WALTER ROBERT HOWARD 14 July 1891- 30 April 1988

Despite my Grandfather, Walter Robert Howard, having lived until he was almost 97 years old, not much has been known about his life by his descendants. This paper will attempt to rectify this, using various documents as evidence. He was the first child born to Walter, a labourer from Camp in St Albans. After agricultural opportunities declined in the nineteenth century, his father had become one of the thousands employed by the newly developing railway network. His family therefore had settled in the North London area by the time that Walter was born. Within a year of marriage, as Ellen, his mother, was pregnant, they had moved from a house which they

were sharing with a Railway Inspector at 37, Elm Grove Hampstead, to 23 Ariel Rd London NW6 2EA where Grandpop was born in 1891 on Bastille Day, July 14th. My abiding

memory of him was his joking that whenever he was in Paris on business

on this day the streets were decorated with flags for his birthday. He was not

baptised however until May 29th 1892 at Somers Town Presbyterian, St Pancras.

Although the house was 3-storied his parents lived in just two rooms, sharing the house

with another nine people, the family of a retired bronze chaser. Having moved to Marquis Place by 1892, they had moved yet again, to 37, St Paul's Rd in St Pancras, (now known as Agar Grove) by the time that Ellen was born in 1895. This was described by Charles Booth as working class in 1899. Booth’s report mentioned that the area had gone down considerably since making his poverty

map. In 1907 for example St Paul’s Road was the scene of a notorious murder. Emily Elizabeth (aka Phyllis) Dimmock, a prostitute in her early 20s, was found one

Walter Robert Howard

23 Ariel GroveElm Grove

morning with her throat cut. Did this tragic event precipitate yet another house move for the Howards? Although houses here were mainly 3 or 4 storied only three families now kept servants, proof of how much the neighbourhood had declined. High rents meant that most families here had to sublet, the Howards included.

1910 Directory information about the St Paul’s Road area, Camden Town

including Marquis Road which was nearby.

This new family group now comprised Walter, aged 35, a railway accountant born in St Albans, Ellen, his 36-year-old wife born in Bloomsbury, Walter Robert their 9 year-old son, who was born in West Hampstead, Ellen Maud their 6 year old daughter born in St Pancras, and Albert John, their 1 year-old son also born in St Pancras.

Houses in today’s Agar Street.

Map of Camden in London showing various places lived in by Walter’s family. Microsoft Corporation

Elm

Grove Ariel Grove where he was born St Paul’s Road Marquis RoadPresbyterian Church where his father remarried.

Somers Town Presbyterian where Grandpop was baptised and where his parents married.

All these homes were convenient for his father as he worked for the LNER out of Euston for about 40 years.

In 1911 Walter was still living at home with his parents and siblings, they having now moved to 19 Marquis Rd, an end of terrace house, and was working as a civil engineer's clerk. His father was a Railway Clerk, Ellen a dressmaker and Jack was still a schoolboy. They lived in four rooms, whilst a widow and her son lived in the three other rooms. Mum remembers their living mainly in the basement. His family had very little money so, although he had won a scholarship to study at Oxford, he was unable to go, as his father said he could not afford to subsidise his social life there and it would be unfair to his brother if Walter went and Jack did not. Despite this, Walter continued his education,

19 Marquis Road

attending evening classes most nights to learn French, and eventually qualified as a chartered structural engineer.

Prior to WW1 he was a Royal Naval Volunteer reserve. Aware that the RNR could not supply the required number of trained men at the start of the 20th century, because the Navy was rapidly expanding, a scheme was introduced that allowed men in civilian shore jobs, unconnected with the sea, to train on a part-time basis at special shore establishments. This provided the valuable experience of real time with the Fleet for a few weeks a year once a certain level of competence had been achieved. Formed under the Naval Forces Act of 1903, and first known as the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, five divisions were established in Bristol, London, Tyne,

Mersey and Clyde where civilian volunteers trained in old Fleet warships. RNVR uniform was distinguished by its wavy gold lace, leading them to be affectionately known as the 'Wavy Navy' because the rank stripes on officers’ sleeves were wavy rather than straight.1

He was at sea the day war broke out in Britain on 4 Aug 1914, on Bank Holiday Monday, and so he brought forward his marriage to Olive. Arthur, his grandson, remembers Grandpop showing him his leave permission to get married as he had kept it in his wallet for over sixty years. By 20th Aug 1914 he had been discharged at his own request as Mouchel, the company he worked for, said his occupation was important to the war effort and so had

asked that he be released.

