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The Rushden Echo, 16th April, 1943, transcribed by Gill Hollis
Mrs. Dunmore's Boys
Story of a Mother
What The War Means to Mrs. Dunmore

Here is the story of a woman well-named. She is Mrs. Dunmore, and in carrying the burdens which war can bring to a wife and mother she has certainly “Done More” than most.

Mrs Dunmore Mrs. Dunmore lives at 8, Trafford-road, Rushden, and is aged 43. She is the daughter of a soldier and the wife of one who fought in the Boer War and the Great War. She has nine children and has brought up “about 15.” Her family circle, counting in two sons-in-law, provides a list of 11 young men and women who are “doing their bit” for the country. Each morning Mrs. Dunmore goes out to clean offices. Each afternoon she works as a domestic help. In the evening her husband, Mr. J. H. Dunmore, who is her senior by 18 years, cycles off to his work as a night loader for P.X. Ltd. He still carries some shrapnel from the last war, but he joined the Home Guard in 1940 and remained in it until last year, when his work compelled him to leave.

Among those “brought up” by Mrs. Dunmore are two brothers by adoption. They were adopted that is by her mother, and Mrs. Dunmore has cared for them since their infancy.

Three in Africa

Mrs. Dunmore’s list of 11 is as follows:-

1. Stanley Parish (adopted brother, aged 23, single. Called up just before the war, he served in France and was in the evacuation at Dunkirk, coming back to England minus his boots. Now he is in the Northamptonshire Regiment with the First Army, North Africa.

2. Pte Reginald Parish (adopted brother), 25, married. He enlisted at the outbreak of war, went to the Middle East three years ago, and is a Sherwood Forester in the Eighth Army, North Africa.

3. Driver Frederick Wooding (son-in-law) aged 24. He was in the Norway expedition and is now with the R.A.S.C. in North Africa, where he has met Stanley Parish.

4. Pte. Harry Dunmore (son), aged 25. Called up as a Territorial in 1939, he has had a breakdown in health, and is to be discharged from the Northamptonshire Regiment. He is the eldest son.

5. A.C.W. Rose Dunmore (daughter), aged 22, who joined the W.A.A.F. nearly three years ago and is learning to be a Flight Mechanic.

6. A/C James Graham, R.A.F. (son-in-law), aged 22. A native of Seaham Harbour, he is serving in England.

7. 8. 9. Mrs. Doris Wooding, Miss Pearl Dunmore and Mrs. Pauline Graham, (daughters), all on munitions work in the Midlands

10. Desmond Dunmore (son), aged 16, a Home Guardsman of the Rushden “B” Company since he was 14½.

11. O/S Keith Dunmore (son) aged 18, who joined the Navy about a month ago.

Legion Members

Mrs. Dunmore has two other sons who are of school age, and a little grandson is also among the occupants of 8, Trafford-road. Mr. Dunmore is a member of the British Legion, and the sons and daughter in the Services have enrolled as honorary members.

In the last war Mrs. Dunmore was a V.A.D. nurse and munitions worker. Now, with the home to manage and two outside jobs to be done every day, she says “I would like to do something a bit nearer the war.”



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