The Brocket Babies
The Brocket Babies
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1. From Janette Labbee, daughter of Doris Seaton - received 27th August 2008
As student of British History, my mum was always very interested in stately homes and provided me with a pretty good description of the elegant wall coverings and opulent toilets, which she quoted "looked more like a throne". The summer of 1943 was extremely hot and in my dad's memoires is a pretty good description of his first impressions of Brocket Hall, if more detail is needed at a later date.
2. From Frank Cottage, son of Florence Cottage - received 6th June 2009
We were able to take mum to a "Brocket Baby Day" which
she loved and also once for lunch at Auberge du Lac where she was treated
like a queen by the wonderful staff.
3. From Martyn Brisland - received 29th December 2009
Marjorie Brisland, was in Brocket Hall in June
1943 for the birth of her daughter Janet and again in December 1946
for the birth of her son Martyn.
She remembers staying in a house, she believes
in Welwyn garden City, belonging to the hospital. She says that the
expectant mothers shared the housekeeping but thinks there was a
cook on the premises. A nurse was in charge and summoned an
ambulance to take the women to Brocket hall when she decided their
labour was advanced enough. She thinks there were about a dozen
women there at any time. The only staff at
Brocket Hall, that she can recall by name, were Sister Rock or Roc
and Nursie Mac. She remembers everything was very regimented
but that was probably the same in every hospital at that time. The
women were kept in bed for at least six days after the birth so she
was there for Christmas 1946 when I was born. She says the nurses
put on a show for the women and the only doctor there dressed as
Father Christmas. The nurses made small presents and she remembers
receiving a toy duck with a felt beak. This was a period
of austerity and the nurses used sanitary towels as decorations
strung across the mantle pieces. Finally she thinks
that there was a taxi service to get the women to the Railway
station for their return home run by a Mr Bundy or Bunty.
4.
From Carol Paton, - received 16th December 2010 Mum said she
was sent to a nursing home not far from Brocket Hall, and was there for about
two weeks before I was due, she said when she started with her labour pains she
was taken to Brocket Hall for the birth. When she was in the nursing home she
met a Jewish girl who's baby was due around the same time as me. Her husband
worked at de Havilland Aircraft Company and he had a car and used to bring
my dad to see my mum when he came to see his wife. My dad was not in the Forces
as he had had TB. The couple were called Barney and Pauline and they had a boy
on 18th August 1943, two days after my birth. The boy was called Lawrence and my
parents were friends with his parents for quite a few years when I was growing
up. I remember going to their house in Clapton for Sunday tea and them coming to
our flat in Bethnal Green. Mum said they moved out quite a long way and we
eventually lost touch with them. I think their surname was Solomon. Mum said the
nurses and all the staff at Brocket Hall were very kind and she was very well
treated and was there was about two weeks.
5. From Jan Tidiman, - received 22nd February 2012
Thank you so much, my sister will be delighted to be included in the list. Her full name is Carol Ann Pusey, born at Brocket Hall on 12th December 1943. I was also born in the City of London Maternity Hospital, in 1950, but by then it was located in North London (Royal Northern Hospital). I have an elderly relative who states that two great aunts worked and lived at the gate houses either side of Brocket Hall, they were from Furneux Pelham. I hope to visit him next month and if I get any further information I will let you know. He has already told me that they opened the gates for Count Von Ribbentrop but how true that is I do not know.
6. From Bryan Stanway - received 3rd March 2012
Thank you so much for your continued interest and participation in this activity - I'm sure it has brought much enjoyment to the "babes" and nostalgic recollections to many of their mothers. I was very interested to hear your radio interview with Steve Gordon in Perth also. I am going to play it back for my mother soon. Mum is now 90 and lives in her own apartment in Narrabeen a suburb on the northern beaches area of Sydney. She has lived there for over 30 years now and my wife and I live in the suburb of Curl Curl about 10 minutes by car from her home. My parents were married (aged 20 and 18) for just over 63 years until dad passed away in 2003. During WW2 dad was called up in the 1st Army (RAMC) and served from January 1940 until demobbed in Aug 1946 having served in North Africa Sicily mainland Italy and Austria at Klagenfurt Hospital. Mum did her bit for "our boys" in the factories making barrage balloons and later on electrical components. My "creation" was due to a period of leave spent in Northern Ireland - I confirmed via his army records. During another period of leave they spent some time visiting the grounds of Hatfield House. Mum was living in Upper Street Islington and dad in Hackney before their marriage. I have a book of Kipling verse given to mum by a "companion mum" (a lady named Wyn) the day after my birth. I am going to ask mum about her time at Brocket Hall and as an initial "prompt" have asked her if she can remember seeing Chinese patterned wallpaper somewhere in England before we emigrated from their home in Prittlewell (Southend) to Australia in 1950. Disembarked in Melbourne lived in Geelong until 1964. Who knows we may even get to travel over for a Brocket Babes reunion. Will have a look at the website with mum when we have her round at our place for our regular Sunday roast lunch.
7. From Brian Riley - received 5th July 2012
I was born Brian Alan Riley on 7th September 1943 at Brocket Hall. That's about as much as I know. My mother, Emma Annie Riley (always known as Ann) died about 12 years ago and my father about 20 years ago, so no help is available from those sources. In 1943, my Father had been in the Fire Service in East London for 4 years and had been involved in many dangerous situations. My family lived in Manor Park in East Ham but our house had been very badly damaged for the second time by enemy bombing so my mother and my two older brothers went to live with her mother in Hackney. I understood that my mother should have gone to a hospital in the City but went to Brocket Hall instead. My parents never told me anything about the circumstances surrounding my birth but I learnt only a few years ago from a sister of my father, who has now also died, that my mother contacted her and asked her to come to Brocket Hall to collect her and me and take us back to London. Very shortly after that my mother was evacuated with me and my two bothers to South Wales for over a year. So I didn't return "home" until I was over one year old. I was delighted to discover the Brocket Babes Website and I have already ready discovered much more about the place of my birth.