MEMOIRS OF PEGGY CARRIER
| Memoirs of Peggy Carrier, nee Barraclough 1910 – 1999 Family Tree Foreword Memoirs of Peggy Carrier Appendix I – Motoring and All That Appendix II – Norman Henry Carrier, 1913-1979 Family Tree Back to Top Father Augustus Barraclough, 1872 – 1954 of Swainby Mother Ida Robinson, 1877 – 1954 Daughters Kathleen Joyce, 1909 – 1969 (died of war wounds; glass in head – inoperable) Margaret Winifred (Peggy) 1910-1999 Married Norman Henry Carrier (1913-1979) in 1938 and adopted David Henry, 1947 – 1973 (accidental death) Married Marie-Jeśu (Susie) Sabriego (of Spain) in 1972 Richard Philip, 1949- Married Joyce Nobbs in 1978 (divorced 1987) Rebecca Joyce, 1981 – Defacto – Matt Perryman Abbie – 1999 – Millie – 2004 – Adam Richard, 1984 – Anne Margaret, 1950 – Married Olaf Hermann Tiemann in 1979 Christopher David, 1982 – Michael Richard, 1985 – Elizabeth Jean, 1951 – Married Norman Brown in 1970 (divorced 19??) Married John Gibbons in 1986 (separated ??) Sharon, 1969- Married Paul Raithbone in 2005 Theresa, 1987 – Lisa-Marie, 1990 – Helen, 1972 – Married Mark Torpey in 2001 Billy-Jake, 1992 – Chelsea-Leigh, 1993- Connor-Reece, 1999- Tracy Lee, 1974 – (fostered in l984) Pippa, 1987 – Son Maurice William Reed, 1913 – Married Olive Jean Atkinson (1918-2003) in 1946 and adopted John Michael, 1949 – Married Irma Marin Gasca (of Mexico) in 1972 William David, 1976- James Alexander, 1980 Philippa Mary (Pippa), 1951 – Married Peter John Henry Skelton in 1975 John Nigel Paul, 1979 – Michael Forword Back to Top I owe to my mother the great measure of love, support and encouragement she gave me over the years and I wanted to be able to tell her story to my children. I asked my mother to write her autobiography and to my delight she agreed.The pages that follow contain my mother’s recall of her life, thoughts, and anecdotes written in the autumn of 1991.Anne TiemannDecember 1992, Brisbane, Australia Memoirs of Peggy Carrier, ne’e Barraclough, 1910 – 1999 Back to Top We were lucky to have a happy childhood. Looking back on it I feel Maurice and I were mean to Joyce as we played together a lot – digging a hole under the back hedge to play (illegally) in a path between the houses at the back.Ella Muckle says that David, and maybe Richard dug holes under the fence to visit Ella next door in Coulsdon or Auntie Bateman at the top of the garden in the Vale, Coulsdon.Maurice and I used to play a lot with Meccano and made a working model of a Theatre with curtains going up to show an orchestra playing, comprising a conductor, a violin player, a grand piano player, and a flute player.We all played games a lot, especially Cricket. Father coached us just as he did in his school teams at his school, Bournemouth School for Boys – of which he was 2nd master all his life. He went back to teach and coach Math until he was 75 during the 2nd World War.Mother’s sister, Auntie Ethel, had a cottage in Brading, Isle of Wight, where we spent all our holidays after grandfather died in 1918 in Swainby.During the 1st World War we travelled by train withour maid to Yorkshire and Dad taught us the crops being harvested: “Oats has only one seed in a cluster, Barley has a beard and Wheat has a whole seed head.” Dad fished a trout out of the stream opposite his father’s house for his breakfast each day. Later in the 20’s we used to go to Whitecliff Bay, Isle of Wight, to bathe and in the 30’s we used to cycle from Bournemouth to Brading. Paddle Steamers used to sail from Bournemouth Pier to Sandown Pier and we could take our bikes. Culver Down had the first wireless station which dominated Whitecliff Bay during the 1st World War. It had masses of wires everywhere and I wondered why it was called “wireless”. It was of course sending messages over the Channel to the troops.We used to see the great liners going to America and, when they crossed, a huge wash came up the beach and we had to retreat against the cliff. We enjoyed it all. There was a U-Boat (German) wrecked and washed ashore but we were told not to explore it and we never did.We belonged to the Guide movement and I went all through the grades from Brownie to Captain. Joyce and I won our “all round cords”, now called Queens Guides. Joyce and I always went to Guide Camp.During the 20’s mother caught a virus for which there was no cure except bed, then life centered on her and she made our dresses and did lots of arts and crafts, leather work, batik etc.When we moved to Talbot Woods, Bournemouth with a different doctor she was encouraged to get up, and during the 2nd World War she was cycling round Bournemouth, collecting for the National Savings.Maurice got a scholarship in Rugby School (boarding Public). We had great fun sending him off to school with his Tuck Box.Joyce and I were at Bournemouth High School, now Talbot Heath School. Our house overlooked the school playing fields where Joyce and I played hockey, netball and cricket. I much regret we did not play much tennis because we got into the cricket team so early that we were too “precious” there.