Bill Prosser

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Summary

Based on the interviews recorded on 9 December 2008 and 29 January 2009. It reflects the interviewee’s life and memories at that time.

Born at Brookside, Mordiford, on 20 April 1919, Bill Prosser grew up in a large family rooted in the timber and orchard economy of the district. His father worked as a timber merchant in the local coppice woods, stripping oak bark for the tanning industry and supplying wood across the area. Bill’s childhood was shaped by hard physical work, self-sufficiency and the influence of the Harford estate, which owned much of Mordiford and Haugh Wood.

He attended Mordiford School under the strict headmaster Charlie Higgins, recalling overcrowded classrooms, ink wells set into rough wooden desks, and regular use of the cane. Church life was central: he sang in the choir, pumped the organ for eleven years, and took part in Three Choirs Festival visits to Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester.

Family gardens were vital for survival, and Bill openly described poaching trout from the River Wye and gathering turnips and field beans to supplement meagre rations. Water came from a spring known as “the spout”; washing was done in a copper and dolly tub; and most cottages kept pigs and grew vegetables.

Called up as one of Chamberlain’s first militiamen in 1939, Bill chose the Royal Navy over the Army. After basic training at HMS Royal Arthur (Butlin’s, Skegness), he served as a stoker on HMS Havelock, an escort destroyer operating from Liverpool. He spent the war escorting Atlantic convoys to Canada, the United States and Iceland, facing U-boats, Arctic cold, hurricanes and the constant danger of torpedo attack. His respect for the Merchant Navy remained lifelong.

Together, Bill’s recollections paint a vivid picture of rural life between the wars and the courage of local men at sea during the Second World War.