I'm trying to trace descendants of John and Fanny Grindrod of Aston. A Transcript of an article in the Birmingham Papers around 1960 places one of the Daughters in Elkington St. It would have been either Daisy Beasley, Maud Allen or May (Cox or Rainbow. not sure). Any one living close to them in the 1960 may have also known John Grindrod (Jack). John died in 1964 at Chelsea. My main interest is to find any living descendants and more detail on Johns Military service. Any help at all would be appreciated.
Thanks
Dave
Transcription of Newspaper article C 1960
The adventurous life of Corporal Jack
The military bearing of a Chelsea Pensioner, in vivid red and black uniform and row of shining medals, has attracted the admiration of many people who have seen him shopping in the city centre and Aston Area.
Unknown to his admirers (for he is not a boastful man) this pensioner who was staying on holiday with his sister in Elkington Street, Aston, last week has had adventures as colorful as his uniform. He has seen service in the steaming jungles of Burma, the arid plains of India, has penetrated the remote vastness of Tibet and was nearly captured by the Russian revolutionaries.
Corporal Jack Grindrod, now aged 76 was born in Brearley Street, Aston, where in those days few people had the inclination to leave the city boundaries or could afford to do so in any case.
But the urge to travel and seek adventure in other lands stirred at an early age in Jack Grindrod. When he was 17 he sought to enter the Army. To do this he had to falsify his age and he was accepted into the Middlesex Militia in January 1901.
After a short time he was transferred to the Regular Army and had his first taste of overseas experience on a lonely but very famous island. He was sent to guard two famous Boar War generals on St Helena (the island on which Napoleon was held prisoner)
He went with the Army into Africa and the fabulous dominion of India where he was stationed at Trimulghelly and trained as a telegraphist. Fully versed in the morse-code technique he saw service in Burma.
In India he must have often been awed by the majestic sight of the towering Himalayan Mountains and the strange mysterious land of Tibet which lay beyond it.
With a small party he was sent into the forbidden land and it was here he saw some of the most brutal episodes in human history.
The country was then held, as it is now, by Chinese Army of occupation. For some time the garrisoned army had not been supplied with equipment, food or money by China so the soldiers decided to revenge themselves on the meek Tibetan populace.
Bands of them roved around executing people who did not supply them with their wants by slicing off their heads or torturing them.
Mr. Grindrod has in his possession hundreds of photographs and negatives revealing the bestiality of those Chinese soldiers.
His stay in Tibet had its happier moments, however. He was one the few white men to meet the Dalai Lama, the temporal head, and Tashi Lama, the spiritual head, of Tibet. During his stay he traversed heights of 17, 000 feet.
His sojourn among these mild – tempered people with all their colorful ceremonies came to an end with the outbreak of World War 1.
Mr. Grindrod and his colleagues immediately made their way back across the formidable mountains riding on ponies. The journey from the icy plateau to the hot and verdant plains of India took two weeks.
On arrival they found that their Regiment had sailed for England. So they found passage on an overcrowded ship with 2,000 women and children sailing for Great Britain.
The journey was uneventful until the women and children were suddenly afflicted with fish poisoning which caused near panic. Mr. Grindrod found his time taken up by tending them on the long voyage home.
At last he arrived in England in 1915 where he promptly went to see his family - after an absence of 14 years abroad.
From there he was sent to France and saw service in the big Somme battle where he was engaged with the 8th Division of the Royal Signal R.E. He also saw service in many other parts of Europe.
He returned to England after the war but the urge to see service again abroad took possession of him and he volunteered for Russia then in the birth of the revolution. He was nearly captured, to escape they had to find their own passage or be killed by the revolutionaries. He returned home in 1920 and then retired from the Army.
He served in the Post Office as a telegraphist and counter clerk until his retirement in 1943. After his wife’s death he became a member of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, in other words he became a Chelsea Pensioner.