(Brionie, my woman, says also she didn’t play tennis because she got into the Sussex game ofstool ball too early and was not allowed to spend time on tennis. She still plays stool ball)Joyce went to Froebel Training College for junior school teaching.I was Head Girl and had the job of changing the school magazine from “quarto to octave”, and I have kept the first volume that I produced which has a record of my schooling – I quote: “Margaret Barraclough 1921 – 1930, Day Girl, Borough scholarship 1930.Head Girl 1928 -1929Head of Raleigh Hall, Higher School Certificate 1928-1930School Certificate with Matric Exemption 1926. Intermediate (London)1930 entrance to Westfield College.1st Hockey XI. 1st Cricket XI, 1925-1930. I went to Westfield in Hampstead and must have shown I could play tennis. In the 30’s one had respect for tradition: we wore gowns for lectures and could not buy a college blazer (maroon piped with cream) until one was second year – so I had to go out in my school blazer with 2 U.L.A.U. purple blazers university team colours) and the Principal , Dr Eleanor Lodge and play tennis each afternoon for the first 2 terms.I made an album of College life and have given it in for the Archives as Westfield is moving to Mile End Road with another College. Its Lord Robbins’ of LSE fault – He expanded the Universities in the Sixties – now they are being amalgamated.One page of the album made me think: 2 photos of women playing hockey and of the three Scottish pipers – then I realised I’d been to see the England vs. Scotland Women’s hockey match in which 3 sisters from our school would have been playing.In the vacation I was playing with those three sisters in a local match in Bournemouth and got tetanus and that was the end of my playing sports.When I got my degree I went to Cambridge to get a Teacher’s Diploma. Maurice was in his second year and I soon joined his group of Norman, Bill Stanton, David Glen, Charles Smith, George Mead, Sammy Smith, all mathematicians who could not divide a cake for tea into 7! Elizabeth was most amused by that.I could never get near my window as all the lads came and watched University matches, I overl9oked the Fenners Field where University matches were played.Norman and I decided to get married on March ~4th, ~934 and we set about saving for it as one did in those days.Norman got a first with distinction in Shed B. There used to be an honour called Wrangler which was numbered up to 5 but that distinction was abolished in 1930.1 reckon Norman and Bill Stanton would have been 1 and 2 between them.I taught at Godstow, the Prep School for Wycombe Abbey, and Norman was Portsmouth Grammar School. We met as often as we could, saving up for our marriage. Norman joined the Cambridge University Volunteer Reserve R.A.F. and was called up on September 1st, 1939. Portsmouth was evacuated because everyone thought Portsea Bridge, the only escape from the naval base, would be bombed if war broke out. I went with the Junior School of the Grammar School to a large house outside Winchester to teach history and help with boarding school activities. So in my year at Portsmouth I taught at all the Grammar Schools in Portsmouth, South, North, The High and the Boys Grammar School (a married women did not teach in those days!)As the R.A.F. had not sorted itself out they gave Norman leave, but not to teach so he came to Winchester (our furniture had been stored at my parents garage, 93 East Ave, Talbot Woods, Bournemouth) S9 we had some time together. Norman dug trenches in the grounds as air raid shelters.Eventually they called Norman up and he trained to get his wings at various aerodromes. He got his wings but was not allowed to fly operationally as he was always airsick.He was most proud that the first computers (}{hollerith punch cards) picked him out as one of only 6 in the Air Force who had a good degree (Cambridge double first), Wings, was young, and would learn quickly for a research job in ballistics and was posted as the one chosen to Boscombe Down where he stayed 4 years. Then he was posted to the Air Ministry in London so we moved to London and had rooms in his mothers house.This may be an appropriate place to include references to inventions of Norman’s using his Mathematical powers. He did the 11sum11 for Wallace’s Bouncing Bomb of Dam Buster fame, and more recently “The wave curve for sea defenses’1. Hector Wilks being a chartered surveyor needed to find out the curve that would allow waves breaking on t he promenades to be turned back on themselves and not throw water or stones onto the promenades. Norman did the “curve” for that it and it works at