Paul Addison (1943-2020) was born on 3 May 1943 to Mary Pauline Wilson Walker (1919-2010) and Stanley Addison (1916-1999) in his grandparents’ home in Whittington, Lichfield. Stanley Campbell Addison was an Indigenous American soldier stationed at Lichfield Barracks during the Second World War and met Pauline Walker when she was working for the Women’s Land Army in the 1942. After the war, Stanley Addison returned to the US. Paul Addison did not know his father and was brought up by his mother, and her parents, Horace Wilson Walker (1882-1962) and Ethel Mildred Pauline Wilson Walker (née Bourne) (1893-1977), who ran a grocery store in Whittington.

Addison attended King Edward VI Grammar School in Lichfield and subsequently studied at Pembroke College, Oxford. Addison went onto postgraduate study at Nuffield College, researching British domestic politics between 1939 and 1940 under the supervision of A.J.P. Taylor. Paul’s thesis completed in 1971 and titled ‘Political change in Britain, September 1939 to December 1940’, proved a highly significant contribution to the history of modern Britain, particularly in its focus on contemporary history, which was then largely uncharted historiographical territory. As an early career researcher, Addison worked for Randolph Churchill as a research assistant on a multi-volume biography on Randolph’s father, Winston Churchill.

In 1967, Addison became a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. During the late-1960s and early 1970s, Addison developed his thesis into The Road to 1945, published by Jonathan Cape in 1975, which focused on Labour’s landslide victory at the 1945 election and established the idea of a post-war consensus.

Addison married Dr Rosemary Catharine (Rosy) Sheehan (b.1954) on 4 August 1979 who together had two sons, James and Michael.

In 1990, Addison was named an Endowment Fellow. From 1990 to 1991, Addison was a visiting fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. In 1996, Addison became Head of the Centre for Second World War Studies.

A pioneer in the field of contemporary history, Addison studied Winston Churchill’s career, publishing Churchill on the Home Front (1992) and Churchill: The Unexpected Hero (2007). Addison also studied the Blitz and the British bombing of Dresden, publishing The Burning Bush: A New History of the Battle of Britain (2000) and Firestorm: The Bombing of Dresden (2006). Besides military history, Addison also spent much of his career examining the social history of Britain. Building on his earlier work, he wrote Now the War is Over: A Social History of Britain, 1945-1951 (1985) and No Turning Back: The Peacetime Revolutions of Post-War Britain (2010).

Addison retired in 2005 and became a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2006.

Addison died of lung cancer on 21 January 2020, aged 76.

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Mary Pauline Wilson Walker, later Mary Pauline Stanley Addison

Mary Pauline Wilson Walker (known as Pauline) was born on 26 November 1919 to Horace Wilson Walker (1883-1962) and Ethel Mildred Pauline Wilson Walker (née Bourne) (1893-1977).

Pauline trained as a nurse at the beginning of the Second World War. Aged 21 years old, Pauline enrolled as a member of the Women’s Land Army (WLA no. 52759) and worked in Staffordshire from 5 September 1941 to 3 May 1943. It was during this time that she met Indigenous American soldier Stanley Addison and had a son, Paul Addison, after a fleeting relationship. Pauline brought up Paul with the support of her parents.

Once Paul was old enough to attend school, Pauline worked in a factory in Lichfield Trent Valley. After this, she worked in hotels, cafes, and for a jeweler in Birmingham. In the 1970s, Pauline changed her name to Mary Pauline Stanley Addison.

Pauline Addison died in 2010.

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Ethel Mildred Pauline Walker (née Bourne)

Ethel Mildred Pauline Walker (née Bourne) was born on 16 February 1893 in Fazeley, Staffordshire to Francis John Bourne and Augusta Pauline Bourne (1863-1945). Ethel attended Wellington Ladies’ College and then trained as a commercial artist. She also worked as a governess in Carrington, Nottingham. During the First World War, she worked in a munitions factory in the Midlands.

Ethel met Horace in 1916 and they began courting in 1917. On 19 December 1918, Ethel married Horace Wilson Walker in St Bartholomew’s Church, Hints, Tamworth, Staffordshire. They went on to have two children, Pauline (1919-2010) and Johnny (1922-1933). During the Depression, Horace and Ethel moved from Sutton Coldfield to Whittington and ran the greengrocers, Whittington Stores for several years. Initially, they lived above the shop in Clifton House. In 1939, they commissioned the building of a two-bedroom bungalow on the grounds of a farmyard next door (42 Main Street). They named the house Staddlestones.

Ethel Walker died on 22nd June 1977.

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Horace Wilson Walker

Horace Wilson Walker was born on 25th April 1883 in Kolkata in India to John Wilson Walker (1850-1896) and Maria Louisa Gordon (1896). He was brought up by Mary and George Lucas. Horace attended a convent school in Hazaribagh, Bihar and then St Joseph’s High School in Kolkata. After leaving school aged eighteen, he worked for a railway station, counting a roll call of employees. He went on work a brief stint in the opium department of the Indian government and then as a purser for the British Steam Navigation Company in Kolkata and Bombay.

In June 1904, Horace enlisted into the Royal Marines Artillery. Horace trained as a gunner at Whale Island in Portsmouth. From 1905 to 1919, he travelled onboard the ships Canopus, Commonwealth, Hindustan, Spartiate, Minotaur, and Barham. Horace was part of the Battle of Jutland Crew, sailing onboard H.M.S. Barnham. On 7 April 1919, Horace was discharged from Barham and joined the Belgian Reconstruction Corps.

Horace met Ethel Bourne in 1916 and they began courting in 1917. On 19 December 1918, Horace married Ethel in St Bartholomew’s Church, Hints, Tamworth, Staffordshire. They went on to have two children, Pauline (1919-2010) and Johnny (1922-1933).

In August 1920, Horace briefly worked on the railways, after which time he re-enlisted in the Royal Marines, taking up an office job in the Barracks at Portsmouth. Horace saw active service for the final time when joining the 11th Battalion of Royal Marines, which saw action in Constantinople following the Chanak Crisis. Horace was discharged in May 1926 and volunteered as a special constable during the General Strike.

During the Depression, Horace and Ethel moved from Sutton Coldfield to Whittington and ran the greengrocers, Whittington Stores for several years.

Horace Walker died on 19 July 1962.