Albert Edward Gardner

We never got to know Granddad Gardner. He too was from a very large family. His parents – Sidney Victor Gardner (born 1881, died 1947) and his mother Alice Caroline Walker (born 1879, died 1949) had a total of 9 children. They are as follows:

James Horace Gardner – born 5/12/1899, died 1968
Sidney James Gardner – born 12/11/1900
Albert Edward Gardner – born 27/10/1903, died 26/8/1960 (Granddad)
William George Gardner – born 16/3/1906
Fred John Gardner – born 20/5/1909
Lillian May Gardner – born 14/7/1911 (twin died 6/12/1911 aged 4 months old)
Alice Rose Gardner – born 14/7/1911 (twin died 27/4/1912 aged 9 months old)
Ethel Elizabeth Gardner – born 1/7/1915
Earnest Francis Gardner – born 24/3/1918

We don’t know much about Granddad Gardner at all. Robert is still researching the family history, but he has uncovered the fact that Granddad lived at 41 Darwin Street, Old Kent Road when he was a teenager. His employment record shows that he worked at United Stores Delivery Co in Kennington for 10 months, then he was a Junior for 15 months at the Army and Navy Stores in Old Kent Road, and on 7^th July 1921 he was employed by Sainsbury’s in their Stoves Branch (in Union Street near Blackfriars). His wages was 30 shillings a week. In August of that year he was transferred to the Sainsbury’s factory. He was dismissed on 7^th June 1923 for carelessness. Sainsbury’s were asked for references for him from the RAF on 3/7/1923 and from Waring’s Ltd, 8 King Street W. Smithfield on 15/5/1937.

He met and married Gran in 1924 (Wedding date 6/9/1924) They had three children – Albert Ivan Gardner (my Dad); Irene Gardner (known as Renee) and Jean Gardner. From what we can gather Granddad and Gran had a very fractured relationship – Jean reports that he was a very abusive husband and father and that he frequently hit Gran and his son. They lived at the RAF base in Halton Oxford. He was away with the RAF a lot and did not spend much time with his own children. In 1939 Granddad wanted a divorce from Gran – it would appear he had met someone else and he wanted to remarry. Gran flatly refused to grant him his wish (from what I can gather it was mainly because she would have lost her right to his pension) and so he lived in London with the new woman in his life. In 1944 his daughter Renee took a trip to London to pay him a visit. She wanted to know why he had cut his children out of his life. He did not invite her into his house and said that he did not want anything to do with her or the rest of his “other” family. Renee said that her father had started a new family with this other woman but that she did not know if there were any other children. He must have been a troubled person though because on 26^th July 1960 at the age of 56 he committed suicide. When he died he left a Will and his home and all of his possessions were left to the woman he lived with. Gran went to see a Solicitor and tried to contest the Will, since she was the legal wife, but was told that it would cost her money and she most likely would not succeed since a Will had been made. She had to let it go.

Main World Events in the year of 1903 when Granddad Gardner was born

UK – October 10th – Mrs Pankhurst formed the Women’s Social and Political Union with the slogan “Deeds not Words” to secure votes for women
UK – London had its first electric trams
USA – The Pepsi Cola brand name was registered
UK – Marconi’s Telegraphy link between the UK and USA started
USA – Panama treaty gives America control of the canal although building wasn’t to start until 1904
UK – A speed limit of 20mph was set for cars on British roads
USA – The first use of Guantánamo Bay 1903: A large naval base is established in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The U.S. Marines had landed there in 1898, and it had been recognized for its proximity to the Winward Passage and to Panama.
USA – First Baseball World Series 1903: The first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball, matched the Boston American League club ( Boston Red Sox ) against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a best-of-nine series, with Boston prevailing five games to three, winning the last four.
UK – First UK Number Plate 1903: The first car number plate ( A1 ) is issued to Earl Russell who camped outside the London County Council issuing office overnight to be sure he got it, ( he was the brother of the philosopher Bertrand Russell )
USA – Orville and Wright 1903: Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful man-powered airplane flight, near Kitty Hawk, N.C. The plane weighed 750 pounds and was powered by a 12 horsepower gasoline engine. The craft is referred to as an airship and Orville and Wright are looking for buyers for their machine which is capable of speeds up to 10 mph.
USA – Ford Motor Company 1903: Henry Ford ( A Machinist and Engineer ) forms the Ford Motor Company to manufacture Automobiles
USA – Iroquois Theater Fire in Chicago 1903: The Iroquois Theater Fire in Chicago, Illinois, claims 602 lives, the theater had only been open for just over a month. This is still the worst single-building fire in U.S. history for the number of lives lost.
USA – First Crayola Crayons 1903: Edward Binney and C. Harold Smith introduced the world to Crayola Crayons for school kids. The first boxes consisted of 8 different colors and the boxes were the same trademark color of yellow and green they are today. The first box of 8 Crayola Crayons were sold for a nickel. The box included the same 8 colours that are found in an 8-pack today: red, yellow, blue, green, orange, brown, violet (purple), and black