Whitstable and at the Mumbles Promenade.Later on I went to book binding at Croyden Tech and I bound 50 volumes of Punch in red canvas with gold lettering and blue leather for the tifles. I gave all these volumes to the British Library of Social History, called The Robbins Library which was just opened, and each volume had a name plate for dedication at L.S.E.. I have kept the first volume I did which has “The Man from Fort Neef’ (Thornton Heath!) in itI also rebound a 1662 Prayer Book for Maurice, praying for “King Charles, James, Duke of York, (later James II) and the members of the Royal Family”. When I had pressed it and gone through all stages I was amazed that the gold on the edge of each page was exactly. right. One usually had to guillotine the edges after sewing.By this time Norman became engrossed in computers and stayed up to all hours at the L.S.E. and I often had to ring up to get the porters to warn him he’ll miss the last train home.We always took the kids out with a picnic and when I came to clear Russell Hill (in 5 weeks) I found 18 pairs of buckets and spades in the attic, which we had found at various times at the seaside.For our marathon walk, 8 miles from Reigate Hill to Dorking and back each of us carried some of the picnic. First we explored it week by week, then finally completed the marathon in one day.I busied myself with voluntary work with hospitals and visiting etc. As soon as I joined a club I was roped in as secretary or whatever.I became a speaker for Southwark diocese and generally looked up the local history wherever I was speaking. I went up to Headquarters for meetings and met Urith Carpenter, wife of the Bishop of Oxford, who was head girl the year before me at school. Joyce often stayed with Urith in Oxford.Dilys Edey and some ex-Middlesex nurses who had married doctors in and around Bpsom, formed a Luncheon Club, first at the Red Lion Coulsdon, then at Kingswood. I used to take Vera Fouraker. I soon became Speaker/Secretary. I owe a great debt to Vera Fouraker for introducing me to the world of music. I used to go to musical soirées at her house and to concerts. I was at the “Concert for Croydon” in the Fairfield Halls with her, sitting behind the man who composed the “Ode to Croydon” when Fairfield Halls opened for Croydon’s 900 year celebration.When the L.S.E. hospitality club was formed to entertain staff wives and visiting professors Dilys got me to be secretary and later chairman (although that place was held by a professofs wife). I organised parties to theatres in town and often &ove Vera and Maijorie Longbottom up to Covent Garden Opera House, leaving the car in the market next door (which one cannot do now!). I have tapes here of Sir Geram.~~t Evans singing Bottom, Peter Grimes, Flagstaff and Wagner’s The Ring etc. Dad did take me to Benjamin Britain’s Southwold opera “Peter Grimes”, “The Rape of the Lucretia” etc.I always regret I did not go to evening classes for musical appreciation. I take great interest in art appreciation and have large collection of artwork which I look at quite often. Norman and I did our courting at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square alter having a meal at the Lyons Comer House in The Strand. Sainsbury has built an extension to the National Gallery on a site next to it which was Maples Furniture Shop (very prestigious) which was bombed but never built on as it was such an important site on the north side of Trafalgar Square. I am going up with a coach trip of Civil Servants to see all the pictures of the Queens collection there next February 1992.1 have often been up to the Queens Gallery in Buckingham Palace to see the annual exhibition of the pictures she owns of Canaletto, Constable, Gainsborough and Turner etc.The Queen Mother suggested to Lord Robbins (of L.S.E.) that the site should be kept for an extension to the National Gallery. Robbins was ch~an of the National Gallery at that time and was showing her around. The Sainsbury wing is now built.You will remember the holidays we had in Llangollen and Bill Stanton’s cottage. We went up in the spring and summer holidays. Dad spent his time digging the mountain away. It was pressing on the back of the three small cottages Bill had bought. We all helped with the disposing of the spoil, putting small amounts m the stream which carried it downstream.When we first went there was a fresh water spring at the front door for drinking water and a pipe fed into the stream up the mountain for domestic use. It flowed into the coal boiler in the kitchen. Later on a new pipe was laid from a spring further up the mountain. We always impressed upon you kids that you must only drink out of a spring – hence Richard’s remark in front of Constable’s “The Cornfield” – “Naughty boy drinking out of the stream”.I had taken you all to the National Gallery to