Grandad, as far as I know, has very little paperwork from
the old days - I've been doing our family tree and he has
been a mine of information but there are few photos or
documents available.
His 100th Birthday
Here are some photos of Grandad on his birthday 6th
November 2009. He ALWAYS wears his Grammarian tie for special
occasions although I have to say it is a bit battered and
worn now! He looked very smart and dapper but there again he
always does!
It was a fabulous day - we took him to the Red Lion
pub in Soham on the actual day, as he was born in the pub and he
had a pint on the landlord there. Lots of locals were there
to have a chat with.
The following day we had an 'open house' at one of the Day
Centres in Soham and approximately 100 people came to see him
and have a chat.
Ann Jarman talking to Grandad - she has long been a family
friend
and was speaker at the last Grammarians dinner.
All of the photos show him wearing his Grammarians tie with
pride!
He went home very tired but very happy that day and was so
proud to have received his card from the Queen. He will be
equally proud of his certificate of congratulations from the
Grammarians. Thank you for that.
Unfortunately two weeks after his birthday he had to go
into hospital for a short stay. He said on his birthday that
he didn't want to be 100 as "it's all down-hill from
there" (made me titter somewhat as most people think
it's all down-hill from 40 so he's had 60 years of going
down-hill already!). He seems to have convinced himself that
it really is down-hill although he perked up with the news of
a General Election! He is keeping up with the news and taking
an interest - but generally is very melancholy making it hard
for my mum and her sister who are the main carers.
Unfortunately as his eyesight is more or less gone now he
won't be able to see the people in the 1920s school photo.
Newmarket Journal article
http://www.newmarketjournal.co.uk/soham/Josh-celebrates-100-years-of.5815918.jp
9 Jan 11: from Kate Bavester, a grandaughter of Josh
Martin 21 - I write with sad news. Grandad Josh
passed away peacefully in the early hours of this morning. He
was most proud of his certificate you did for him which said
he was the Oldest Grammarian which I had printed off and
framed and he had it hanging on the wall. He will be buried
wearing his grammar school tie which he always wore with
pride. He was a lovely old man and we will miss him but after
living for 101 years, 2 months and 3 days we can truly say he
had a good innings and he had no pain, he just conked out!
Josh's very well attended funeral was on Monday 24th
January 2011 at 2pm at St Andrews Church, Soham, and
afterwards at The Brook (formerly Brook House) in Brook
Street, Soham. His wreath was in SGS colours and a number of
Grammarians attended.
| St Andrew's Church Soham A
Service of Thanksgiving
and a Celebration for the life of
Joshua "Josh" Martin
6th November 1909 - 9th January 2011
Monday, 24th January, 2011 at 2.00pm
|
 |
Eulogy for Joshua Martin given by his Grandson,
Jonathan James
When giving the Eulogy at a funeral, it is customary to
tell stories of what happened during that person’s life.
When it is the funeral of Joshua Martin, I somehow think that
most of us here today will already know many of those
stories.
I am sure that on 6th November 1901 when Emma Julia Martin
gave birth to Joshua Junior, she and her husband, Joshua
Senior, had no idea that 101 years later, so many people
would be at the funeral of one of Soham’s biggest and
best loved characters.
On September 21st 1912, Josh, at the age of 3, laid a
commemorative stone at the building of his father’s
brand new Slaughterhouse on the Shade at Soham. Unknown to
him at the time, that slaughterhouse was to become not only
his place of work, but also the place that in later years he
kept ponies and helped teach numerous children to ride.
It’s fair to say that Joshua and his three siblings,
Joe, Eric and Renee had quite a privileged upbringing. The
family were one of the first in Soham to have a car, their
telephone number was Soham 5 and they lived at Melton House,
one of Soham’s finest properties.
Whilst attending The Shade School, Josh won the
‘Never Absent, Never Late Medal’. He went on to
study at The Old Soham Grammar School and up until very
recently he attended The Annual Soham Grammarians Reunion and
proudly wore the Old School Tie on all special occasions.
