 |
David Brian Carrad 1916-2003
(This is an autobiography)
DAVID CARRAD = BIOGRAPHY July, 1977
Born in Wembley, England, 1916
Education: MA in French and German, Oxford University
Sports: Rugby and running
Army Service: 1940 - 45, England and Continent; Captain
Career: Taught briefly in schools in England; Came to New Zealand
1947 to teach German at Victoria University of Wellington,
have remained there ever since, intend retiring January,
1978
Wife: Ailsa, nee Browning, French Teacher and Senior Assistant Mistress,
now retired.
Residence: A rugged old house on Normandale Hill,
overlooking the weal and woe of Lower Hutt for 23 years.
Politics: Member of Labour Party in England before the War, and in
New Zealand since 1963. Lower Hutt City Councillor, 1965 -
1968. Chairman, Wellington Committee on Vietnam, 1967.
Social Service: Lower Hutt Birthright Counsellor; Normandale
Progressive Association committee member (both for
More years than I can remember).
Relaxations: Tramping; handyman-work; beachcombing.
The following is a transcription of a later handwritten autobiography by David (written on the reverse of some photocopies of a September 1991 DSW letter and an earlier SNZ-GSE agenda); I acknowledge the help of Funeral Celebrant Sandra Greig, who had typed large parts of it (and the above one) for incorporation in his Service and let me copy it.
David Carrad
Born 8 July 1916 at Wembley England.
Primary Schooling: Wembley College for Boys
Secondary Schooling: University College School (Specialized on Languages)
University: Oxford, studying French and German.
Teaching: Short period at Dudley Grammar School, Worcestershire.
War Service 1940-45. Royal Army Pay Corps, then various units. (I was fairly badly injured in Officer Cadet training, and then shunted about from unit to unit.) Ended up as acting Captain, Interpreter and Compound Officer in a Prison of War Camp.
Teaching Briefly at Dudley Grammar School again.
University Teaching Appointed Senior Lecturer at then Victoria University College (later Victoria University of Wellington). Took up post in May 1947. Continued in this position till retirement in 1978
Marriages Married Joan Caddy May 1943. This marriage finally broke up in 1951, by which time there were a son and two daughters.
Married Ailsa Browning December 1954. I owe love and gratitude to Ailsa for very many reasons, but most particularly for her help and support in my reconciliation with the estranged children of my first marriage, John, Stephanie and Julie. Ailsa has commented that most grandmothers get about six months notice. She had about 24 hours, when the final reconciliation came.
Retirement I had promised that on retirement I would take a turn as Chairman of the Normandale Progressive Association. In the event, my Chairmanship was broken by a long retirement trip in 1979. Shortly after our return, I was totally surprised by being asked to chair the Lower Hutt Branch of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society. This was an important opportunity to further my interests in conservation, and I felt bound to refrain from seeking re-election as chair of Normandale Progressive Association, though I was a little embarrassed at my meagre service to my suburb, for which I had, and have, considerable affection.
Chairmanship of Lower Hutt Forest and Bird was swiftly followed by Presidency of Hutt Valley Birthright, and this involved me in the greatest struggle of my retirement, the endeavour to make significant improvement in the lives of one-parent families in the Hutt Valley.
A long retirement has thus been full of absorbing interests: local affairs, Forest and Bird, Birthright, our children and now increasingly our grandchildren. I deliberately say “our”, for I feel that in every moral and emotional sense they are at least as much Ailsa’s as mine.
This is not to overlook the very long-standing relationship with Ailsa’s sister Hazel, her late husband Barron, and their children and grandchildren. In the end our family has been very large because it has developed on two fronts.
Older son-in-law's main home page
Plimmerton, where David's children grew up
Tinui, where David's oldest grandchild lived and worked for some years
Another Plimmerton page, partly copied from the above
David's ancestry and uncles, aunts, etc, at Rootsweb
Send E-Mail to: robinp@xtra.co.nz
Copyright © 2006 Robin Forlonge Patterson. All Rights Reserved