Admiralty and War Office: Royal Naval Division: Howard, W R Rank or Rating: Able Seaman Service

Number(s): 1/2333 Records of the Admiralty, Naval Forces, Royal Marines, Coastguard, and related bodies ADM 339/1/18483He was described as having a red complexion, brown hair and grey eyes and was 1 MOD website

His Naval Uniform shows that he was in the Wavy Navy. This photo in uniform was taken the day they married. He was 18 months younger than Olive.

a clerk when he signed on in 1910.

Walter met his future wife, Olive Ash Travers, at Somers Town Presbyterian Church where they both sung in the church choir. Within the Church they belonged to a Mutual Improvement Society in which Walter, Olive and his sister Ellen were committee members. The syllabus for 1913 included a talk on an essay “The Rise of the English Novel” by Miss Howard, i.e. Ellen, on January 30th, and a lecture on “The Evolution Theory” on Thursday 6th February by Mr W. Howard.

August 7th 1914 marriage at the Register Office in St Pancras.Official photos of the wedding, taken later, indicated how quickly it was arranged as little attention was given to the setting: the back garden of Marquis Road included a dustbin in the background. Walter was still living at home but Olive was sharing a room at 17, Bayham St., Camden Town, London with her sister Edie. His father remained in his home until his death in 1941, but Olive’s father had remarried and lived at 86, Pancras Square, St Pancras and later at 75, Minet Ave, Willesden, Middlesex where he died in 1935. Bridesmaids were Ellen Howard and Edie Travers, with witnesses to the marriage being Lieut. Colonel de Vesian the founder of Mouchel, Ernest Tancock, Ellen Howard, and Edith Travers.

Their bridesmaid

Edith Ophelia Travers later wore this ensemble to the wedding of her future husband’s sister Florence Cain in 1915.

On the left by Olive are Alice and Edie, with Alice Lavinia’s

2- year-old daughter Joan

in the foreground. On Walters’s side are Ernest Tancock with his arm on

Ellen Howard, and his mother, Mary Ann Inge. Others included

Walter Howard senior (with moustache) in front of his wife, Ellen née Gooch and Jack who was in another photo.

A photograph of him holding his daughter Olive at her baptism shows him wearing a khaki-drab armband with a red felt crown. The Earl of Derby introduced what was called the Lord Derby Scheme on 16th October 1915 whereby men could volunteer for the forces but then return to their jobs until they were formally called up. They completed one day’s service and were then placed on reserve. Whilst still working and waiting to be called up they were entitled to wear a grey arm band with a red crown to show that they had signed up to fight. Walter was not subsequently called up as far as we know.

Whilst in the R.N.V.R. he won a pewter mug weighing 1lb 4oz for rowing He also enjoyed bowling for relaxation, but his main interest at home was as a family loving man, having three daughters, Olive May, Joyce Muriel and Lorna Phyllis.

Howard family with Joyce, Olive, and Walter Howard senior talking to Alma and Cissie. family gatherings with several generations

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Graham Road. Walter’s den is above the garage. His bedroom is the double room at the front.He lived at various addresses in London with his family, including 96, Kilmartin Ave, Norbury, SW16 17, Neeld Crescent, NW4 phone Hendon 1235 and finally, from 1930 to 1979,3 Graham Rd London NW4 3DH phone Hendon 1235, later changed to 01-202-7239. As a child I did not think that he was wealthy because he told me that the government took 19/6d tax out of every pound that he earned! I felt so sorry for him. Despite this so called poverty he frequently took his family on cruises, and when grandchildren were born they would then spend Christmas in various seaside hotels, including Eastbourne and Margate and the Grand at Brighton, driven there by his chauffeur, Holt, who, Grandpop used to joke, did not know how to halt and so had fathered 12 children. His car registration was WOL for Walter he told me, but as this was changed frequently I think this was yet another of his little jokes. The Rolls Royce cars belonged to his company and the fleet was added to every year at one period until each member of the board had one, the

Howard family with Joyce, Olive, and Walter Howard senior talking to Alma and Cissie. family gatherings with several generations

