Life story retold by Pamela Moss, family descendant
George MOSS (1879 – 1941) is my great-grandfather and was born on 10/11/1879 in Reading, the third child of George MOSS (1850 – 1913) and Sarah SARNEY. He was educated at St John’s C. of E. School and sang in the St John’s Church choir. At the age of 14 he left school to work at Huntley & Palmer’s and remained there for 48 years as a draughtsman in the Engineering department.
In 1904 he married Charlotte Annie LAKE, daughter of Alfred Lake, publican, at St John’s Church, and they lived at 78 Cholmeley Road. They had two sons George Alfred (born 1905) and Archibald William (born 1908). Outside of work George was an active member of the Salisbury Club, a members-only social club in Kings Road, and he sat on the committee. George and Charlotte later moved to Pitts Lane in Woodley where George enjoyed gardening. My father visited his grandfather as a boy and helped in the garden, and remembered his rather unusual snack of a genoa cake sandwich!
George died on 7/12/1941, aged 62, of coronary thrombosis. Charlotte died three years later, at the same age. He is buried with his wife Charlotte Annie, and his son George Alfred.
George Alfred MOSS (1905 – 1931)
George, my grandfather, was born on 25/9/1905 at Cholmeley Road. By the age of 15 he was working part-time as a junior clerk at Hill & Sherwins, advertising contractors, in Greyfriars Chambers, but was also still in part-time education. A year or so later he was involved in an accident while cycling along Kings Road. A motor car pulled out without warning from behind a horse-drawn vehicle, causing George to slam on his brakes and fall off his bicycle. The car ran over his legs but fortunately he wasn’t badly hurt, the bicycle probably bearing the brunt of it. The driver was fined £3 for negligent driving (Reading Observer 24/11/1922).
In 1926 George married Marion NASH, and they lived at 40 St Bartholomew’s Road which backed onto the Old Cemetery. George was now working in the offices of the Reading Gas Company, on the corner of Friar Street and Cross Street, and was a member of the Salisbury Club like his father. He and Marion had one child, Anthony George MOSS (my father).
Unfortunately George contracted pulmonary tuberculosis a few years later and in 1930 spent some time at a sanatorium in Ashford, Kent. Antibiotics weren’t yet available, and treatment consisted largely of rest, fresh air, and good food. George was quite artistic and passed some of the time painting scenes copied from old postcards. He seemed to be progressing well, and in a postcard to his son he said ‘the doctor is mending me nicely’. From other postcards it seems that he was able to have visits from his family, and go to the coast at Folkestone for some sea air.
In May 1931 he and Marion visited Brighton but just a few months later, on 30/10/1931, George died at home of broncho-pneumonia, aged 26. His funeral was held at St John’s Church and was well-attended. Marion remarried a few years later, and eventually moved to Swanage in Dorset where she died in 1996.
George’s brother Archibald William MOSS was born on 3/4/1908. He went to Reading School and was a member of Reading Athletic Club. In 1937 he married Phyllis VINER, and they lived in Reading Road, Woodley, before later moving to Tilehurst. They had three children. Archibald had a successful career in the beer, wines and spirits trade, and for a while was a retailer at the shop in Basingstoke Road formerly run by his uncle William MOSS. He was also a borough councillor for Reading’s Abbey Ward from the late 1950s. He died suddenly in 1968, aged 60, and his ashes are interred at Henley Road cemetery.
Division 69, Row E, Plot 18 (kerbs)