Beardshall Collection

"Well, when it got to about 2 o’clock at morning, they threw a gas bomb in and shut door, fastened door so couldn’t get out and I shouts “gas” straight away, and awakened them and none of us was prepared." Arthur Beardshall talking about an air-raid shelter drill in 'Army Training'

 

"...when we come here of course like I said, we'd no bath, er no bathroom and the toilet pot were broken...and the toilet was down at bottom of garden." Arthur Beardshall talking about moving to a new house in 'Moving to Southwell Street"

Man in dark suit and lady in white wedding dress in front of a church door.

Marriage of Arthur Beardshall and Gladys Bentley in 1948.

Background

Arthur Beardshall was born in Elsecar on 31 January 1918, the son of Ernest Beardshall and Alice (née Sellars). He married Gladys Bentley in 1948. He spent most of his life in Barnsley, and also served in the army during World War Two. This oral history recordings were taken in 2005, mainly with him recalling various events and episodes of his life, with Gladys recording a couple of short interviews. Arthur and Gladys moved to Worcester in 2007 to be closer to family, and Arthur died there on 14 January 2013 at the age of 94, two years prior to his wife.

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The full catalogue for the Beardshall Collection and other oral history collections are available to view on our online catalogue.

Transcript of 'Tidworth Tales' by Arthur Beardshall (ref no: A-3914-F/1/10)

(HTM, 55.2 KB)

- this transcription is licensed under Creative Commons attribution 4.0 international license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Download file - Transcript of 'Tidworth Tales' by Arthur Beardshall (ref no: A-3914-F/1/10)

Transcript of 'Army Training' by Arthur Beardshall (ref no: A-3914-F/1/10)

(HTM, 49.6 KB)

- this transcription is licensed under Creative Commons attribution 4.0 international license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Download file - Transcript of 'Army Training' by Arthur Beardshall (ref no: A-3914-F/1/10)

Transcript of 'Moving to Southwell Street' by Arthur Beardshall (ref no: A-3914-F/1/19)

(HTM, 53.2 KB)

- this transcription is licensed under Creative Commons attribution 4.0 international license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Download file - Transcript of 'Moving to Southwell Street' by Arthur Beardshall (ref no: A-3914-F/1/19)