Muriel's Husband in the Royal Artillery during the Second World War

[ABOVE] Ted Simkin photographed by his wife Muriel in 1942 while he was on leave from the army. John Edward Simkin, known as Ted to his friends, was twenty-eight when this photograph was taken.

[ABOVE] Ted Simkin photographed in his back garden by his wife Muriel in 1942 while he was on leave from the army.

[ABOVE] A group photograph taken of John "Ted" Simkin's Royal Artillery unit while based at "Hell's Corner" during Christmas 1940. Private Ted Simkin is pictured standing in the third row from the front, the fifth soldier in from the left. During the Second World War, Private Ted Simkin manned anti-aircraft guns at Biggin Hill, Rochford, and Dover.

[ABOVE] Private Ted Simkin in a detail from the photograph of the Royal Artillery unit taken in 1940 at "Hell's Corner" (see the group photograph above).

On 15th July 1940, in the second year of the Second World War, Muriel's husband John "Ted" Simkin, then working as a fish market porter, was called up to join the Armed Forces. Ted Simkin was enlisted in the Royal Artillery and for most of the war he manned anti-aircraft batteries on the South Coast. Following an injury to one of his hands, sustained while on active service, Ted Simkin was admitted to Roehampton Hospital in 1944. Ted Simkin's hand became infected and as a result two fingers on his left hand were amputated. A family story recounts that while Ted was in hospital receiving treatment the rest of his gun team in the Royal Artillery unit were sent out to France. It was while serving in France that his gun team received a direct hit, which killed most, if not all, of his former comrades.  It is likely that Private Ted Simkin was discharged from the Army on medical grounds after he was released from Roehampton Hospital. The missing fingers from his left hand prevented Ted from returning to his former job in the London fish market, a job that he thoroughly enjoyed. Ironically, the amputation of his fingers probably saved his life ( Ted's comrades in his gun team had been killed in France), but his "disability" also meant that he had to give up a job he loved and say farewell to all his workmates, including close friends like Izzie Wright. After the war came to an end, Ted Simkin was obliged to take on routine and humdrum employment as an unskilled factory worker. Ted was never to be happy at work again.

[ABOVE] Bomb damage in World War two. This photograph shows a scene of destruction in Mare Street, Hackney in September 1940. Muriel Simkin worked as a tailoress near Mare Street, Hackney in 1939.

[ABOVE] "Women of Britain - Come into the Factories", a wartime poster issued to encourage women to do 'war work' in factories. Muriel Simkin was compelled to leave her tailoring job to work at the Briggs munitions factory in Dagenham, Essex, in 1940.

[ABOVE] Two women producing RAF ammunition belts at a munitions  factory during the Second World War. Muriel Simkin did similar work at the Briggs munitions factory in Dagenham, Essex.

[ABOVE] Civilians take refuge in an London Underground Station during an air raid. Muriel Simkin's three year old cousin was crushed to death at Bethnal Green underground station when a sudden wave of  panic caused people to fall down the stairs of the tube station.

[ABOVE] Anderson Shelters. Two families building Anderson shelters in their gardens as protection from air raids.

[ABOVE] "Britain Shall Not Burn - Beat Firebomb Fritz" -  a poster issued  by the British Government around 1941 to combat the effects of  incendiaries or fire bombs. Muriel Simkin's home was targeted by fire bombs, but fortunately none of the incendiary devices went off.

[ABOVE] Jack Hughes, the younger brother of Mrs Muriel Simkin, as he appeared in a hand-tinted photograph taken in Rome, Italy, in 1944. John ('Jack') James Hughes was born in Hackney, East London, on 11th March 1920 and joined the armed forces in 1940. A serving soldier in General Montgomery's Eighth Army, Corporal Jack Hughes fought in North Africa in 1942 and then took part in the Italian Campaign from 1943 until the end of the Second World War.

[ABOVE, LEFT] Muriel Simkin photographed in 1939 on the eve of the Second World War. Nearly fifty years later, when she was in her mid-seventies, Muriel Simkin was interviewed by her son John about her wartime experiences. [ABOVE, RIGHT] Muriel Simkin with her son John Simkin, photographed around the time the interviews were made in 1986.

