At the outbreak of war in 1939 Shardeloes, the family home of the Tyrwhitt-Drakes, was requisitioned as a maternity hospital to provide mothers, mainly from the south and east of London, a safe place to deliver their babies away from the danger of bombing raids. Over 5,000 babies were born there up until its closure in 1948.

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Shardeloes Babies
A postcard featuring Shardeloes Mansion, Amersham in use as a maternity hospital

 

Ruth Gallop

Born in May 1943 to parents Vera Isserlis Amiel and Harold Joffre Amiel of Chorley Wood. My father was an officer in Italy at time of my birth and I recently received his letters written near time of my birth. He was seriously wounded shortly after my birth but survived the war. Post war he was a soliciter in London. Now living in Toronto, Canada.

 

Ann Garrott (née McInerney)

Born April 1941.  Her parents were from County Clare in the Republic of Ireland and her father was stationed in Wales at the time in the Royal Artillery.

 

Dorothy Margaret Gates

Born in September 1944 to Bertha Gladys Gates of London SW11. Now living in Charing, Kent.

 

Elizabeth Gebbels (née Stapleton)

Born December 1943. “We were evacuated to my maternal grandparents soon after my birth. They lived at Orange Wood, Epping Upland, Epping, Essex. My father stayed in London.”

 

Wendy Gething (née Howard)

Born August 1946 to parents Harold Cappleman Howard and Winifred Hilda Howard (née Kirk) of Lewisham area. Wendy was either triplet or twin. Now living in Nottinghamshire.

 

Roy Goddard

Born July 1942. “My father was a Private serving with the East Surrey Regiment when war broke out. He was demobbed after the war.” Parents were living in Shoreditch, London E2.

 

Erica Godman (née Edwards)

Born June 1941, parents living in Chesham Bois

 

Patricia Golding (née Ambrose)
Born January 1947 to parents Richard Arthur Ambrose and Winifred Clara Winteridge. At the time living at 121 Lodge Avenue, Dagenham, Essex. My father was born in 1915 and served in the Army in the 2nd World war. He died in 1981. My mother worked in munitions. My parents married in December 1944. My mother was born in 1918 and died a few months before her 100th birthday in 2018. Now retired but have been working in a local charity shop. Living in South Woodham Ferrers.

 

David Goldstein

Born in December 1940 to Anne and Sidney Goldstein of Plumstead, London. They ran a paints and wallpaper shop in Plumstead High Street where I was brought up till I left to get married in 1962. Now living in Regents Park, London.

 

Peter Goodman

Born February 1942. “My parents lived in Matham Grove, Dulwich, London. My father worked for Moser (aircraft packer) and died in 1945 when a German V2 rocket hit the factory in the Borough . Mum keep on working as a housekeeper. She married again and we moved to Bermondsey in 1947. She died one week short of her 100th birthday.”

 

Barry Goodwin

IMG_20150914_164021_kindlephoto-30343313Born May 1943.  “I know my mother was in the land army during the war. My birth certificate states my father was a civil defence ambulance driver/ meat porter. I was evidently moved down to Bath with relatives as a baby for safety. I lived at the east Dulwich address until I was 21 and got married. I moved to New Cross. Lived on Lewisham Way at the junction of Shardeloes road and Amersham Vale/Way.  What a coincidence.”

“Schools attended: Grove Vale Infant, expelled for going walkabout at five years old, lol, Friern Rd Infants, Heber Rd Primary, all East Dulwich. Nunhead Secondary, Peckham. Tulse Hill Comprehensive. Left with O level English, A level art.  Work history: Sign draftsman; Silk screen printer; postman West Central, Holborn; Wholesale Fashion trade, Oxford Circus Area, five years; mini cab driver; courier company partner; van delivery self employed; BMX and skateboard shop, cycle shop manager; Mini cab driver again. I spent the last eleven years until I retired working for my sons removal company at Kidbrooke, SE4. Accounts, payroll and general office. Retired at 68 years old. Now I write and self publish my books on Amazon under the pen name, Charlie B. and I run my own group on Goodreads where I’ve made friends with people all over the world.”

 

Monica Goozee (née Hersant)

Born June 1944.  Mother living in Westminster. Father served with Royal Engineers.

 

Jean Gordon (née East)

Jean’s mother in the early 1940s
Jean’s parents taken during the war

Born November 1946. Her parents lived in Great Missenden. “I don’t know much about my beginnings, apart from my mother being in Shardeloes for about 3 weeks. Dad was unable to visit for 10 days, as he had not been demobbed.  Dad took part in the D-Day landings and, after the war, resumed working as a baker and confectioner. He later became the first caretaker at the newly-built Misbourne School in Great Missenden where he worked till he died in 1971.

I met and married my husband (an Australian) in 1971. We have two sons and one daughter and now five grandchildren. I’m very pleased to be included as a ‘Shardeloes Baby’ and a (very small) part of Shardeloes’ long history.”

 

Alexander John Gordon

Born in January 1942 to parents Mary and Alexander Gordon of Weston Turville. Now living in Port Erin, Isle of Man.

