My maternal grandad Richard Lloyd was born in 1898 in Luke St. in Southport. His mum died when he was a baby and his dad gave him to his parents to raise in Hall St. (that house is now for sale and my mum is itching to buy it. I wish we could!). When his dad re-married he went to live with them but at 16 he ran away to join the Great War. He was too young to sign up so his new step-mum followed him to Preston and got him to come home, but the next year, 1915, he ran away again, determined to fight.
He joined the Royal Horse Artillery on the front lines, working with the horses that pulled the cannons and other artillery. My only visual reference I have to the kind of things he must have been involved with is the film War Horse. He (like all the others I'm sure) had a horrible time in the war and he was shell-shocked. After the war he was in a terrible state and throughout his life had nightmares. But he never spoke of it to anyone.
After the Great War he went to the seaside town of Blackpool on holiday and he met my Nana, Mabel. She was in service in Knutsford, Cheshire where her family were from. Her parents didn't like him so they ran away and got married. They went on to have 7 children: John, Stan, Ada, Edna, Ethel (my mum), Mabel (May) and Harold. The oldest, John served in World War 2 in the Royal Marines and my Grandad Lloyd was in the 2nd Army Reserves based on the Isle of Man. Thankfully he didn't get sent into the fighting again. My Uncle Stan served in the Korean War, which I don't know too much about.
My Grandad died one month before I was born, in 1969. I wish I'd met him and knew more about him. I think this might be the only picture I have of him and I'm only assuming it's him because he is stood next to my Nana at my Auntie May's wedding in 1961.
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