contribute to the buying of Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Holy Family” and just showed you a few of the British masterpieces there.Talking about half-term outings to London, if I was asked for an anecdote at a women’s meeting, I had one I called “Missed Opportunities”. I had taken the girls to the Stock Exchange and found out that at 12 noon on a Thursday when the weekly bank rate was announced, the top hatted boys in “monkey suits” – (black jacket and striped trousers) who would rush out to their offices in the City with the news. The next week it was Richard’s half term and, as we got out of the train I suggested we went to Stock Exchange – but Richard said “No!”: He wanted to go to the white Hall Banqueting Hall to see where King Charles had his head cut off! When we walked back to Trafalgar Square at 12:20 the newspaper boys where showing placards “BANK RATE CHANGE” and that was the last time it happened. The next week they had moved to the new premises which had computer press button display and all the offices, banks at home or abroad were instantaneously informed – so there was “nothing to laff at at all”.After you kids had left home and we did not have the annual Guy Fawkes bonfire on the tennis lawn protected by piles of leaves and corrugated iron sheets, we moved to 14 Brownlow Rd, Croydon.We sold No.16 by an advert in “The Observer” on Sunday and the surveyor was round at lunchtime. I spent the afternoon cycling round Croydon to get a house. (14 Brownlow Rd, Croydon)Dad took more interest in the garden (and I still have some of his Princess Elizabeth rose bushes from his cuttings) and we also began walking. We often walked across LLoyd Park to Headifield with Bill Long and often took him on drives to walk some of the North Downs Way.We walked Offa’s Dyke Path from Bill’s cottage as far north and south as we could. Then we walked from guest houses and farm houses on the way. Dad was very good at cuttings and growing seeds; he once gave the estate gardener Mr. Parker 60 delphinium seedlings for the estate. He walked a lot in the Woodlane routes in Croydon. One was 13 miles, only 2 of which were between houses. That started at Coombe Wood which was two miles of woodland from our house.Dad always said these walks were to make me healthy and fit for my eye operations. I reckon they where more essential for his health – he was always at the top of the hill first – and he strained his heart and would not go to the doctor. It was a great shock when he died within the hour. He had made peace with the snow and the cold by standing at the window, coming home from his last walk, and seeing the snow on the trees and the park and saying “Isn’t that beautiful” I had his ashes scattered at Croydon Cremation where I hope mine will be sometime. Maurice and Olive had me stay and William (John & Irma’s son) aged 3, used to come up to my room saying “Piggy, Piggy, Piggy!”Maurice took me to Bexhill to look out for a bungalow and the first one we saw was No 72 with which I fell in love because of the beam over the brass canopy for the hanging basket fire, which Mary Freeman said came from one of their farm housed, and the parquet flooring. Albert Freeman said the parquet came from a Manor house in Burwash being demolished in~l952.It was 5 years before I ran out of wood for the fire from the 38 cypress trees in the garden – ranging from 2′ dwarfs to 20′ giants – the latter all around the back lawn. Then I got quite a lot of wood from the seashore and Maurice’s Seisfield Common. He has helped me a lot with carpentry in the house and garden. I lost the green house~in the 1987 storms, and Maurice has worked every day since the storms on Seisfield Common. I gave him of piece of wartime aluminium which Norman had salvaged from a wrecked aeroplane in the war and John engraved “direction finders” and mileage from the highest point on the Common in Sussex. north) The chalk quany at Whyteleafe on the North Downs, 21 miles – and (South) Chantonbury Rings on the South Downs above Worthing, 21 miles. (I pride. myself that I can see both these landmarks with my distance glasses – its my near sight that is my real problem) albeit Chantonbury Rings is only <¼ on the skyline!