This is only in draft, "?" marks indicate known unknowns etc.
My father, Major Charles Gerard Tomkinson, MC,TD*, never talked to me about his wartime service. On occasion, he spoke to his sailing companions about it, but they have all died before I started this project. In his belongings there was an accumulation of both typescript and handwritten transcripts of Dictaphone recordings which he started in 1953, but never completed. So now, in 2025, his notes are here, along with a selection of maps and photographs. There are many abbreviations in the text, and a table of these appears at the end (coming soon), along with explanatory text.
I had never seen the citation for his Military Cross until after his death.
I can now see why Dad was reticent about his war service. In the cold light of day, we would have thought he was barking mad. I have no idea of the amount of courage needed to go out and coldly survey a bridge under mortar and sniper fire. There is an account of the construction of the bridge in the Royal Engineers Journal, which is attached.
My father, Major Charles Gerard Tomkinson, MC,TD*, never talked to me about his wartime service. On occasion, he spoke to his sailing companions about it, but they have all died before I started this project. In his belongings there was an accumulation of both typescript and handwritten transcripts of Dictaphone recordings which he started in 1953, but never completed. So now, in 2025, his notes are here, along with a selection of maps and photographs. There are many abbreviations in the text, and a table of these appears at the end (coming soon), along with explanatory text.
I had never seen the citation for his Military Cross until after his death.
I can now see why Dad was reticent about his war service. In the cold light of day, we would have thought he was barking mad. I have no idea of the amount of courage needed to go out and coldly survey a bridge under mortar and sniper fire. There is an account of the construction of the bridge in the Royal Engineers Journal, which is attached.
He was born into a world whose values were to change dramatically over the next twenty years as he grew up, although he always retained his concepts of right and wrong. Born to John and Freda Tomkinson, he was the second son of an unlikely alliance between a Methodist and Catholic. Mark you, his grandfather was a Unitarian- who built and presumably part funded Ullet Road Church in Liverpool.
He went to school at Merchant Taylors Crosby. Dad stopped smoking on leaving school, so he said. I know he won the 100 and 200 yard races when he was ten and went on to win the Hurdles when he was 15 so he can’t have smoked too much. I have no record of his academic achievements at all but there were few things he did not know or could not easily master.
On leaving school he joined the family firm and trained as a plumber and painter. He was always proud of being a registered plumber. However, he had other duties and recounted with glee the daily drive into the Queensway Tunnel when it was under construction in the early 30’s to collect the men who had been painting the inside with black bitumen (using a new spray machine from America).
I quote “As we had moved out of the horse and cart age(just) one of my jobs was to take an Austin 7 van down the tunnel and pick up the 8 man team. You can imagine the crush what with the heat and so everyone stuck to each other. Depending on who was wearing the oldest clothes someone came out at the surface with someone else’s jacket firmly stuck to his clothes. Despite all the difficulties it was work and everyone, most of the time, saw the funny side of it. It was unfortunate after 18 months work the firm for which we were working went bankrupt and the profit from our labours never materialised.”
With a strong social conscience, he once recounted the tale of the painter who came every day in the early 30’s looking for work for over 6 months and eventually wore him down- the painter stayed till his retirement.
But it was not all work:
Having played rugby at school, he joined the Liverpool Rugby club, becoming full back and reserve for Lancashire. He captained the first XV in 1938/39. The club history said it wasn’t much better than the previous year, but the newspaper cutting with his cartoon on it reported an improvement. He also joined 254 Field Company as his local TA Royal Engineers unit, part of 5th Division.
He played Cricket, boxed and played enough tennis finally to win his bride, Cecilia Harper. They married in 1940. There was a strong tennis club in Chorley and I remember some years later running my wooden railway train alongside the court as the sirens wailed.
He was called up on August 25th 1939 and went to France on October 28th. Evacuation from Dunkirk by Thames Barge to Ramsgate should have been sufficient to put him off the water. I don't have any more details
From now on are his notes, unless otherwise indicated. I have edited them enough to remove most of the transcription errors but not to affect the sense.
He went to school at Merchant Taylors Crosby. Dad stopped smoking on leaving school, so he said. I know he won the 100 and 200 yard races when he was ten and went on to win the Hurdles when he was 15 so he can’t have smoked too much. I have no record of his academic achievements at all but there were few things he did not know or could not easily master.
On leaving school he joined the family firm and trained as a plumber and painter. He was always proud of being a registered plumber. However, he had other duties and recounted with glee the daily drive into the Queensway Tunnel when it was under construction in the early 30’s to collect the men who had been painting the inside with black bitumen (using a new spray machine from America).
I quote “As we had moved out of the horse and cart age(just) one of my jobs was to take an Austin 7 van down the tunnel and pick up the 8 man team. You can imagine the crush what with the heat and so everyone stuck to each other. Depending on who was wearing the oldest clothes someone came out at the surface with someone else’s jacket firmly stuck to his clothes. Despite all the difficulties it was work and everyone, most of the time, saw the funny side of it. It was unfortunate after 18 months work the firm for which we were working went bankrupt and the profit from our labours never materialised.”
With a strong social conscience, he once recounted the tale of the painter who came every day in the early 30’s looking for work for over 6 months and eventually wore him down- the painter stayed till his retirement.
But it was not all work:
Having played rugby at school, he joined the Liverpool Rugby club, becoming full back and reserve for Lancashire. He captained the first XV in 1938/39. The club history said it wasn’t much better than the previous year, but the newspaper cutting with his cartoon on it reported an improvement. He also joined 254 Field Company as his local TA Royal Engineers unit, part of 5th Division.
He played Cricket, boxed and played enough tennis finally to win his bride, Cecilia Harper. They married in 1940. There was a strong tennis club in Chorley and I remember some years later running my wooden railway train alongside the court as the sirens wailed.
He was called up on August 25th 1939 and went to France on October 28th. Evacuation from Dunkirk by Thames Barge to Ramsgate should have been sufficient to put him off the water. I don't have any more details
From now on are his notes, unless otherwise indicated. I have edited them enough to remove most of the transcription errors but not to affect the sense.
