70 It’s A Long Way from Lancashire to Here, Part 1: 26 October 2024

My name is John Hankin.  

I was born in Liverpool in 1949 when Liverpool was still part of the County of Lancashire.  Mum and dad would tell me that I came from Liverpool, Lancashire, England.  My older brother Bill was also born in Liverpool.  As from 1 April 1974, the County of Lancashire was abolished and the part of Lancashire which once included Liverpool became the Metropolitan County of Merseyside.

My dad was Thomas Clifford Hankin.  He was a sheet metal worker who served with the RAF from 27 September 1940 until 21 May 1946.  Cliff served until early in 1944 as a Ground Crew member of Bomber Command.  Ground Crew ensured the planes flew, patching them up when they managed to return from bombing enemy targets.

Cliff tried to enlist in the British Army when World War II broke out on 1 September 1939, but the Army rejected him.  Cliff had become a qualified tradesman shortly after 25 February 1938 when he turned 18.

The government had decided qualified tradesmen would be more useful if they worked in their trade.  There were plenty of potential soldiers but there were not enough qualified tradesmen.  Cliff’s skills were in high demand during the War.

Serving as a tradesman in the RAF was an extremely hard career choice, but early in 1944, Cliff’s RAF service got harder.  In 1943, Bomber Command suffered shocking casualties and dad was asked to volunteer for service as aircrew.  Cliff did volunteer, had a short training course from 13 to 19 February 1944, and subsequently served as an aircrew member with Bomber Command.  He served as an “Observer”; his job was to spot German aircraft before they shot his own plane down.  Cliff survived the war.

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Cliff was born on 25 February 1921, the second of four brothers.  He was 19 when he joined Bomber Command.  Cliff grew up in extreme poverty in a Liverpool ravaged by the 1930s Great Depression.  Cliff begam an apprenticeship with Charles Howson and Company shortly after he turned 14 on 25 February 1935. Charles Howson were ship repairers based at Huskinson Dock, Liverpool.  He told me his parents had to pay £10/-/- before his employer would accept him as an apprentice.  In 1924, this was the equivalent of £694.140.  It was deducted from his wages.  Cliff was special; his older brother Bill didn’t get an apprenticeship.

Cliff never talked about his war experiences unless he was very drunk; Even then, he said very little.

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My mum was Josey Wood; she was born on 9 May 1924.  Her father William George Wood, was born in 1891.  His father Bill Wood had been a labourer, but when electricity arrived in Liverpool, Bill Wood became an electrician.  My grandfather William George Wood became a ship’s electrician.  He was Chief Electrician on the MV Leighton in 1938 when he had a heart attack.  Grandfather was put ashore in Antwerp, Belgium and died on 20 May 1938.  Josey had turned 14 just 11 days before her dad died. 

William George Wood died at age 46, leaving my grandmother Annie Grant responsible for 6 children who were then aged 23, 18, 16, 14, 12 and 10.

Josey was sent to work at the local fish and chip shop.  Grandmother let Josey keep six pence – the equivalent of £1.67 in 2019 currency.  Even in 1938, this was a lousy pittance.  The extreme shortage of money while she was young had a lasting effect on how Josey treated her own children.

When the war started, Josey was working for Littlewoods Pools Company.  Littlewoods was a gambling agency.  It made money by taking bets on football and other sports.  When the war broke out, the Littlewoods main building was requisitioned; it became a factory for making bombs, barrage balloons and woollen material.  

Josey spent the war working in munitions factories.  

Munition factories were prime targets for the Luftwaffe. 

Apart from Luftwaffe attacks, munitions factories were very dangerous places to work in.  If mishandled, munitions do what they are supposed to do – they blow up, killing and maiming those nearby.

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Cliff and Josey married on Saturday 10 March 1945.  At the time of their marriage, even if he had wanted to talk about his war experiences, the Official Secrets Act forbade Cliff from, talking about his experiences except to colleagues within the RAF. 

On that Saturday in March 1945, WW II had not yet finished, Cliff was 24 and Josey was 20.  Cliff’s RAF service did not finish until 14 months after the wedding.

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Cliff, Josey, my brother Bill and I migrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1952.  We sailed on the New Australia.  Back them, the Australian Government required migrants aged 19 or more to pay £10/-/- towards their travel costs to Australia.  This was the “Ten Pound Poms” scheme.  Children under 13 travelled for free,.  For children aged 14, 15, 16 and 17, £5/-/- each had to be paid.

In addition to the travel cost contribution, Cliff and Josey had to pay £2/-/- “landing money” to the Australian Government.  The £2/-/- “landing money” was repayable on arrival at the “reception centre” in Australia.  Cliff and Josey had to find £22/-/- to migrate to Australia. 

£22/-/- is now a trivial amount of money, but finding £22/-/- in 1952 was nearly impossible.  In 1952, £22/-/- was the equivalent of at least £657.95.  Cliff filled out the paperwork for approval to migrate on Wednesday 21 March 1951 and subsequently worked in 2 jobs to save the £22/-/-.

Approval for our migration came on 16 June 1952.  Once a sailing date had been fixed, Australia paid our railway fares from Liverpool to London and then from London to Southampton, where we boarded the New Australia.

New Australia left Southampton on Wednesday 29 October 1952.  I remember our departure.  There were dozens of brightly coloured streamers strung out between the ship and the dock.  The streamers broke as the ship pulled away from the dock. 

Liverpool. Lancashire, England faded from my memory.

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Travelling with us on New Australia were Vera Bellew, her husband Harry Bellew and their children Jim and Dennis.  Vera was mum’s sister.

On leaving England, Cliff was 31, Josey was 28; Bill was not quite 5 and I was 3.  Harry Bellew was 36; Vera Bellew was 32 and Jim and Dennis were 8 and 2.

For most of my life, Uncle Harry, Aunt Vera and Jim and Dennis were the only close relatives apart from my own family that I ever knew.

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Except for the Bellews, I grew up without relatives - no grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins or relatives of any description.

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None of us knew it then, but we had accepted one way tickets to a place from which there could be no return to the life we had known.

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Without knowing it, we had set sail to the Moon.

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It was 1998 before I saw England again. 

Dad visited Liverpool only once – in 1972. 

Mum also visited Liverpool only once.  By then, dad was dead and mum had been severely mentally ill for decades.