(A widow who was left 5 million and lives across the Common from Old Mill Cottage rewarded Maurice for his daily work on the Common by paying for him to have a hip operation private ly at the Horden clinic, which is a famous clinic for hip operations in memory of Lord Hordon, the Queen’s surgeon)I have done a lot of travelling since living down here. I have gone with different friends. First Ruth Lazar (L.S.E.) to the Holy Land. Then a trip to Holy Island Lindisfarne with friends from the next parish (to which I still go for Mother’s Union, therets not a~branch at St. Marks Little Common).The first night (April 30th) was at York University just by the remnants which were full of daffodils in bloom and there were cherry trees in full bloom in the Quadrangle of the college. The next day we woke up to three inches of snow and we all had only brought sandals with us! All the flowers were sunk under the snow, which stayed with us for half the tripMaurice and Olive asked me to go with them and Olive’s sister to Italy – a tour including Rome, Pisa, Florence, Assisi and Sienna. I much enjoyed the Uffisi Gallery in Florence and all the architecture in each town. It is amazing how these buildings have survived for so long – and the leaning tower of Pisa is still leaning but climbable.I especially enjoyed Asissi and the Giotto frescoes in the cathedral. I went out to Brisbane, Australia twice when Anne was nursing her two babies. I saw a lot of the South East of Australia going on a coach trip from Brisbane to Adelaide, returning a week before the ‘Ash Wednesday’ bush fires all over the South East, via The Dandenong’s and Adelaide where we had a trip up the Mount Lofry viewpoint at night, passing palaces and luxury houses en route for the kiosk at the top. We could see the coloured lights plan of the streets and next week (Ash Wednesday) there was only one house standing – the whole mountain side was burned, houses and woodland.I saw the penguin parade, the seals display and the tropical rain forests. Koalas in the zoo across the bay from Sydney. The second time I went out and saw the Blue Mountains and a rainbow from the valley to the top of the cliffs and down again. I took a mini air flight to the Barrier Reef in a small aero plane. I was on the ocean side of the plane on the way north, so I planned to take photographs of the Glass House Mountains which intrigued me. Cook named them on his first voyage of Discovery – but after our visit and a bathe we flew straight back and “What did we see? – We saw the sea!”Back home I decided that there was a lot England and Scotland I did not know so I’ve been saga trips to Universities (which made me feel young again) with Muriel Hurley, a Civil Servant friend of mine here – especially when these town where having a flower festival. Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Newcastle and this year it’s South Wales 1991.1 have often been to Bouniemouth to a nice hotel and I visit the Targett fainily in Porton, Salisbury by day coach.This year I am going to St Ives – I’ve always wanted to see that area again. I remembered the holiday I had there with you children when Richard was doing a holiday job as a chef in one of the hotels in Salcombe’, and Norman did not come as he was writing a report of the 1951 census.I remember studying the map and seeing there was a road all round the Lands’ End peninsular – I hoped it would be wide enough for car travel – I dodged all the coaches and caravans which regularly took the route! I hoped to travel in a coach this summer.Maurice and I went to Exeter and had a good time. His best friend had died and I wanted him to have a break from the hard work in his garden and on the Common. Olive does not like traveling and never comes over when Maurice comes here for the day.I noticed a” World wide tapestry” was being woven of the history of the colonisation of America by people of that area. I put a stitch in one section. The lads at the Royal Naval College are embroidering the Armada and I’d like to go to Plymouth one year in Navy Week, when the college is open to the public, to see the work done. Ernu (a firm of wool makers) have donated the wool and an artist has &awn the whole story which is embroidered in cafe’s, schools and colleges all over the Cornish peninsular.I had some bathes at Cooden Beach and Bexhill this year. Bexhill has got a Blue Flag for clean bathing and beach from the EEC who granted 3 to the Beaches of England! The De la Warr pavilion is undergoing extensive repairs. It is a very special architectural seaside pavilion. Motoring and All That Back to Top Maurice, Norman and I all were taught to drive by a member of staff of their pre-war schools, and we all passed the new M.O.T. Driving Test first time.Maurice bought a Rover for about £10 – old money and tried to take father up North to see Swainby again. The car broke down and they came back with the Rover leather seats and the bench cushion we had in the hall at The Vale on a trunk. (As I got you each ready to go out, you had to sit on the trunk until all were ready.)Norman bought a car and his Mother insisted on him driving her to see Scotland. Unfortunately he collided with a lorry who did not give way and he was thrown through the wind screen. Hence his receding hair and he was in hospital in Scotland.I new something was wrong as I did not get any letters for some time. Joyce comforted me. His mother got home by train. She had been a widow since 