Chairman always having the newest one. The year that all the board had their Rollers and WRH turned up at his bowls club in the same car as the previous year, his friends in the club teased him by saying he had let the side down. Surprisingly, to me, considering my assumption of their poverty, Walter and Olive took foreign holidays every two months, as well as travelling extensively for business. I have found several references on the Internet to his voyages. On the 22nd July 1939 Walter and Olive went on a Polytechnic tour to New York. They left from Southampton and travelled via Cherbourg to Quebec, Canada, on the Empress of Britain, a ship in the Canadian Pacific line, arriving on Jul 27 th 1939. Whilst in New York they stayed at the McAlpine hotel, the largest hotel there at that time, arriving on August 1st 1939 at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. On August 17th 1957 he and Olive sailed first class on the Antilles, on what he called the “banana boat”, to the West Indies. He returned for another visit on August 5th

1958 on the Camito, a boat owned by Elders and Fyffes Ltd. To his grandchildren this sounded very exciting, and I was impressed by the necklace made of real seeds which Grandma brought back for me. Even after Olive died in 1967 Grandpop continued with these holidays, especially enjoying cruises in Europe on the Rhine and various French rivers.

In 1919 Walter formed the Helical Bar & Engineering Company Ltd., using money provided by Mouchel to set up the office.

From 1925 to 1945 he was a partner in the firm L. G. Mouchel & Partners, Structural Engineers, based in Westminster, London.

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He was Chairman and Managing Director of the Helical Bar & Engineering Company Limited which was later incorporated as a limited company on 3rd July 1919. It was a specialist company in the design, supply and erection of ferro-concrete structures and of reinforcing steel for the construction industry. In addition he was also Chairman and Managing Director of the London and Provincial Asbestos Cement Co. Ltd, and of W. R Howard & Partners Ltd.

Prior to the Second World War he was awarded the Palmes d'Academie and was nominated Officier de l'Instruction Publique for work he did in France. During WW2 his offices in Victoria were used by General de Gaulle as Walter worked in close liaison with the Free French committee in London. We suspect that he was a member of the Special Ops as agents reported to him when they came out of France. At the conclusion of the hostilities he was awarded the Medaille de la Reconnnaisance Francaise. In 1955 the French ambassador nominated him for the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur for his services in connection with developing Structural and Civil Engineering contacts between France and Great Britain. Buckingham Palace confirmed that these medals, conferred by the President of the French Republic, could be worn with restricted permission in public. Walter refused a Commission and turned down the honour of being a Colonel as he wanted to keep a low profile, but was invited twice to Buckingham Palace Garden Parties.

Mouchel originally opened an office at 124, Holborn, London, but before long moved to 38, Victoria Street where the company remained for 59 years until 1957 when they moved to premises overlooking the river at 82,Victoria Street. Meanwhile Helical Bar and Engineering Company Limited was now situated at 72, Victoria Street, London, S.W.1. WWII saw the company move from London to Sutton, moving back to Victoria after the blitz. Walter owned a flat in Hove, near Brighton, 18, Viceroy Lodge, Kingsway, Hove, opposite the King Alfred Training Centre for the naval RNVR Officers. In the summer they lived here but after war broke out, and finding the train line up to London susceptible to bombing they all moved back to Hendon as he needed to be in the office every day. Back in Hendon Walter worked part time as an Air Raid Warden.

He held many public positions including Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers, F.Inst.D, Vice President and Treasurer of the Society of Engineers, Past President of the Society of Engineers, Membre de la Societe des Ingenieurs Civils de France, Past President of the British section of the Societe des Ingenieurs Civils de France; Vice President of the London branch of L'Alliance Francaise en Grande Bretagne; member of various technical and trade associations including the Architects Registration Council, Vice-Chairman of the Admission Committee, the Architects Registration Council, Vice President of the British section at the World

Technical Conference and Ordinary Secretary of the British section of the Ingenieurs Civils de France. He belonged to the Constitutional club the Royal Anglo-Belgian Club and the Directors no. 10 Club.W. R. Howard on extreme right, present at a meeting with Winston Churchill. This was the year he was Vice-President.

Mulberry HarboursMouchel was involved in the design of the 115 huge caissons, 204 feet long by 60ft high and 50 feet wide, to form the six mile breakwater to enclose Mulberry Harbour, the greatest military engineering project in history. This was the artificial harbour which was prefabricated in Britain, towed across the English Channel and assembled off the Normandy coast to provide port facilities in support of the Allied Forces who mounted the invasion of the continent in June 1944. Churchill famously said of this: “bring me the best solutions, do not waste time talking about the problems; they will take care of themselves.” http://www.combinedops.com/Mulberry%20Harbours.htm These Floating Docks, constructed of reinforced concrete by Wates Limited to a Mouchel engineered design, were built 1942-1944.

