John Bert Green 1889 - 1955, my grandfather. Born in Upton Park, West Ham, Essex, England, pet name Jack. In 1915 he worked as a Rifle Barrell Turner at Woolwich Arsenal, London.
Enlisted in Royal Regiment of Artillery 11 Dec 1915, mobilised 23 Feb 1917 as a 'Driver'. (Previous military service in the 1st Essex Garrison Regiment). 24 Feb 1917 transferrred to the Royal Horse Artillery and embarked for Mesopotania on 25 Nov 1917. Later he served with the Royal Horse artillery in Durban, South Africa. Then in 1919 he embarked on the "H. T. Chenab" for Bombay, India, where he disembarked on 27 Mar 1919, where he was attached to the 1098 Battery, Royal Field Artillery at Kirkee.
It was in India that he was shot in the buttock - a sudden call to charge the enemy, admist confusion, he put the wrong foot in the stirrup of his horse and limber and raced towards the enemy facing backwards. Had he been facing forwards, his injury would likely have been fatal. He embarked at Bombay for home on 16 Sep 1919 on the "A. T. Margea", demobbed on 9 Nov 1919 and transferred to Army Reserve Class Z. At some time during his service he served with the Royal Horse artillery in Durban, South Africa. Subsequently he saw service in Palestine in the Military Police. In 1915 he married Florence Elizabeth Barnes (1886 - 1960) and moved to Britannia road, Ilford, Essex. They had one child, Betty Isobel Green (1916 - 2004).
From about 1925 onwards, he was self-employed as a House Painter and Decorator, (his father's trade), and was also a Steeplejack specialising in church spires - leading and slating.
From 1891 he lived in Chadwell Heath, Essex and moved to Billericay, Essex in 1954. In 1955 he died near Colchester, Essex, whilst attending a dinner thrown by one of his customers.
He was a very kindly man, well thought of by everyone. In the earlier days, he used to push a two-wheeled handcart around the town to his work, with his ladders, paints, etc. in it. I remember that at his Ilford home, in the back garden, he had a very large wooden shed, in which he kept his handcart, ladders and much, much more. All around the outside of the shed were rows of paint kettles all with paint brushes in them, soaking in rain water - each paint kettle was for brushes for a particular colour or type of paint, and he knew them all. He had a lot of colour charts and made most of the paint himself using base paint and colour dyes. One of his specialities was graining and scumbling where he could make and wood surface look like the tyoe of wood and grain that a customer wanted. He so scumbled and grained the whole staircase, doorframes, etc. in our house in the 1940s. Of course in those days 'paint' was oil-based with lead additives.
He was also very handy at woodwork, and made for me, as a child, a rocking horse and later a wooden compartmentalised box for my Meccano set, among other things.
After his death, I inherited many of his tools, which I since put to good use in my DIY hobby and later for matters of necessity.
Submitter: Jack Hodges