1920 as his father died of “Sleeping Sickness”, a disease very prevalent just after the first world war. I knew two fathers in Bournemouth who did of it.Mister Carrier’s colleagues m the Civil Service clubbed together to send Norman to Merchant Taylors and Iris, Norman’s sister, to London Collegiate School where Jean Wilks and Olive went. Norman aiid Iris did not have a happy childhood as their mother had to take in Indian visitors to make ends meet.Now I pass on about our cars. Maurice, who had by now got a “Wolsey Wasp” decided to give up his car when he was married. We were lucky to have it and Norman re-taught me to drive as I’d done no driving during the war. We made a white box to go on the back of the car to carry our picnic necessities. When eventually the “back end” went Norman bought the black Morris 12 for £75 and we set about making a chair for David on side of a back door and a stool for Richard filling the other back door. Anne sat on the back seat and Elizabeth was in the carry cot using up all the space!Nowadays all this is most illegal but we had great fun with it and never had an accident. I believe the back end of that car went when Norman and the boys were on their way to Porton to demolish the cottage. When I heard of the break down I thought how awful to have to get to the tools under all the apparatus.I used to take the children to school, swimming, picnic’s etc. It was well known in Purley.Norman’s friends at L.S.E. were horrified at us having it – as it was so extravagant with petrol, about 2 shillings a gallon. I had bought first row gallery seats for the pantomime at Streatham but we had to queue for them. It had been snowing so I told the kids to wrap up warm as the cold will be horrible. We got to Streatham alright and queued by the Stage Door; Arthur Askey chatted to the kids as he went in. We enjoyed the show and got home ok.Incidentally the girls and I were repairing Russell Hill. I cut a 4″ oak cube of a cottage oak rafter for the fender in the lounge. I put numbers 1 to 6 on it for a dice and told the girls to throw it and count their score up on the tennis lawn. Elizabeth who was very accident prone in those days, got in the way of Annets throw and got hit in the head. I had to get Alec Hurst of No.12 to take her and me to the hospital. I had a “season ticket” at the hospital for the kids accidents.The next car we got was a Morris Oxford, white, which we reckoned had been a commercial travelers car as it had so many safety gadgets, including a switch to immobilise the car under the dashboard by the passenger seat.The first time we took the children out to Bexhill the car would not start, David who by now was learning to drive and knew something of cars had pressed that button, and it was a long time on that picnic before we realised how effective that switch was!Another amusing incident happened in Llangollen. We had driven up and parked outside the cottage and I had pressed the button as usual on arrival. Next day 3″ of snow – Richard walked to Llangollen across the fields and hedges, Dad could not dig!! so he went to the car – it wouldn’t start – panic he was bored I was peeling potatoes – he came in and told me to go to the next farm house and ring for a battery. I obediently did and went on peeling potatoes. Then I realised about the button and went out and started the car. I told Norman to go to the farm house to cancel the battery but he wouldn’t. I can’t remember what we did with the spare. NORMAN HENRY CARRIER Back to Top1913-1979 Obituary in LSE Magazine, 1980 Norman Henry Carrier, Reader in Demography at the School1 died suddenly on 22 December 1979, aged 66.Norman lived in Southgate as a boy. He left Merchant Taylors’ School in 1932 with an Open Mathematical Scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge, where he gained a First Class in the Mathematical Tripos and Distinction in Statistics in Part HI.He married Peggy in 1938.He was a schoolmaster from 1935 until 1939. He joined the ILAF. in 1939 and gained his wings in 1940. He was then picked out – by punched card he was pleased to say – for experimental war research.There is little doubt that in this work he made a major contribution to the defense of this country and the free world. He received a Mention in Dispatches for work done in this period. Having entered as a Sergeant, he had become Wing Commander when he finished his war service in 1945. he then went to the Chief Scientific Adviser’s Division of the Ministry of Works, as Head of the Statistical Planning and Analysis section. He left this in 1948 to join the General Register Office as Statistician. He left the G.R.O. in 1954 to come to LSE.For those of us who knew him well at LSE it is hard to realise that he is gone. He had a tremendous sense of fun and enormous enthusiasm. Your spirits rose if you met him in the