My Mother was a War Bride by Karen Alexander
My mother, Dorothy (Dolly) Knowles of Nofolk England became a war bride
at 19 years of age. In March of 1946, with her first daughter, Marlene,
in her arms, she boarded a ship called the Scythia for her long journey
to Newfoundland, Canada to be with her new husband, the father of her baby
girl.
After six days on the ocean, both Mother and child seasick, they finally arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on March 19th. Then on to Sydney,
Nova Scotia by train and yet another boat that carried them into Port
aux Basque, Newfoundland on March 29th. It was Port aux Basque where she
was finally saw a familiar face, her husband. They then traveled by car
to Port au Port. She had no idea at that time it would be 20 years before
she saw England again.
She and my father had married the previous year at St Josephs Church in
Sheringham. He had told her of Newfoundland and what to expect but she
told us years later she really had no idea what she was in for. She had
moved from hot running water in her home where she had warm baths as she
pleased, to a place with cow paths, outhouses and pails to fetch water for
everything from drinking to bathing. Some of the women, she told us, just turned around and went straight home.
As the years passed, she grew to love Newfoundland and the people
became her family along with her husband and 11 children,(6 girls and 5 boys).
My Mother was forty years old before she made it back to her home town, but she
thought about England everyday and even told us years later of how,
while she had us children at the beach to play and swim, she would pretend
she was on the beach in Sheringham.
She was a wonderful mother, always smiling, singing and making sure we
were okay. While we were young, we had no idea of how she longed for her
home.
My dear mother passed away on September 24th of 2005, she was 79. It
was during her final years we heard of her stories and just how much she
sacrificed for her family. We all expected that she would want to be
buried in England with her mother but she didn't, she chose to stay in
Newfoundland so her husband of 60 years can be buried by her side when it is his time,and so that us 11 children can visit her whenever we want.
Karen, thank you so much for sharing your mother's story
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