Brighton: Spud’s Funeral
I said I’d write something about Spud but this, by his son David, covers a lot of the ground:
Richard William Whatman
1914 – 2008
Dad was born in Gravesend workhouse on September 15th. 1914 to Florence and Louis Whatman and christened Richard William. He was however always known to his family as Tom – due we think to having been christened again as Tom Murphy – and to his workmates as Spud.
Dad moved to Brighton in about 1916 with his mother, brothers and sisters, living in Sun Street, Charlton Hill: at the time known as the second worse slum in Europe after Naples.
He had a hard childhood, walking to Kent at the age of 6 to help his mother pick hops, swimming out to the fishing boats off the pier to swap tobacco for fish, receiving an education at Circus Street School which seems to have consisted of being clipped around the ear for not listening, and generally running wild.
During the 1930s he led a full life, working as a bricklayer, selling goods door to door around England, singing with the bands (including Geraldo‘s) at Sherry’s in West Street, dating the daughter of “Darby” Sabini the king of the Soho razor gangs, and finally meeting Nell (Mum) who had moved down from Llanelli with her sister Win.
In September 1939 he volunteered for the Army (because the Navy recruiting office was shut) and two weeks later the Army let his mother know he was in doing his bit for King and Country with the Royal Engineers. He served right through the war: from guarding a bridge in Belgium with a rifle and 5 bullets, through the evacuation of Dunkirk, to the North Africa Campaign including El Alamein, the invasion of Sicily and Italy, finally ending up in Greece in 1946 with the rank of acting Company Sergeant Major. His fondest memory of his service career was of building a small dock in Greece, using borrowed explosives, to berth a liberated motor boat for the summer of 1946.
Demoblilised in 1946 with a new suit and the princely sum of ninety six pounds seven shillings in his pocket he married Nell and raised Val, John, David, Angela and Gaynor.
He was a great bricklayer, really able to lay 1000 bricks a day, and spent the 1950s to the 1980s working around Brighton, particularly in Peacehaven.
After Mum died in 1972 he soldiered on until, at the Royal Engineers Social Club, he met Joy whom he married in 1976, having another happy marriage until her death in 1997. This brought Mandy, Steve and their family under Dad’s wing.
A lifelong socialist, politics was the only subject to steer clear of when talking to him. as his views were somewhere to the left of Lenin and he was passionate in putting them across. He was particularly proud that he and Nell were asked to sponsor Dennis Hobden as Labour’s Parliamentary candidate in 1964 when he became Brighton’s first Labour Member of Parliament.
His retirement was long and happy, during which time he took up bowls, travelled, played with his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, did building work for the family and friends until he was over 80, and generally enjoyed himself. The only event to cloud his happiness was the death of his youngest daughter, Gaynor, in 1989. He never forgot her and she is singing the song we will be leaving this service to.
He was a man who loved being around people and was the life and soul of any party. He always had a cheery word for everyone he met and would strike up conversations with total strangers in shops, at bus stops and even in hospital waiting rooms. He would be proud to see how many people took the time to come here today to say cheerio. We’re all going to miss you.
David Whatman