 

Christine Gosden (née Knight)

Born November 1945

 

Alan Nigel Gray

Born to Phyllis and Thomas Gray of Chalfont St Giles, my mother is still alive and well living in Chalfont St Giles. Now living in Chalfont St Giles.

 

Marion May Greaves (née Tolton)

Born February 1945.  “My parents, Stanley James Tolton and Winifred May Tolton, were living in Upper Norwood, London SE19, at the time of the war. My father was in the RAF and he was stationed in Egypt at the time of my birth, maintaining and guarding the aeroplanes that might be required in future events, and didn’t return home to England until July 1946. Mum had to leave her two older sons with relatives whilst she went to Shardeloes to deliver me. I was born 2 weeks early weighing just over 5lbs. She was advised to stay until I had gained some more weight. She recalled working in the kitchen during her early labour. She also remembered walking up a long drive to reach the house.”

“My maiden name was Marion May Tolton. I now am living in Needham Market, Suffolk since my husband’s work moved there, soon after our marriage in 1966. My married name being Greaves.”

 

Barbara Grundy (née Hiller)

Barbara with her mother, Cassie Hiller, possibly in the grounds of Shardeloes

Born June 1942. “The only thing I remember my mother saying about Shardeloes was that as she was 46 when I was born (unusually old for 73 years ago) & it was possible that she might have a tricky birth, she was sent to the peace & safety of the countryside. My brother was 25 years older than myself, in WW2 for seven years, the last of those in Burma. My parents, thinking that they might never see him again & so would not have much to show for their lives, thought they would start over & so this resulted in myself. Luckily my brother returned from Burma safe & sound, & I wonder what he thought of his unexpected baby sister.”

 

Lola Gudsell (Nee Walton, mother’s name was Violet Walton and my father Joseph Walton)

Born February 1941. Her mother lived in Amersham-on-the-Hill and her father was stationed in Weedon. Her two older sisters had measles and her mother had to be put into isolation, so she was sent to Shardeloes to one of the converted stables.

 

Lila Guha

Born October 1947, now living in London.

 

Valerie Gunn (née Mitchell)

Born in September 1940 to Rosina May Mitchell and James Mitchell of South London.

 

Michael Hammond

Born in Jun 1945 to Sydney and Doris Hammond. My mother was evacuated out to Chalfont St Peter, whilst my father was in the City of London Police. 

My father was pensiond out of the police in 1950, when he had to wear glasses. We moved to Epping, Essex, where he worked as a forest keeper until his death (from stomach cancer) in 1956.
I grew up in Essex before moving to Cambridge, then Suffolk, in both places working as a librarian. After doing a languages degree, I ended up working in London until my wife and I retired to Cupar, Fife, Scotland.

 

Chris Hailey

Born October 1946

 

Jacqueline Teresa Hall

Born in May 1946 to Eunice Bigg and Stanley Lovell Hall of Lee, London, SE12. Now living in Mottingham, London.

 

Annette Halford

Born October 1945 to Florence Alice Ellen Kent, a NAAFI Manageress. I was adopted by Richard and Rhoda Read who lived in Slough. I didn’t know that I was adopted until I was 18. I traced my natural mother in 1990, met her in 1992. She died in 1993. I have lived in Australia since 1972. 

 

Susan Hancock (née Blundell)

Born February 1947.  Her father owned Blundell’s Bookshop in Chesham.  “It was a notoriously cold winter and my mother used to tell us that my father strapped tennis rackets to his feet to act as snow shoes and walked from Chesham to Shardeloes several times. She was not able to leave Shardeloes for quite a long period because the roads were impassable!”

 

John Hankins

photo 1photo 1-1Born January 1944.  “I only knew [that I was born at Shardeloes] as it is written on my birth certificate. At the time my parents would have been living in White City Shepherds Bush, London. My father was in the RAF at the time. I lived there until I was 21 when I got married and moved to Middlesex then to Kent. In 1981 we moved to Newquay Cornwall where we still live. We have just celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. My mother didn’t really say anything to me about Shardeloes and how she was sent there to have me. I have an older sister and wonder if she would have been with my mother when she was sent there.

We have family at Flackwell Heath that we visited in March so we went along to Shardeloes and thought what a beautiful building it was. We named our first house in Newquay ‘Shardeloes’ thinking it was a little village in Amersham, but we found out after that it was a stately home, no wonder we couldn’t find it on the map.”

 

Jennifer Harris

Born in December 1943 to Gladys Winifred Banton and Thomas Richard Banton of Balham, SW London. My father, Tom, was serving with the Grenadier Guards in Italy and was killed in action in December 1943 on my birth date. Now living in Christchurch, Dorset.

 

Wendy M Harris

Born July 1943. I myself was registered as Wendy Euston (a foundling!). Found on the steps of an air raid shelter near Euston station, London in July 1943. I was later adopted in 1946 from from a London council commissioned Children’s/Orphan’s home in Rugby! My DNA search links me to Irish cousins related to Alice Neville & their family tree! MAUREEN Brooks birth was registered at Shardeloes, believed to be me, later abandoned by Alice at 2 weeks old! Alice is understood to be married at this time to a Seaman in R.N. named George W Brooks who was away on service! Because of the address given on ‘Maureen’s’ birth certificate below (Etty Street, Lambeth, London, S.E.1) it is thought she had been ‘cast out’ of her In-Laws family where she had been staying in the Sept. 1939 census, because of a casual affair when she became pregnant resulting in Maureen (Me!). From my DNA matches my biological father is believed to be Greek origin!