After leaving school Josh joined the family business of
farmers, horse dealers and slaughterers. It grew into a
massive business and they even exported meat to the
continent, which was quite a feat in those days. Josh very
rarely spoke of the slaughtering side of the business, but as
we all know, ALWAYS , spoke of the dealing side. I recall him
coming home from Cambridge Auction one day very upset indeed.
He had been bidding for a pony for someone’s daughter to
ride, but once the owner saw that Josh was the bidder, they
immediately withdrew the horse from sale fearing it was going
to slaughter.
Despite his profession, Josh’s love and knowledge of
horses was never in question. For many years he kept ponies
and most were successful in competitions - three immediately
spring to mind; Patsy, Duke and Joe - but there were many
many more. Seldom was the vet called – it seemed there
was no equine ailment that could not be cured somehow using
Stockholm Tar! Others were cured with some of the most
bizarre potions known to man but they worked! Once Josh had
given any old nag one of his extreme makeovers, their value
unsurprisingly rocketed.
We will never, physically, return to those days but
somehow, during one of Josh’s tales, you were
transported back mentally to a whole new world. You could
somehow picture the pony he had bought for £20 and sold for
£40. I’m sure we all felt we knew such characters as
Art Petchy and Gilly Robinson. In the infamous tale, I’m
still amazed that the car that rolled over with these various
characters in it, including Josh Senior, never seriously
injured anyone. The main victim appeared to be the cigar that
got stubbed out on impact!
This was a totally different way of life, as Josh drove
his father around the countryside buying and selling horses.
Deals weren’t confirmed by email, but with a handshake.
There was no video-conferencing; they met in a pub. You
didn’t need a website as you had to earn your
reputation.
It was on one such trip that Josh called into the
Labourer’s Rest Pub at Kenny Hill. The young lady he met
there, Emma Butcher, was the daughter of the landlord. Emma
was to become his soul mate and at the age of 25 he married
her. That marriage was to last for 63 years until Grandma
sadly died in 1998.
On 11th October 1935, Josh and Emma were delighted at the
birth of Shirley. Five years later, on 25th November 1940,
Jenny arrived. Years later Shirley married Bernard and Jenny
married Robin, both of whom became son-in-laws. Over the last
47 years five grandchildren and five great grandchildren
completed the family.
Being a member of Josh’s family is, to say the least,
a very unique experience. For a start you have to be
tri-lingual - English, Fen and Romany makes up our
vocabulary. Romany was picked up during Josh’s numerous
horse deals with the gipsy fraternity. Today we all still
unwittingly let slip many Romany words. When other children
at school were singing songs from the latest top ten hits, us
grandchildren were belting out such favourites as
“I’m OK on top of a load of hay” and
“Joshua, Joshua, sweet as a lemon squash you are”.
Some children were always reluctant to be collected from
school when they knew their grandparents were picking them
up. That didn’t apply to us grandchildren as our Grandad
was the one in the middle of the crowd of parents telling
stories and making them laugh. We had the coolest Grandad in
the school.
As Josh’s family was one of the first to have a car
in Soham, naturally he could drive and taught a number of
others how to. His cars all had something in common - they
ran on fumes! A fiver's worth that he filled up with was only
achievable by the fact that Brook Street to Downfield’s
Garage was all downhill! When he stopped driving in his
mid-eighties, Josh continued his journeys by bicycle. A key
phrase in today’s world is Health and Safety and this
could be applied to Josh’s bicycle riding; Whilst it was
good for his health, it wasn’t great for other road
user’s safety! However, he was often to be seen in Soham
High Street, propping up his bike and telling his stories.