Designed to last solely for the six month projected use of the harbour for the D-Day landings, some sections of the Docks can still be seen today on Arromanches beach. The 'Mulberry' piers were linked steel bridge units sitting on 'Beetles' (pontoons built of steel plate) to support a floating roadway for the unloading of equipment onto the Normandy beaches. The floating pontoons that supported the structural steel roadway were giving the Ministry trouble and the Royal Navy was demanding huge quantities of steel plate resulting in a severe shortage for the floating pontoons so the War Office approached Mouchel to complete the requirement in concrete. The design, which produced a combination of pre-cast slabs and in situ concrete, required slabs to be only 1¼ inches thick to obtain flotation. The huge Mulberry undertaking was carried out during the winter months of 1943 ready for the invasion of the continent in June 1944. Mouchel sent staff to the War Office to work on the huge reinforced concrete caissons. Some drawings were however done in the Victoria Street Office. They had to be designed to float, but once sunk to resist floatation, overturning and breaking up under storm conditions. The whole operation was to be conducted in the utmost secrecy. Amazingly, the huge concrete boxes were constructed all around the South Coast and in river estuaries without their true purpose being discovered. Being highly visible, there was conjecture that they were for the production of masses of recently discovered penicillin for war requirements. With the firm's contribution to the Mulberry Harbours apparently completed, the staff involved returned from The War Office to Victoria Street. Few members of the staff knew what they had been doing, and those that did were warned not to talk about it. Grandpop was decorated for this war work. The firm's office in Victoria Street survived the German onslaught undamaged except for broken windows and, following Japan's surrender in August 1945, serving staff progressively returned to the firm.

He kept a diary with many phone numbers in, which his daughters used to joke were of his girl friends as these included the Folies Bergere where one girl memorably said “ I nezzer says no”. He travelled frequently to France, both Paris and Nice, and attended International events such as the Chicago Trade Fair in 1933.

In June 1967 after fifty three years of marriage, Olive died, leaving Grandpop alone and lonely. He couldn't face Christmas at his home that December so for the first time in years there was no family gathering at 3, Graham Rd. Instead, Grandpop went on a cruise with his sister Ellen to get away and she unfortunately died in an accident aboard ship on Christmas Day.

In 1972 Walter was operated on at Whittington Hospital as he had prostate cancer and I feared that this was the end. However he recovered, carried on working until about 1975, being looked after by Olive who came over every day from nearby Kingsbury to cook for him. Though he once proudly stated that for the first time in his life he had managed to boil an egg for his breakfast. However

when she went to visit her daughter Marleen in America, leaving her sisters to share the care, Joyce realised that he needed more help than could be given, and so the last ten years of Walter’s life were spent in Newick Nursing Home, 105 Marine Dr ive, Rottingdean, BN2 9GE

Brighton, as it became apparent that he was suffering from dementia. Despite this he could still converse in French and remembered driving to Brighton in the 1940’s. He was also aware that our car was a company one, so his mind was still sharp. He died in the home and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, North London on May 6th 1988 where his wife, their daughter, Olive and his brother had their ashes placed. He is commemorated in Bay 28, Tablet 30.

Daily Telegraph 1988: Walter Robert Howard aged 97, formerly of Hendon, London. Much loved father, grandfather and great grandfather. Funeral service Golders Green Crematorium, Friday May 6 2pm. An obituary was written in the Times on May 8 1987.He was also known to his great grandchildren as Pop Pop.

Memories of Walter and Olive June 2011

I asked various people who knew him what they remembered about him.Did you talk much to Pop when you were little? What were your impressions of

him?

