Hugh John Thomas McCaffrey ²

   Cause of his death was Cardiac muscle failure. Chronic Bronchitis.

  General Notes:

R.S.D. Shown on Birth Certificate."Winchett Hall" Marden Rural Sanitary District. A fore runner to Kent County Council. (Winchett Hall was still standing in August 1999).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------Wrong given name entry on Marriage Certificate. Born "Hugh John Thomas McCaffrey". Marriage Certificate "Hugh Robert Thomas McCaffrey". Both names shown on Death Certificate. (His Birth Certificate shows his given names to be Hugh John Thomas. His Baptismal shows: Hugh Robert Thomas. See his scrapbook.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------Birth Certificate: Book 18. Page 34. Entry 169. Date 1888. Winchett Hall. Marden. Kent.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------Marriage Certificate: TF613239. Entry 79. 1912. Maidstone Register Office. Wrong Age. 23 not 24.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------Death Certificate: IA 546391. Entry 243. 1964. Bredbury. North East Cheshire. (1)Cardiac Muscle Failure(2) Chronic Bronchitis & Bronchiclasis. (Cremated) He sang the Hymn "Abide with Me" just before he died. Neither of my parents attended Church, but my father was religious. He attended, as all boys at The Home for Little Boys, regularly and was in the school choir. He once sang solo "O for the wings of a dove" at the Royal Albert Hall. A little boy in a massive building.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------Regimental Number 13215 Rank Private. Grenadier Guardsman. There was no marriage allowance for private soldiers during his service with the colours. Married quarters were available for Sergeants and above only. There were no conditions set out regarding permission to marry, and the Army took no responsibility for their spouses. The Battalions were moved frequently with total disregard for any family ties. (Information supplied from G.G. Archivist) He was wounded (Bullet entered a leg, followed the bone and exited at another point) in the 1914-1918 war. Was a pall bearer at King Edwards funeral. Very athletic. Participated in all forms of sports. Studied music while under the care of a Boy's Home. Could read music and play many instruments. Born in Marden. Kent. England.
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My Wish
No matter what our fortune be
No matter what the weather
If when this cruel war is o'er
It finds us with our hearts together
With love from Hugh.

