Huyton Ward without recompence not like those who have corrupted what remains of local governance. |
11th November 2015
In Remembrance
Special thanks to the British Legion for laying a Poppy in remembrance of my Grandfather in a Flanders Field
whoever and where ever he may be?
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Poppy Cross for My Father's Father |
Grange Hill Memorial West Kirby |
Weeping Poppies St Georges Hall Liverpool |
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