Elsie Turner nee Chapman by Daughter Marilyn Turner English War Bride Pasteur 1944 Elsie Chapman and Frank Turner Mom got a job as domestic with a family who moved to London during the war, but, when the bombing of London started they moved back to Darlington. Mom didn't know then but Dad (Frank Turner) who was driving motorcycles at the time as a courier drove past mom's neighbourhood quite frequently. Mom then got a job as a "clippy" on the buses. That's a bus conductress on the buses from Darlington to Barnard Castle & other neighbouring towns. In 1944 she was asked to come visit her sister Doris in Helmsley where she & her husband ran a store. Doris decided she & Elsie were going to see a movie. The only movies in Helmsley were at the nearby Canadian army camp on My mother was born Elsie Chapman in a little village called Ferry Hill outside of Darlington County Durham on July 9, 1920. Her father was an engine driver on the rails from Darlington. Mom's mother Charlotte was his second wife & there were 4 children from his first marriage Ted, Nancy, Nora & Doris. When he married for the second time to Charlotte Mitton they had 4 more children, Edith, Elsie, Margaret & Arthur. When the war broke out Nora & Doris were still at home but married soon after. Margaret also married & had 2 children.
the castle grounds. They could only attend accompanied by a soldier. When they approached the tent 2 soldiers were standing near the fence. One of them was Frank Turner & his friend. Doris approached them and asked them to escort them inside. They said yes & that started the first date between mom & dad. Frank seemed interested in meeting again & finding out where mom lived in Darlington he went there & they dated a few more times. Frank Turner was Regimental Sergeant Major of the Hastings & Prince Edward Regiment at the time. He had been badly shot during the invasion of Sicily & had been invalided back to England. The regiment he joined in England had been sent north to Helmsley where he met mom. After some months of dating dad was notified that he was being sent back to Canada in a few months. A decision was made to ask Elsie to marry him & go to Canada as a war bride on one of the ships. After some hard talks with family she decided to marry Frank. Her mother said "If you marry Frank I will never see you again" referring to the slow travel & long distance to Canada. However mom decided to take the chance. Mom was a very timid person but with her own brand of willpower when she wanted. She came to Canada in 1944 & lived with dad's parents in Kingston, Ont. It was not a happy time for her since her mother-in-law was quite rotten to her. Dad came over within a few months & they rented a house on Park St. where Craig & I were born. Dad left the army after the war & he got a job with the city coroner doing post mortems. This he didn't like too well so quit to rejoin the army which he did in 1951. It was at that time that mom's sister Edith emigrated to Canada, met George Pace & married him. They bought Pleasant View Lodge in
Seeleys Bay & moved there. Dad was sent to Camp Borden for training & then back to Kingston where he trained as a storeman with the Royal Canadian Electrical Mechanical Engineers. During this time there was a riot at the Kingston Penitentiary. Dad & a team of soldiers (veterans of the war) were told to go in and clear the prisoners back to their cells. The prisoners got the (bayonet) point and moved quickly back to their cells. There were no injuries to either parties. Mom's mother & father came from England to Canada to visit in 1953. We lived at 15D Normandy Crescent. We were posted to Winnipeg in 1955 & then Hemer, Germany in 1957. We visited all the relations every chance we got while were there as well as a lot of sightseeing in Belgium, Holland & Germany. We did a lot of camping in England & Holland. Dad got very sick in 1959 with something that we were not told till later that it was an ulcer. It seemed that they thought it was stomach cancer and he was sent from the British base hospital in Iserlohn to the American hospital in Weisbaden. Elvis Presley was there at the time but we didn't see him. It was there that they told dad that he wasn't going to die after all. He had a stomach ulcer that was very big but inoperable. He suffered horribly for years with this. but it finally disappeared in the 70's. After getting back to Hemer dad was told his father had died in Canada but since he was being sent back to Canada earlier than his posting time he could not attend the funeral. We came to Canada in April 1960 and stayed with Dad's mother in Montreal for a week then went to Kingston for dad's next posting. Since there was no PMQ for us at the time we lived in a house trailer bought from dad's sister Mabel. who lived in Kingston. This was set up in Edith & George's yard at Pleasant View Lodge in Seeleys Bay. At Christmas 1960 we got a PMQ and moved to 6B Ypres Dr. In April dad was informed we were posted to Picton, Ont. Mom refused to take us out of school again until we finished the year so we moved to Picton in July after school was out. This was dad's last posting so he was allowed to choose where the family was to settle. Since he started his army career in Picton (the home of the Hastings & Prince Edward Regiment) he wanted to go back there. In 1963 he bought a farm on the Waupoos road & everyone settled down to civilian life. Craig was there only for 3 years
then went to Queen's University where he received his BA then MA and joined the gov't. I went to Sheridan College in Brampton and then went to Kingston where after various jobs I got a job as an engraver.