The above is a poem by Hugh Robert Thomas McCaffrey to his Wife Ethel (Nee: Blundell) written from the trenches in France during World War 1. (Received Mons star and clasp)+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------Schooling: "Home for Little Boys" Farningham Village. West Kent. (Boarded). Situated on the River Darent. Hotel, two or three pubs, Village Hall and St. Peter & St. Paul Church (Very old). The School site is now called "South Downs Retirement Homes", Rabbits Road.
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Hugh Robert Thomas McCaffrey was Baptized on the 27th. January 1889 at Winchett Hill Mission Chapel by Hubert ?. Ran??? Assistant Curate. Notation on document. St. Mary's Gowdhurst. Kent. See image in scrapbook.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------Served as an apprentice to a Mr. J.H. Day to be a cabinet maker from 9th. November 1903 ( Aged started. 14 Years and 1 month ) to 6th. March 1907. The 5 year indentiture was cancelled after 3 Years, 3 months and 28 days approximately. While this did not qualify as a completed apprentiship, the knowledge gained would have been extensive. In England during that period, he would have had to serve the full 5 years apprentiship, then a further 3 years as a fully qualified cabinet maker to the same Mr. Day. The three years was to repay the said Day for food and accommodation during the apprenticeship. (To qualify as a cabinet maker in 1999 is different from 1903 in England)
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Born 20 December 1888 Marden. Book 18. Page 34. Entry 169. County of Kent. Father William John McCaffrey. Mother Hariett McCaffrey Nee: Robbins. Father Colour Sergeant of 1 ST. Bedfordshire Regiment.
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He was a full time serving Police Officer with the Stockport Borough Police. He was a bandsman playing a clarinet mostly. He passed the police promotion exam for sergeant. Was commended by the Stockport Police Watch Committee and awarded one years remission from his service towards his pension. He first applied for and was accepted for The Metropolitan Police London according to his eldest daughter. I could find no record of service with the Met. (Please note that the The Metropolitan Police do not retain records for officers who did not complete their probationary service, or transferred to another Police Force. Their documentation is forwarded on to the New Police Authority).--MEPO 4/338 registers of joiners. MEPO 4/334 register of leavers searched.--- One of the Police Forces the writer served with was Manchester City Police. On April the 1 St. 1968, Manchester and Salford became one Police Force. Later Manchester became The Greater Manchester City Police and engulfed Stockport, so in a way father and son served in the same Police Force if after the fact.
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A well worn Holy Bible with the name "H Mc Caffrey" dated September 25 Th. 1903 is in the writers possession. That would make my father 4 years, 9 months and 5 days old. Was this given to him when he was sent as a babe to "The Home" by his mother or by the school? I will never know.There are three references to passages in the Bible. Matthew 3 17. John 2 5. Phili 4 19 in what appears to be his handwriting at a much later age. The names "B Willey", "W Springett", "F Waller" and "H Mathew" are written in the back. They may have been written by my sister Joan who has similar handwriting. As far as I can gather the Home was for people of the Church of England Faith only.
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The Farningham Homes for Little Boys
Due to one of the great charitable acts of a century not always adequately acknowledged for its philanthropy, Famingham was "home" to a considerably greater number of boys than any study of demographical trends might lead one to expect. It happened as follows. In 1864 a former parish poor-house in Tottenham was renovated by donations and made suitable to accommodate 13 homeless little boys, together with the man and his wife who were to look after them. This "home " grew very quickly, and soon had 100 boys, at which point the building could take no more. However, there was so much interest in the work that was being done there that a decision was taken to find a new location for it, where it could expand under improved conditions. A site was found on a hill overlooking Farningham, and on the 7th July, 1866, the future Queen Alexandra, a Danish princess who had only recently been married to Edward, the Prince of Wales, performed what is supposed to have been her first public engagement in England when she laid the foundation stone for the Famingham Homes. An eye-witness account of the event comments:
All went merry as a marriage bell. The Princess came, and the Prince too, and a goodly company were assembled to welcome them. ...and the scene as the Princess laid the stone, which was suspended from three poles entwined with Kentish hops, was one long to be remembered.
Initially five homes were built, and on 5th June, 1867, the boys took possession of them, 30 to a home, under their new "fathers and mothers", arriving at Farningham Station, where a procession was formed for the march to the Home. A country waggon was in readiness for the very little ones, and brought up the rear , while the drum and fife band headed the procession.
The first five homes were Alexandra House, Hanbury House, Quiet Resting Place, The Children's Cottage and Lady Morrison's Home, and eventually another six were added, known as The Little Wanderers' Retreat, Kidbrooke Lodge, The Little Ones' Refuge, Thomas Finlay Cottage, George Moore Lodge and Mary Ann Leicester House. By the mid 1870s, therefore, with about 30 boys per family, a home was provided for 300 otherwise homeless boys. Until 1961 the Farningham Homes were in use for their original purpose; after this came a period of use as a Community Home for maladjusted boys, and finally the site was sold for development as an estate of homes for the elderly. But a few memories of the Little Boys still remain at Southdowns, as it is now called, in the bracing air and sunshine high above Horton Kirby: the Gorringe Memorial School, the chapel with its needle-sharp spire, and the small lodge built to accommodate old boys who, on Old Boys' Day each year (Whit Monday), might want to revisit the scenes of their childhood.
Since the Swanley Home is sometimes confused with the Famingham Homes, and they were in fact later amalgamated, a few words may perhaps be said about it here. The purpose of the Farningham Homes was to provide family care for boys who were homeless, from little more than babyhood to the age of 16, and they offered not only elementary education but also vocational training, so that every boy emerged into the world equipped with a trade. A variety of trades was taught: each of the house-fathers was expected to be skilled at one or other of them and to pass that skill on in the training school, where the subjects taught included tailoring, boot-making, carpentry, baking, farming and printing, the last-named a trade which was to leave the attr;.ctive imprint of the Little Boys' Press on many small booklets printed in the area for a number of years. The Swanley Home opened in 1883 as a home for orphans. Like the Farningham Homes, this too was built on the cottage system, and also provided education and technical training for its boys, although due to the wish of Lord Fumess, donor of the seventh home in 1908, considerable emphasis here was laid on training for the Mercantile Marine Service, the Merchant Navy. Both Homes were incorporated in 1900, and were subsequently known as The Homes for Little Boys, Famingham and Swanley, Kent.
Note: - Hugh John Thomas McCaffrey (Authors father) spent from the age of six until becoming old enough to work as an apprentice cabinet maker.
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The following was written by my sister Ivy:
HUGH ROBERT THOMAS MCCAFFREY
1888 -1964