An Early Air Raid

"I went with my parents to London to see off my husband and brother. They had both been called up by the army. After we left them at the railway station we got caught in an air-raid. We had to get off the bus after it caught fire. We ran for shelter. While we were running I looked at my dad and he appeared to be on fire. I said: "Dad, you're alight." He nearly had a heart attack and I was not very popular when he discovered that I was mistaken and that it was only the torch in his pocket that had been accidentally turned on while he was running."

An Air Attack on a Munitions Factory

"I lived in Dagenham after I was married. I worked in a munitions factory. We had to wait until the second alarm before we were allowed to go to the shelter. The first bell was a warning they were coming. The second was when they were overhead. They did not want any time wasted. The planes might have gone straight past and the factory would have stopped for nothing... Sometimes the Germans would drop their bombs before the second bell went. On one occasion a bomb hit the factory before we were given permission to go to the shelter. The paint department went up. I saw several people flying through the air and I just ran home. I was suffering from shock and was worried about whether my own house had been hit. I was suspended for six weeks without pay. They (the workers in the paint shop) would have been saved if they had been allowed to go after the first alarm. It was a terrible job, but we had no option. We all had to do war work. We were risking our lives in the same way as the soldiers were".

Humour in Wartime "People on the whole were more friendly during the war than they are today - happier even. People helped you out. You had to have a sense of humour. You couldn't get through it without that." [LEFT] Muriel Simkin and fellow munitions worker Florrie French enjoy a laugh in front of the camera in 1940.

"I'm not here all day - I have to go and do part-time housework" A Cartoon from 1943 [Courtesy of Spartacus Educational]

The Death of a Cousin During an Air Raid

"Rosie, my mum's sister, had to go to hospital to have a baby. Her mother-in-law had to look after Rosie's three-year-old son. There was a bombing raid and Rosie's son and mother-in-law rushed to Bethnal Green underground station. Going down the stairs somebody fell. People panicked and Rosie's son was trampled to death."

Alone in an Anderson Bomb Shelter

"First of all we had an Anderson shelter in the garden. You were supposed to go into your Anderson shelter every night. I used to take my knitting. I used to knit all night. I was too frightened to go to sleep. You got into the habit of not sleeping. I've never slept properly since. It was just a bunk bed. I did not bother to get undressed. It was cold and damp in the shelter. I was all on my own because my husband was in the army".

A Basket-load of Fire Bombs

"You would go nights and nights and nothing happened. On one occasion when my husband was on leave, I think it was a weekend, we decided we would spend the night in bed instead of in the shelter. I heard the noise and woke up and I could see the sky ( fire bombs had perforated the ceiling). They had dropped a basket of incendiary bombs and we had got the lot. Luckily not one went off. Next morning the bombs were standing up in the garden as if they had grown in the night."

Fears for Loved Ones in Times of War

"The worst part was having your husband and brother away from you. We never heard from Jack, my brother, for five months. He couldn't communicate at all because he was involved in important battles in North Africa. It was very worrying. We knew a lot of his regiment had been killed. Then we saw his picture in the "Daily Express" newspaper. He was being inspected by General Montgomery. It was not until then that we knew he was alive."

[ABOVE] General Bernard Montgomery (centre-right), the Commander of the Eighth Army, inspects troops in North Africa in 1942. Corporal Jack Hughes, Muriel Simkin's younger brother, stands on the far left of the row of soldiers. This photograph later appeared in the Daily Express newspaper, providing evidence to Muriel that her brother Jack was still alive. Jack's family later obtained an original print of the  photograph from the Daily Express.

PLEASE NOTE : THIS WEBPAGE IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Ted and Muriel Simkin's Family

When Muriel Simkin gave birth to her first child she was living at 18 Manor Farm Drive, Chingford, Essex. The baby girl, who was born on 7th March 1942, was christened Patricia Ann Simkin on 29th September 1942 at The Parish Church of St Peter & Paul, Chingford.
 

The Simkin Family in Debden, Essex