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A Bottisham Soldier
George Osbourn - born 1914
This is a story of George who lived in a fen-edge village.
During the second World War he was called-up and, for the
first time, experienced travel beyond his familiar
surroundings.
George Osbourn lived in the same house in Bottisham until he
moved to a retirement home in 1996 His Great-grandfather had
bought the house in 1880, when it was three houses with the pub
in the middle - ‘The Queens Head’. It remained a licensed
premise until closed for selling intoxicating liquor on 21st
January 1965; at that time the licence was in the name of
William James Osbourn. Another family connection with the
trade was George’s great-grandmother the licensee (granted in
1899) at the Bell. School was not the happiest time in George’s
life. He attended the Church School, Bottisham. The school
philosophy was - ‘if I can’t teach you any other way, I’ll knock it
in’; boys and girls would get a crack on the head to confirm the
threat! All ages were in the same room. George claims that even
the teachers were afraid of the headmaster who taught at one end
of the room. To his great relief George finished schooling, at 14
years of age, to enter the family building trade.
George claims that he, unlike his brother, did not join the Home
Guard until he had to. He also claims that most of the time was “a
big laugh”. When the ‘Runner’ (Percy Cullum) told George to
collect his uniform from the room at the back of the, then,
Reading Room, George flatly refused to accept used clothing,
and especially shoes, handed in by former owners: an attitude he
carried throughout the Second World War. On one famous
occasion when in training, the drill instructor shouted “Gas!”.