He was a soldier in the Grenadier Guards when he married Ethel Blundell in 1909. He played rugby for the Guards 1st team.

In 1912 he joined the Metropolitan Police Force in London, and then got a transfer to Stockport County Police Force.

As he was a reservist in the Grenadiers 2 days before the 1914 war was declared, he was called up. He handed in his police uniform and his clarinet. He was in the police band

Gran closed the house - number 4, Loyalty Place (no longer standing) packed up and moved back to Larkfield, Kent to live with her parents, Gran and Granddad Blundell - this was where she stayed until war ended.

Granddad was in France when war was declared on 4th August 1914.

He was wounded in 1916 .. Shot in the leg, and sent back to Brighton for treatment, after his operations he was sent to a village called Langley Bottom to recover. The village was near to Epsom racecourse

While at Langley Bottom he worked in the Snob Shop - repairing boots for the army.

Gran took Ivy to stay at a bungalow near the camp for 2 weeks holiday - which is where Joan was conceived.

When he had recovered from his wounds he was sent back to join his regiment in France, until war ended on 11th November 1918 - the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, which is now Remembrance Day - lest we forget.

Grandad was in the Dardenelles, and so was one of the 'Old Contemptibles' he was at Ypres and Pachendale.

When he was de-mobbed the family moved back to Stockport and Loyalty Place, he rejoined the Police Force and served his 25 year term (actually he served 24 years as he was awarded 1 years service for an act of bravery during an arrest).

He became a member of the Red Cross Society and became a Red Cross Trainer for the police, he attended many accidents, and was able to give first aid - he also delivered babies!

He was a gentle man and a gentleman - a Dad and Grandad to be proud of.

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He wore the St. John Ambulance Brigade badge (They were in chrome with a red felt backing in those days) on a sleeve of his police uniform.
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The sponsors crest on the running vest shown in my dads scrapbook is as follows: Arms: Quarterly, 1 and 4, Azure a portcullis with chains pendant Or on a chief of the last in pale the arms of Edward the Confessor, viz Argent a cross patoncee between five martlets one in each quarter and another in base all Or between two united roses of York and Lancaster, 3 and 4 Azure a garb Or [Grosvenor]. Crest: A talbot statant proper. Motto: virtus non stemma [the virtue not the lineage]. No doubt the Grenadier Guardsmen like to represent their Regiment on these runs, some of them marathon.
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  Medical Notes:

See Death Certificate. Was wounded in a leg during 1St. World War and gassed. He had a dudinal ulcer burst while on police duty and most of hi intestines were removed in an emergency operation.

  Death Notes:

Was wounded in a leg during 1St. World War and gassed. He had a dudinal ulcer burst while on poli

  Noted events in his life were:

• Baptism, 27 Jan 1889, St. Marys. Winchett Hall Mission Chapel.

Hugh married Ethel Blundell, daughter of John Blundell and Mary Ann Bradshaw, on 15 Jul 1912 in Maidstone, Kent, England.¹ (Ethel Blundell was born on 17 Jul 1887 in East Malling, Kent, England ¹, christened on 6 Nov 1887 in St. James Church, East Malling, Kent, England,¹ died on 5 Oct 1965 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England ¹ and was buried in Stockport, Cheshire, England ¹.) The cause of her death was Cerebal Haemorrage & Hypertension.