Senior Common Room or, more likely, in the Robinson Room having coffee with his students. He always had a problem or puzzle to put to you. You were forced to think hard and enjoy it.His attitude to colleagues and students was exactly the same. They were his friends, to be instructed and helped, in as entertaining a way as possible.He did not spare himself in his teaching. In his 25 years at LSE he took no sabbatical leave. The greatest number of people who knew him, and especially his own students, will remember him for his demographic teaching with David Glass and others in the Population Investigation Committee group, of which he was a Research Secretary and later Honorary Secretary. Demographic offices and departments in many parts of the world must owe both staff and standards to Norman.By its nature most of his work at the 6.110. would have been published anonymously. A study with J.R. Jeffery on External Migration was an exception. His book, Demographic Estimation for Developing Societies, was written jointly with John Hobcraft. His articles cover a range of topics, mainly in statistical and other aspects of population studies. He stepped outside the field to write a joint article with W.T. Baxter on Depreciation.Norman gave to those who knew him his companionship, instruction, stimulation and enjoyment. We ~ remember him and always be glad we knew him. We extend all our sympathy to his wife Peggy and his family.Harold Edey Royal Statistical Society Journal Norman Carried died suddenly on December 22, 1979, some nine month before he was due to retire from the Readership in Demography in the University of London.Carrier was born in 1923 and received his education at Merchant Taylors’ School and Clare College, Cambridge, where he had a distinguished undergraduate career, being a Wrangler in Part II of the Mathematical Tripos and obtaining a distinction in Part III, where he specialised in the Mathematical Theory of Statistics and the Theory of Combination of Observations.On leaving Cambridge, Carrier became a schoolmaster and taught mathematics for a period of years. On the outbreak of war, he joined the Royal Air Force, volunteering for flying duties, but his specialist qualifications were soon recognised and after a period as Station Armament Officer, he was engaged in operational research at Boscombe Down and ended his war service as Head of the Ballistics Section in the Directorate of Scientific Research at the Ministry of Aircraft Production.On demobilisation, Carrier joined the scientific civil service and was first employed by the Chief Scientific Adviser’s Division of the Ministry of Works, where he was Head of Statistical Planning and Analysis and worked closely with the late Dr. Jacob Bronowski. In 1948, he transferred to the Statistician Class and joined the General Register Office, and since that time his work was exclusively occupied with demographic problems. He was employed in a number of different branches at the G.R.O. and in keeping with the traditions of the civil service much of his work was done anonymously. However, his study EXTERNAL MIGRATION STATISTICS 1815-1950, undertaken with J.R. Jeffery, was published in their joint names. It remains the definitive exploration of this subject and continues to have lasting value.During the early 1950s statisticians in the General Register Office were kept firmly in their place, which was subordinate to that of the administrators, and they were given less scope to develop their own ideas and approaches than is the case to-day. Carrier did not feel happy in this situation, and as he had established friendly relations with academic demographers, when the Readership in Demography at the London School of Economics fell vacant in 1954, he was appointed to the post and remained there for the rest of his life.Carrier’s academic work ranged widely over the statistical and technical aspects of demography. His technical skills and expertise in the manipulation of data complemented David Glass’s encyclopedic knowledge of population history and theory and, together they formed a very strong team. Carrier’s published output was small, but to judge him on published output alone would give a very misleading impression of his activities and interests. Much of his time was spent in advising his colleagues and, above all, his research students to whom he devoted much more attention than is normally given to them. There exist a large number of dissertations which embody Norman’s ideas and suggestions for new methods of analysis which originated with him. It is said of one eminent academic that “he used to bury his students in footnotes”; Norman did the opposite, his ideas flowered in his students’ works. He was the most generous of supervisors, unsparing of his time, meticulous in checking their work, giving encouragement and help