Bert Hooper – who used to take Edie to Graham Road to visit her sister Olive whilst Bert was working in the Highgate Depot, probably in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He remembers Walter as being ‘gruff’ and genial, friendly and not snobbish. He mentioned that he had something to do with building the Maginot line…is this true? Work on this began seriously in the 1930’s, which may explain why Pop was awarded certain French medals prior to WW11.Alan Cain – remembers Walter and Olive as always being friendly and bringing clothes for the Cain family. One time they arrived at their home in Reede Road, Dagenham, in their car, and packed everyone in to visit Uncle Jack in Maidstone. Alan was impressed as at that time it was unusual to see cars in Dagenham. When the family knew that Walter and Olive were coming to visit the house would be cleaned and the fire lit in preparation. Margaret Hooper and Peggy Cain. Olive and Walter had been given a beautifully carved chaise longue as a wedding present (according to Alice it was an antique at the time, about 75 years old, and originally had been covered in rose damask). Olive gave this to Edie to help furnish their council house in Dagenham but it is now in Margaret’s house). Peggy recalled that Olive had also given Edie money, probably in the late 1920s and 1930s, and when Alan Cain was born in 1928 Olive and Walter asked to adopt him as they wanted a boy. Walter adapted well to his meteoric rise in society, however Olive found some aspects difficult. There was a time when Walter and Olive’s marriage was under stress and Walter had asked for a break. As we know they stayed together, but in separate bedrooms. Walter told Edie that he was really pleased to have Frank as a son in law, the only one not to want the Howard money. Pat Cain– both directly and as memories from Edie.Walter was like ‘Mr Pickwick’, short and fat! He was a pacer, walking up and down the room, saying h’rm, h’rm. He liked Claire: when, as a young child, she had a new pair of shoes of which she was very proud, he told her he didn’t have any new shoes. She told him that next time she would buy him a pair of shoes. Walter took the Cain family en masse (not sure if it was all 7) in the car to Southsea to visit Olive’s brother Will Travers, and to Maidstone to see Olive’s

other brother Jack. Pat remembers sitting on the floor of the car, which appeared to be the only car in the street. Even though “we knew we were the poor relations”, Pat remembers going to Graham Road, probably when Edie was ill, and noticed the difference which, as a child, she hadn’t observed. On her first visit to the house in Graham Road she had passed the house as it wasn’t as grand as she had remembered. However Pat never felt that Walter had feelings of superiority. In the 1950s there was an article and caricature of Walter, on the back page of the Evening News business section that Edie cut out and kept. At Edie’s funeral in March 1969 Walter arrived in his Rolls Royce without his chauffeur and as he was not used to driving he followed the hearse and upon returning took Peter Jefferey’s mother with him in case he got lost.Barbara Cain thinks that the Cain family didn’t mix much with the Howards but she recalls the Howard car coming to Dagenham. Sometimes they would arrive when the children were in bed and in the morning there would be the smell and the discarded paper of fish and chips. The adults would also have had a drink at the pub. In their younger days Olive and Edie would chat away together but William Cain was extremely quiet and if Alice was around no-one else would have an opportunity to talk.As he got older, Walter seemed to become distant. At Barbara and John’s wedding he gave them a lift to their house in Barking and walked up and down the hall saying, h’rm , h’rm.Lorna Hayden. Until his retirement Pop always seemed aloof, and only took notice of me once when he tickled me mercilessly. He shaved with an electric razor in his bedroom, furnished with a massive mahogany suite including a half tester bed which I loved to jump on. He never had much to say until I was married and I took my two eldest to stay with him for a few days. I think he was intimidated by all his women.Christmas was no longer the same after my mother remarried and we no longer went to hotels. Olive then took over cooking at 3, Graham, apart from once when she went to America for a visit to see her daughter, and Arthur Hayden, my brother, and I, produced the meal for, as far as I can remember, twelve people. Uncle Jack and Aunt Alma always came to these parties.Arthur, his grandson. Grandpop only spoke to me twice.

This paper is a work in progress so new information is continually being added,

Buildings associated with Mouchel.

Royal Liver Building 11 May 1908 - 19 July 1911Michelin Building  October 1909 - December 1910Sheath Lane (Oxshott) Footbridge  1908 - opened January 1910Spanish City 1910New North Road Bridge  1912 - 1914Fiddler's Elbow Bridge, Newark  1915Cooling Towers, 1924 At Lister Drive Power Station in Liverpool, L.G. Mouchel & Partners provided the UK with its first natural draught hyperbolic-curved reinforced concrete cooling towers — introducing the distinctive shape with which we are now so familiar.Caversham Bridge Caversham Road, Reading assoc engineer LG Mouchel & Partners March 1924 - 25th June 1926Royal Tweed Bridge ...Royal Tweed Bridge River Tweed, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland associated engineer LG Mouchel & Partners date  1928Earl's Court Exhibition Centre (1937) LG Mouchel & Partners date  1935 - 1st September 1937Nunn's Bridge, Fishtoft 1947 – 1948Other significant projects included Royal Victoria Dock, and stands for Liverpool and Manchester City football clubs. The company also designed the cooling towers for Battersea Power Station, which form the skyline of London south of the River Thames.(Research):Mouchel: Source: http://freespace.virgin.net/barry.d/history/recent_meetings.htmlhttp://www.mouchel.com/about_us/history/default.aspx accessed Oct 1 2009