Page 74 - Sylvia Malt - Side by Side

PART II - BETWEEN THE WARS

The Communities

Following the end of the very brutal and devastating First World War, when Britain lost at
least one million men, the Nation did its best to take up normal life again - to give the
children some hope and to find enough courage to rebuild their shattered lives.

The surviving men gradually returned to their homes and tried to adapt again to civilian life,
but they soon discovered that so much had changed in the world they had innocently left
behind. Their horrific experiences was not something they wanted to talk about, and just
to be alive was, for now, reward enough. Many of the returning men were unable to find
work and some even were known to beg on the streets. Those that had lost limbs, or even
worse, their sight, had little or no chance of being employed.

During the 1920's and 1930's the communities of Foots Cray and North Cray bravely
attempted to resume their everyday lives... lives which they knew would never be the same
again. As most families were related in some way or another there was hardly anyone who
had not been bereaved of a loved one or close relative. Widows struggled to raise families
without their man's wage, and dozens of children grew up without ever knowing a father.
But at least the fighting was over, and the politicians promised it would never happen
again. The population was comforted by the thought that it was definitely a war to end all
wars.

Some families decided to emigrate, feeling that they could make a fresh start in Australia or
Canada. In Foots Cray, two widows, Mary Wells, (widow of Henry Wells, who had died in
Russia in 1919) and Constance Tree (widow of George Tree who died in France in 1917)
took the brave decision to start a new life in one of the countries of the British Empire. In
1922, Mary Wells boarded the SS Orvieto together with her three children to start a new life
in Perth, Western Australia. In 1923, Constance Tree and her young son, George, (who was
born after his father's death) boarded the SS Mont Claire bound for Montreal in Canada.

The pioneering plastic surgery by Major Gillies at the Queen's Hospital (later renamed
*Queen Mary's) from 1917 treating badly injured men whose faces and confidence needed
to be restored, gradually came to an end. While he was working at the hospital, Major
Gillies lived in Foots Cray. The Hospital closed in 1929 and was subsequently bought in
1930 by the London County Council to use as a convalescent home.

In 1929 came the Wall Street crash in America. But this shouldn't worry people in this tiny
part of Kent, except that many small businesses collapsed, farmers were unable to find
markets for their produce, thousands were unemployed across the United Kingdom. With
almost no help from the authorities, many families survived on very little food or comfort.
The thirties was a very bleak and demoralising time for most poor families. That same
year the oil lamps in Foots Cray and North Cray Villages were converted to gas.

In 1936 a pillar box was provided in St. James Parade, North Cray, which bears the rare
Royal Cipher of Edward VIII (designed by him and is Bexley Locally listed).But the eldest
son of George V was never crowned. He abdicated all his rights to be King in 1938 and
moved to France to marry Wallace Simpson.

*During the 2WW the hospital also cared for most medical and surgical cases. Three
hospital wards and Frognal House were bombed in 1941 with a loss of life of 17 patients
and four staff.

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