![Sepia photograph of a man in old-fashioned clothing standing in front of a steam train](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/52/2024/05/Photo_2.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
My great grandfather James Thomas Hawkins worked his way up to become a train driver for the London and South Western Railway. My father’s cousin still has the watch visible in James’ waistcoat pocket.
![Black and white photograph of an older man and woman](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/52/2024/05/Photo_1.jpeg?webp=1&w=1200)
James and my great grandmother Frances (née Childs) in later life.
![Black and white photograph of six white men in old-fashioned suits with an Indian man in a turban](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/52/2024/05/Photo_7.jpeg?fit=1024,1024&webp=1&w=1200)
James' son Harry Hawkins (back row, far left) spent a decade as a boilermaker with Indian Railways.
![Black and white photograph of a man and woman getting married](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/52/2024/05/Photo_5.jpeg?webp=1&w=1200)
Harry and Doris Hawkins wed in 1922.
![Black and white photograph of two women standing up, an older woman sitting down and holding a baby, and a little boy](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/52/2024/05/Photo_6.jpeg?webp=1&w=1200)
Left to right: Doris; my great grandmother, Sarah Williams, holding my father Peter; Doris’ sister Ida May Jessie; and my uncle Brian, who was born in India.
![](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/52/2024/05/Photo_3.jpeg?fit=723,1024&webp=1&w=1200)
My great aunt Ada Hawkins and her husband Herbert Campaign on a ship in the Ascension Islands.
![Black and white photograph of a man in an old-fashioned military uniform](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/52/2024/05/Photo_4.jpeg?webp=1&w=1200)
Thomas Williams, my great grandfather, joined the Royal Horse Artillery in 1866. He transferred to the Reserves in 1893.
![Black and white photograph of a middle-aged man and woman in old-fashioned clothes](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/52/2024/05/Photo_9.jpeg?webp=1&w=1200)
My maternal grandmother Daisy Dawe was a spinster when she married Robert Brown in 1940. She’d already had eight children (it’s a long story!)
![Black and white photograph of a man, a woman and three young children in old-fashioned clothes](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/52/2024/05/Photo_8.jpeg?webp=1&w=1200)
Daisy with George Bray AKA Taylor, my grandfather.
![Black and white photograph of a young man in Second World War uniform](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/52/2024/05/Photo_10.jpeg?webp=1&w=1200)
Mum’s stepbrother, Leonard Brown, died at Dunkirk in the Royal Berkshire Regiment.