Now living in Dorchester.

 

Patricia May Harrison (née Bailey)

Born in October 1941 to parents Winifred Daisy Bailey and Frederick Leonard Bailey of East Hill Estate. London SW18. My father was able to visit me and mum before being shipped overseas and I didn’t see him until the end of the war. I have been married to my husband for over 61 years and have one daughter, 2 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Now living in Hampton Hargate, Cambridgeshire.

 

David Ian Hasted

My name is David Hasted and I was born at Shardeloes in February 1947. My Mothers name was Lily-Ann Hasted (nee Styles) and my Father, Harold Hasted. Harold born in Aylesbury and my Mother in Abergavenny in Wales.

Lily-Ann train as a nurse before retraining to become a Nursery School Teacher at Beech Green Nursery in Aylesbury. Harold was a diesel engine driver. We lived in Penn Road, Aylesbury and were joined by my Brother Alan who was born in 1949 at The Royal Bucks Hospital.

I went to Quarrendon School from 1958 – 1962 before spending 25 very happy years working for The Bucks Herald, achieving the position of Advertisement Manager. My final working years were spent running my own business, Aylesbury Office Supplies.

In 1969 I married Diane Webb from Dinton and we went on to have two children, Mark and Nicola. My Mother died in 2006 and my Father four years later in 2010. Sport, particularly cricket, has always been an important part of my life. However I only managed one century in my cricketing career – against Amersham, in the grounds of Shardeloes in 1980!!

 

Christine Hawgood (née Panter)

Born March 1947.  Parents were living in Plumstead, S E London

 

John Heelas

Born to parents Gladys Violet and John (Tom) Heelas of London E15. Now living in Cornwall.

 

Gillian Frances Hicks (née Eurich)

Born January 1945 “My father was in the Royal Navy and my mother was in the Royal Air Force. My father at the time of my birth was serving in the Royal Navy at sea still at war. He didn’t get to know about my birth for weeks after and didn’t know whether he had a son or daughter or even if my mother was alright. He found out when a telegraph was received on board by the Captain who then celebrated the news with him with a tot of Rum.”

 

Michael Holder

Born August 1944. Parents were living in Aston Abbotts near Aylesbury. Now living in New South Wales.

 

Rita Hopper (née Morton)

Born January 1947 to parents Edward Henry and Florence Lilian Morton. Parents lived in New Cross, London. Now living in Bromley, Kent.

 

Nigel Houghton

Born April 1944 to parents Alice Millicent Ann Houghton  and Harold Handman of West London.  My dob, 4.4.44, has always been a talking point. Although it looks unique, other babies must have been born In Shardeloes on that day. I would love to meet up with them – even if just by Zoom.
After school at the new Holland Park Comprehensive, studied at the LSE and then at the University of Minnesota US. Back to UK. Producer/Director for BBC for 8 years. Then set up own award-winning film and video production company. Developed software to help older people use computers. Now teaching English and writing language course. Married for 55 years to boyhood love, Mary. Two wonderful daughters, Jane and Sarah and two incredible granddaughters.
Sadly, my father, a watchmaker, died when I was 7 and my mother died in her 70’s. She always spoke glowingly about Shardeloes. Now living in Battersea.

 

Sylvia Houston (née Severein)

Born in November 1946 to parents Pieter and Elizabeth Severein. My father was Dutch, My mother English. I have lived in Adelaide,South Australia for over 50 years.

 

Marion Howden (née Jones)

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Born October 1944.  “I was born at Shardeloes as my mother was taken there to escape the London bombing. My father was a Rifleman in the King’s Rifles and after leaving the army at the end of the war my father went to work in the printing industry.” (The images show Marion with her mother and a recent photo.)

 

Christine Hunt

Born in December 1945 to Rose Agnes Elder and Albert Elder, Mum from Dagenham Dad in army, Dad died. Now living in Hornchurch, Essex.

 

Plan Your Visit

Opening hours:

Wednesday to Sunday, and Bank Holiday Mondays, 12noon to 4:30pm

49 High Street
Old Amersham
Buckinghamshire
HP7 0DP

01494 723700
[email protected]

 

“Enjoyed our visit to this wonderful interactive museum where you are positively encouraged to touch things!”

“Visited Amersham museum yesterday – lovely place, provides many details on the history of the place. Plenty of cute cafes, pubs and shops around also… not difficult to find free parking nearby. ”

“A well-run, informative and interesting small museum on the main street. It’s mostly volunteer-run and they do a great job in keeping it and making you feel welcome…Check out the herb garden too.”

“Enjoyable film and television location guided walk around Amersham hosted by Amersham Museum – here are the Sun Houses on Highover Park and further up the hill is High & Over.”

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