Daisy Constance Rogers

Daisy Constance Rogers was born on 6 Sep 1893, the daughter of George and Agnes Minnie Rogers (nee McGowran) of the parish of St Marylebone, London.
She had 6 brothers and sisters as follows:

Before marriage, Connie worked at Derry & Tom's as a cashier in the Counting House at the top of Kensington High Street. On 6 Apr 1920, she married Reginald Wyndham Berryman, a cashier with the London and Southwestern Bank.

"In the Nick of Time", written by Connie's son, Neville ("Nick") contains the following passage about the Rogers family in general, and his mother in particular:

It must have been about this time that father met my mother, a strictly brought up young lady of some 20 years of age from a rather poorer family than his own, living in Fulham. As one of seven children, mother had got this far by learning to survive. Unlike my father's family, there was never any money to spare. Dedication to cleanliness and education were bywords in the Rogers family. Clothes were either passed down or made, and the slightest refusal to eat up one's food at table resulted in six other forks descending upon the plate in question. I never knew Grandfather George Rogers but he described himself on my mother's Birth Certificate as a 'Journeyman' (Hot Water Fitter).

In 1893 he was resident in New Road, Marylebone, and was regularly employed by the 'Upper Crust' society of Central and West London including Eaton Square. His wife Minnie (nee McGouran) had already presented him with a son Leslie and a daughter Winnie when my mother arrived on the scene. She was then followed, fairly quickly, by Stanley and Bertie, but it wasn't until some 12-14 years later that Ernie and Bobbie were born.

It would appear that Grandfather and Minnie, whom I knew well and loved dearly, had a somewhat stormy marriage, but typical of the Rogers family, the children were too busy getting on with their own lives to care too much.

Grandfather Rogers' work often took him away from London. I think this was because the Eaton Square set sometimes needed him to work in their country homes. He was well respected for his high quality of work.

When he was away on these trips, it appears that, out of loneliness for her beloved spouse, Minnie would take to the bottle (not excessively, but she enjoyed it). Then, upon his return, having discovered things had not gone as he would have wished, there would be ructions. It was not long before he found an excuse to be off again.

The children do not appear to have suffered from all this. As I grew up I knew all my uncles and aunts very well, in fact much better than those on the Berryman side. Every one of them was strongly self-disciplined, self-reliant and capable. A bit on the hard side perhaps, but certainly humorous and loving.

The family home was, by then, 19 Betteridge Road, Fulham. My father swore that he could run the whole length of the road in 15 seconds flat when grandfather's boot was behind him. Timing was never his forte, and daughters in those days had to be home by 10:00 pm.

Grandfather Rogers finally left Minnie and died alone in the City of Chester during 1930. He evidently had style, I gather he was known locally as 'The Gentleman'. A loner I think, and I'm sorry I never knew him. Grandmother Minnie pressed on as far as her limited means would allow. Although poor and often comforted by a bottle, she always loved me, her grandson, and was proud of my boyhood achievements. She was fun and, as a newly-commissioned Pilot Officer in 1942, I sadly saluted as she was lowered into her grave.

Connie Rogers, later to be my mother, had all this time been beavering away in Derry & Tom's as a cashier in the Counting House.

She combined modesty and considerable academic achievement with her undoubted beauty. A regular prizewinner at school and commended for good conduct and punctuality, she won first prize in the Essay Competition open to all London County Council Schools. First class also in arithmetic, she later developed into a most capable accountant and could easily have become qualified if she had not married young. This was in the days when the place of a wife was very definitely in the home, and Connie was nothing if not dutiful.

I do not think that Derry & Tom's exists today, but between the wars it was situated at the top of Kensington High Street which was just about opposite Church Street. I have no doubt that the imposing building is now under the auspices of another but more modern business name. The distance from 19 Betteridge Road must be all of 4 miles and I was regularly reminded that, in order to save the bus fare, mother walked at least one way each day; and six days constituted a week's work.

She was paid 2s 6d a week (twelve and a half pence in decimal coinage). Connie's legs obviously became very strong, as she was seldom to be off them for the rest of her days. She was industrious and could move pretty fast. Not fast enough, however, to escape the attentions of Reginald Wyndham who pursued her relentlessly for another 12 months. She took a fair bit of stick from her brothers, who to say the least were down to earth, and who had also returned from the war. To cap it all, they had been reared in a somewhat different environment from Reggie, not that the Rogers boys were not smart. They certainly were, but in a different, more casual way.

The exception was younger brother 'Ernie' who was probably one of the most immaculate men I have yet to meet. Even the underside of his shoes were polished. At this time, he was the second youngest and probably had not a great deal to say. Sisters Winnie and Bobbie enjoyed the experience of my parents' courtship and both adored Reg for the remainder of his days. He used to arrive to court Connie, attired in bank clerk's suiting and very debonair with hat and white gloves. For the time being however, sing-songs round the piano in the front room cemented the relationship to everyone's ultimate satisfaction. True to form, Reggie took Connie to the altar on 6th April 1920, thus not wasting even one day of a tax year for marriage allowance.