John Henry Wilson

 1916 - 1982

Greatest Dad, loving, strict, funny, intelligent

John Henry Wilson - aka by family and friends as Johnny, and Dan (short for Dapper Dan – his eldest sister, my Aunty Anne told me).  Born in Harvey Street, Canton, Cardiff in 1916.  Fifth child of eleven. Third son – there were six boys and five girls – good catholic family!  All children went to St. Mary’s Roman Catholic School in Canton and the family had, and still does have, a strong connection with St. Mary’s Church - since its inception in the mid to late 19th century.  Parents, Tommie Wilson and Ann Govier, both whilst being born in Cardiff, were apparently of Northern and Southern Irish stock respectively.  There is also a strong Somerset influence in that Tommie Wilson’s mother and Ann Govier's father were from that English county. 
From school (aged 14) Johnny Wilson went to work in the Fish Market in Cardiff which used to be located roughly where St. David's Hall is today.  From there he went to work as a lorry driver for Vaughan’s Laundry in Canton.  When he returned from military service he returned to the Laundry and then in 1948 entered GKN (Hamilton & Sons) Steelworks – East Moors Road where he remained for 27 years until he retired due to ill health in 1975. 

He lived in Canton nearly all his life, apart from approximately 12 years (1950 to 1962) when he was married and lived with his/my family in Greenway Road in Rumney, Cardiff. 

In 1946, he married Jean, Margaret Willows – who he called ‘Maggie’.  Our family consisted of five children – Vincent, Katherine, Theresa, Shelagh and me. 

My memories of my Father are mainly concerned with the last approx. 10-15 years of his life. 
Johnny died of a heart attack on 23/11/1982 at home in Railway Terrace, Canton after having spent the evening with his youngest sister (Betty) in his local pub (The Ninian) and in my presence.  He had had a long history of heart disease and had been ill for some time, but in the end his death was unexpected and sudden.

Most notable was that he served as part of the 8th Army, 1st Airborne during the WWII – Africa, Italy, Holland (Arnhem)

Born during WW1, grew up during the great depression and was a young man during WW2.  Rationing continued well into the 1950’s despite politicians telling the population ‘you’ve never had it so good’.   Experienced changes in the home such as gas light to electric light, television, telephone, central heating etc.

TIMELINE

1916:  Born

1921:   Started school

1931:   Left school and commenced work in Fish Market

1937:   Left Fish Market and commenced work Vaughan Laundry

1939:   One of the first volunteer to join up for the Army – WWII

1944:   Johnny’s father died

1945:   Demobbed

 

1946:   Married

1948:   Commenced GKN – Hamilton & Sons – Steelworks

1948, 1951, 1954, 1960:  Dates of birth of 4 daughters

1960:  Johnny’s mother dies

1962:    Marriage fails and wife leaves Johnny to bring up 4 daughters

1963:  Eldest daughter (Katherine) dies aged 14

1975:  Retires due to ill health

1982:   Died

 
Happiest Memories
  • (Many)Winter evenings of Dad telling me stories of his childhood and the training he went through during the war
  • Christmas – especially Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Dad always made Christmas ‘magical’ – no matter how little or how much money we had.
  • Going on holiday – just the two of us – usually in a caravan – doing cross word puzzles together, talking together and singing & dancing together

 
Funniest Memories
  • Dad telling Shelagh and I how much he loved us when he had had a drink
  • Just after we had a telephone put in – he asked me to ring him a bit louder if I was going to ring after 10.00 a.m. as he’d be in the garden!  Also to do with the phone – I rang him when I went to America and he didn’t believe I’d gone because the line was so clear!
  • Dad going to bed with a bottle of whisky and the insurance policies when after seeing a number of animals (e.g. giraffe & elephants!) going past the window he realised he wasn’t seeing things, the animals were from the local circus and were being taken to higher ground - and the house was about to be flooded (December 27th 1979).  In 1979 both the Taff and Rhymney rivers burst their banks.