Liverpool VCs by James Murphy

Author:James Murphy
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781844686421
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military

Arthur Herbert Procter VC (1890–1973)

Before the turn of the last century, approximately 65 per cent of the working population of Liverpool were part-time workers, whose employment was directly or indirectly dependent upon the port and the sailing and docking of passenger and cargo vessels: ‘no ships, no work, no pay’. Chief among those workers were the thousands of clerks, who, with bills of laden, ledgers and notebooks, tallied and recorded goods, services and cash on ships and quays, and in warehouses, markets, offices and shops. It was essential, but poorly paid work, giving barely enough to tide a man over the periods of unemployment when the port was quiet. Nevertheless, family traditions grew up, and son often followed father into the occupation. Arthur Procter's family had such a tradition, and it could be said that clerking was in his blood.

Arthur Herbert's grandfather, Richard, worked as a clerk with one of the several large timber merchants that crowded Derby Road, parallel to the Dock Road, and which dealt in lumber from the Brunswick, Hornby, Huskisson and Canada Docks. He married Emily Tyerman in 1863 and the couple lived in Irlam Lane, Bootle. His eldest son, Arthur Richard, born in 1864, began his working life as a clerk. But he had ambition and sought permanence and stability in his chosen profession, away from the vagaries of the port-dependent employment. By the time he married Sarah Ellen Cumpsty in 1886, he was a full-time clerk with Parrs Bank, in their branch at 55 Church Street, on the corner with Derby Road.

Sarah Ellen Cumpsty was born in Preston but had grown up in Bootle and lived at 216 Rimrose Road. Her mother, Bridget, was from Galway, Ireland, and her father, John, hailed from Lancaster. He worked as a clerk and bookseller before moving via Preston to Liverpool, where he started up in business for himself as a book-binder. Sarah, the youngest of seven children, was known by her second name, Ellen, within the family.

Arthur and Ellen Procter lived in a small apartment above the bank premises, and they had four children: Ethel, Arthur Herbert, born on 11 August 1890, Clarence and Ernest. Ethel and Arthur Herbert were educated at St Mary's Church of England Primary School in Waverley Street, a few minutes’ walk from their home. But, before he was 9, Arthur Herbert was sentaway from home to live at 3 Elm Grove Terrace, Exeter, with his father's younger brother, Herbert, and his great-aunt, Mary Tyerman, sister of Emily.

His father lost his position with the bank and took to the drink, turning his home into a battlefield. The brunt of his drunken outbursts was carried by the young Arthur Herbert; and Ellen, whose health was failing following the birth of her fourth child, could not protect him from her husband's outrages. When he found employment as a clerk with Lever Brothers of Port Sunlight, one of the world's largest manufacturers of soap and was preparing to take the family over the Mersey to live

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