When Grandma died we all feared for how he would cope
looking after himself. His source of inspiration for his
newly found skill of cooking was a lady called
“Delilah” - known to you and I as Delia Smith. He
was regularly glued to the television when
“Delilah” was on, learning to make his next
culinary delight. The Beef Steak Pudding he made prompted
Shirley to write to “Delilah”, who in return wrote
Josh the most wonderful letter.
The fact that up until only recently Josh was able to live
at home was attributable to the care of others. He had a
wonderful team of carers, but it was the tireless efforts of
Shirley and Jenny that meant he was able to remain in the
house where he had lived for over three quarters of a
century. The entire family are truly grateful for that.
Eighteen months ago, Josh returned to his beloved
Slaughterhouse, now my family home, to re-lay the
commemorative stone that he had originally laid 97 years
previously. Predictably, upon getting out of the car, he went
straight across to the paddock to fuss our horses, who
uncannily appeared to be at the gate waiting for him.
Re-laying that stone, surrounded by his great grandchildren,
was clearly a magical moment for him.
Many of us here will recall Josh’s 100th Birthday
Party. Over 100 people attended, a day that meant a great
deal to Josh. Proudly displaying his message from Her Majesty
the Queen, we were all able to see his delight at being
surrounded by so many friends. And yes, Grandad, we all ate
the old fashioned way of “opening our mouths before we
put the food in!”
And so today we say farewell; the true end of an era.
Shirley and Jenny say farewell to a father. Bernard and Robin
say farewell to a father-in-law. Kate, Helen, Sally, myself
and Rachel say farewell to a Grandad. Rebecca, Jonathan and
Mark say farewell to a Grandfather-in-law. Emily, Joshua,
Elizabeth, William and Marley say farewell to a Great
Grandad, known affectionately as 'GG Josh'.
Everyone says farewell to a great friend and Soham says
farewell to a Son.
The wreath on Josh's coffin, here on Josh & Emma's grave,
was in the colours of Soham Grammar School
The service was taken by the Vicar of Soham, Rev Tim Alban
Jones.
The organ was played by Mr Peter Scott, formerly a master at
Soham Grammar School. There were two hymns:
Morning has broken
We plough the fields and scatter
Fred Eden, Frank Haslam and Geoff Griggs were among Soham
Grammarians who attended the service.
Donations, in lieu, of flowers, for MAGPAS could be left
at the Service or sent to CE Fuller & Co, Funeral
Directors, 23 Hall Street, Soham, ELY, Cambs., CB7 5BN
Shirley, Jenny, and family welcomed everyone to The Brook,
Brook Street, Soham for refreshments following the service.
DVD - Josh Martin - 95 Years a horse dealer
http://www.traditionsofsuffolk.com/index.php?page=NLV16%20Josh%20Martin
Josh Martin (Junior) was born in the Red Lion Soham to
a horse dealing father also named Josh and to a horse dealing
grandfather. He has been a Horse Dealer and Knackerman all
his life.
To some his story telling may seem droll and slow. It
is compared to the lack-lustre speech of today but to me it
is an excellent example of how people used to speak in his
age using story and with it passing wisdoms. He takes his
time to spin out a yarn but then people had more time then
and I have heard other people of his age tell stories
similarly. There was more time then so one has to learn to be
patient, but I knew he was a storyteller from the first time
he started breaking into the all familiar dialogue of a true
storyteller. "How are you Josh" I said when I
arrived, "not so bad for an old 'un" came the
reply, which is the same thing as my mother who was born four
years before Josh would have said.
I spent two and a half hours with Josh on a November
morning in 2004 and these are a selection of his stories.
Stories that are anecdotes of an age and into which valuable
information about the period is slowly dropped in. Important
information about the age when the horse ruled for it was the
means of transport and power on the land and those who did
not know sufficient would suffer from their lack of knowledge
for the knowledge of horse has many facets.
Here Josh explains some of the tricks of the old
dealers, what to look for in a good horse and why he had to
know the Romany language that was adopted by the horse
dealers.