- Six Nomads in Normandy, Chs I and II.
- Records of St Cyprian's Church, West Derby, Liverpool Record Office
- Bourne family papers and personal communications.
- Westmore family papers and personal communications.
Throughout the Nomads' book, one of the young women is always referred to as 'Miss Gleave', even when the writer is clearly the other young woman. Although they were close friends, this traditional formality would continue into married life. In photos, Miss Gleave is never far from Alec Westmore, aka 'Straw Boater'. 'Miss Gleave' wrote the first two chapters, recording, with admirable attention to detail, vignettes of daily life in Normandy. By 7.30 on a Sunday morning, it's the men who are buying vegetables at the street market. Anglican, she's intrigued rather than repelled by Catholic worship. The service in the Church of Notre Dame is spectacular, the music impressive. The trees along the banks of the Seine are poplars, shopping in kilos is a novelty, so are tethered cattle in the hedgeless fields. As for Normandy cider - Miss Gleave willingly acquires a taste for it - (ce n'est que le premier verre qui coute). Before leaving Caen next morning, she and the other young woman 'put on their war-paint'. Approaching Creully, Field Marshall Montgomery's 1944 headquarters, Miss Gleave admires cornfield poppies and the ruined Abbaye d'Ardennes. In 1912, 1944 is never far away. (1)
In 1901, fifteen year old Gladys Gleave was working as a pupil teacher. Pupil teaching was an Edwardian version of work experience or an internship. Unusually for this period, the Gleaves encouraged their three daughters to pursue higher education. While working as an elementary school teacher, Gladys passed the first stage of a B.A. at Liverpool University, but didn't complete her degree. Her elder and younger sisters both studied at Edge Hill College, both gaining B.Sc degrees. Louise, the youngest girl, was later awarded an M.Sc, becoming a headteacher. All members of the Gleave family were musical, playing and singing classical and popular music at concerts arranged by their local church, St Cyprian's, West Derby. (2)
Alec Westmore and Gladys Gleave married on August 10th 1914 at St Hilary's church, Wallasey. The war was barely six days old. When Alec enlisted, on February 5th, 1915, he wouldn't have known that Gladys was in the early stages of pregnancy. On September 9th, Alec's troop ship landed in France. Kenneth was born on September 15th and christened on November 7th. As Kenneth's sponsor and godfather, Frank Bourne was with Gladys at the christening. When Frank died,aged 97, the record of his commitment to Kenneth Westmore was still among his papers. (3)
During WWI, family life would be a distant memory for millions of men, and the lost years of marriage and fatherhood could never be regained. During the war years, Alec isn't listed in street directories. Many women like Gladys were forced to depend on their parents, living as daughters with children, rather than as wives and mothers.
Alec and Gladys's daughter Margaret was born in January, 1918. When Alec was discharged, unfit for further service, Gladys had a three month old daughter and a two and a half year old son who'd barely seen his father. And a badly injured husband, unable to work again?
Norman Westmore's information added considerably to the official record of his parents lives. He knew that Alec had hoped to become a journalist, but after the war, it was agreed that his health problems ruled out such a stressful job. The Westmore children were told that their father suffered from 'nerves'. This proved to be classic British understatement. In April, 1918, Alec, who'd been injured in the 'Spring Offensive', was a patient at Netley, the same Red Cross hospital where Wilfred Owen was treated before he was sent to convalesce at Craiglockhart. 'D' ward at Netley specialised in shell-shock cases. Leaving her infant daughter and toddler son with her parents, Gladys travelled south to be with Alec. How long she stayed at Netley isn't clear. Many women in her position were able to work as hospital volunteers. Alec had lost the sight of one eye, and the sight of the other remained poor for the rest of his life, corrected with a thick bottle glass lense. His Netley records haven't survived, but it was Alec's 'bad nerves' rather than his damaged sight that ruled out journalism. In the Twenties, adults wouldn't talk to small children about shattered minds. Norman Westmore did remember his father talking about the terrible weight of those stretchers. There were never enough bearers, especially when so many had been killed and injured.
After WWII, Gladys Westmore travelled to the Western Front with Alec, to visit the Thiepval memorial, where Fred's name is listed. (4)