He was the eldest of 13 children. Four brothers also joined the Army. Three died and the other was wounded on Armistice Day at the end of World War 1.
For all that, he is still modest. And many people who admire his uniform or talk to him as he sits gently slipping a pint at the local would never guess the adventurous life he has experienced.
Thanks
Dave
Transcription of Newspaper article C 1960
The adventurous life of Corporal Jack
The military bearing of a Chelsea Pensioner, in vivid red and black uniform and row of shining medals, has attracted the admiration of many people who have seen him shopping in the city centre and Aston Area.
Unknown to his admirers (for he is not a boastful man) this pensioner who was staying on holiday with his sister in Elkington Street, Aston, last week has had adventures as colorful as his uniform. He has seen service in the steaming jungles of Burma, the arid plains of India, has penetrated the remote vastness of Tibet and was nearly captured by the Russian revolutionaries.
Corporal Jack Grindrod, now aged 76 was born in Brearley Street, Aston, where in those days few people had the inclination to leave the city boundaries or could afford to do so in any case.
But the urge to travel and seek adventure in other lands stirred at an early age in Jack Grindrod. When he was 17 he sought to enter the Army. To do this he had to falsify his age and he was accepted into the Middlesex Militia in January 1901.
After a short time he was transferred to the Regular Army and had his first taste of overseas experience on a lonely but very famous island. He was sent to guard two famous Boar War generals on St Helena (the island on which Napoleon was held prisoner)
He went with the Army into Africa and the fabulous dominion of India where he was stationed at Trimulghelly and trained as a telegraphist. Fully versed in the morse-code technique he saw service in Burma.
In India he must have often been awed by the majestic sight of the towering Himalayan Mountains and the strange mysterious land of Tibet which lay beyond it.
With a small party he was sent into the forbidden land and it was here he saw some of the most brutal episodes in human history.
The country was then held, as it is now, by Chinese Army of occupation. For some time the garrisoned army had not been supplied with equipment, food or money by China so the soldiers decided to revenge themselves on the meek Tibetan populace.
Bands of them roved around executing people who did not supply them with their wants by slicing off their heads or torturing them.
Mr. Grindrod has in his possession hundreds of photographs and negatives revealing the bestiality of those Chinese soldiers.
His stay in Tibet had its happier moments, however. He was one the few white men to meet the Dalai Lama, the temporal head, and Tashi Lama, the spiritual head, of Tibet. During his stay he traversed heights of 17, 000 feet.
His sojourn among these mild – tempered people with all their colorful ceremonies came to an end with the outbreak of World War 1.
Mr. Grindrod and his colleagues immediately made their way back across the formidable mountains riding on ponies. The journey from the icy plateau to the hot and verdant plains of India took two weeks.
On arrival they found that their Regiment had sailed for England. So they found passage on an overcrowded ship with 2,000 women and children sailing for Great Britain.
The journey was uneventful until the women and children were suddenly afflicted with fish poisoning which caused near panic. Mr. Grindrod found his time taken up by tending them on the long voyage home.
At last he arrived in England in 1915 where he promptly went to see his family - after an absence of 14 years abroad.
From there he was sent to France and saw service in the big Somme battle where he was engaged with the 8th Division of the Royal Signal R.E. He also saw service in many other parts of Europe.
He returned to England after the war but the urge to see service again abroad took possession of him and he volunteered for Russia then in the birth of the revolution. He was nearly captured, to escape they had to find their own passage or be killed by the revolutionaries. He returned home in 1920 and then retired from the Army.
He served in the Post Office as a telegraphist and counter clerk until his retirement in 1943. After his wife’s death he became a member of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, in other words he became a Chelsea Pensioner.
He was the eldest of 13 children. Four brothers also joined the Army. Three died and the other was wounded on Armistice Day at the end of World War 1.
For all that, he is still modest. And many people who admire his uniform or talk to him as he sits gently slipping a pint at the local would never guess the adventurous life he has experienced.
