Ivy CUMPER, John CUMPER residents 1936 to 1998 (General)

by Cumper, Thursday, May 25, 2017, 18:43 (2732 days ago)

The People
Ivy and John CUMPER have both died John AKA Christopher 1975 and Ivy 1998, as far as I am aware there are no children and Ivy's brother (now dead) lived in Canada.

Ivy was born Ivy Mackay in Birmingham in 1904. She married Chris (John) at Christmas 1936 and they started their married life in Birmingham. They were still in Birmingham in 1939 as war broke out. The next record I can find for them is 1948 when they are living at High Rock, Woodcroft. They remained at this address until at least 1966 which is the last election record I could find.

John died in Newport, Gwent in 1995 and Ivy died 11th June 1998 at Sedbury Park Nursing Home, Sedbury, Tidenham. John was a Patternmaker and Ivy a shop assistant.

What I am trying to find out

Ivy and John moved to the Forest of Dean sometime between 1939 and 1948. I would like to discover if they arrived after the war or if they were moved by the Government of the day for War Work. John, as a Patternmaker, was in a reserved occupation and I would like to know what industry requiring a patternmaker was in the area that may have resulted in the Government moving the family (assuming they did) I expect Ivy would have done war work too. The couple remained at their address at High Rock, Woodcroft and I would like to know what the area was like at that time and as a very long shot, I understand the area is relatively small, so perhaps someone may remembers either of them.

Why Do I Want To Know?
Ivy was my mother's favourite Aunty. Ivy was actually my grandmother's cousin, but Ivy's mother died when she was 4 and she was brought up as my grandmother's sister. My mum was Ivy and John's bridesmaid. My mum says; " Ivy was lovely, everyone loved her. She was always at our house, ready to play with us children or lend a hand to mum. She was always there for our birthdays, when we had whooping cough, she was there when the ambulance took us to hospital and she waved us off when we were evacuated. BUT When we returned from evacuation, she was gone, just disappeared, we never saw her again. Growing up in WWII and the bombing Birmingham took, we knew lots of people just "disappeared" and would never be seen again. We knew what had happened, we didn't ask questions."

My mum and her brothers assumed Ivy and John had been killed during a bombing raid, as did so many of their friends and family, while they were away.

Recently, while researching the family, I discovered Ivy and John had not been killed. My mum was overcome with joy and begged me to find out what happened to them. Sadly both Ivy and John are now dead so mum cannot be reunited, but I would like to let her know, if possible, what really happened.

Thank you in advance to all who read this.