throughout. he was able to detect swanlike qualities in student who seemed fairly anserine to his colleagues, and not infrequently his optimistic assessment turned out to be more justified than that of his more cynical colleagues.Many students from developing countries came to L.S.E. and their presence led Norman to take an interest in methods of analysing defective demographic data and led to the publication of his manual (jointly with John Hobcraft) on DemograDhic Estimation in Developing Societies some time before the subject became a growth industry. He was one of the first people to recognise the potentialities of the computer in demographic analysis and was often to be found in the computer room at L.S.E. at the most unlikely hours. I once warned him that if his wife ever thought of divorcing him, she would be justified in citing the General Electric Company as a co-respondent. Not that there was much chance of that! Norman’s family life was an exceptionally happy one, marred only by the death in a tragic accident of one of his four adopted children to all of whom he was a devoted father. He was able to boast that he had accomplished the difficult demographic feat of having a fourth child who was older than his third. He and his wife found no difficulty in explaining the facts of life to their children: the older ones knew that additions to the family were collected in Baker Street IIt is said that Norman did not live to enjoy the retirement to which he was looking forward so much and for which he had made detailed plans. His friends and colleagues will miss the bubbling enthusiasm for the latest piece of work that he was engaged on, his kindness and consideration and, above all, his integrity and complete lack of guile. He was a good man! Clare Association Annual 1979 Norman Henry Carrier died suddenly on 22 December 1979 aged 65. He was reader in demography at the London School of Economics.he came to Clare from Merchant Taylors’ School in 1932 with an open scholarship, and gained a first in the Mathematical Tripos and a distinction in statistics in part m. From 1935 to 1939 he was a schoolmaster.. When w& came he joined the R~F. and after a year was recruited into experimental war research. He made a major contribution to defense research and received a mention in dispatches for his work, finishing his war services as a wing commander. He then went onto the chief scientific adviser’s division of the Ministry of Works, as head of the statistical planning and analysis section. In 1948 he joined the General Register Office as statistician, and left this in 1954 to come to LSE, where he spent the rest of his life.A great many students passed through his hands in his 25 years of devoted, entertaining and inspiring teaching with David Glass and others in the population investigation committee group, of which he was research secretary and later honorary secretary. His publications cover a range of topics: anonymous work at the GRO; a study with John Hobcraft, Demographic Estimation for Developing Societies; a joint article with W.T. Baxter on depreciation; and articles in statistical and other aspects of population studies.Colleagues and students, and all who knew him, found Norman Carrier the most stimulating, helpfbl, companionable and likeable of men. He was married in 1938 and leaves his widow, Peggy and family.David Voss, currently a research student in Clare, had Norman Carrier for his tutor when taking the MSc in Demography at the LSE in 1977-78. He writes: ‘Norman was the most delightful man never to allow a word in edgewise. There was en excitement about all he did that was quite impossible to match; young research workers would stagger into the office saying: “I’ve just had lunch with Norman and I’m exhausted!” This remarkable energy was harnessed to a good-natured disposition, which won everyone’s affection. Had he been more personally ambitious he would be better known. Instead he was on of those a few count themselves fortunate to have worked with. His serious contributions were as weighty as the best, but he had the power to defeat tedium with such offerings as “Carrier’s law of technical demography: every year everybody gets on year older. Norman was a teacher to bring warmth and interest to the driest of subjects: a rare and regretted individual. Extract of another student’s letterInstitute of Planning Studies – NoUs University I have many reasons to be extremely grateful to Norman for the help and advice he has given me on many occasions. His humour, encouragement and work was most infectious and some of his aphorisms, such as “Near enough is good enough” &e forever in my memory.I can say without exaggeration having contact with Norman was one of the main advantages at L.S.E., and I owe a great debt to him for the modest successes of my own career.David ~ Cope |