Richard Hubert White (1884-1966) & Jenny Henshaw (1890-1944)
Richard Hubert White was born at Malmesbury on 4 May 1884, the second son of Edward Arthur White and Anne Maude Jennings.
He attended Bradfield College, Berks from January 1897, and then University College, London (engineering side).
He was a pupil at Compton and Co, Chelmsford, Essex (a manufacturer of electricity generating and lighting systems), then worked at the Hendon Electric Supply Company, before joining the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company.
On 23 August 1913 he was appointed managing engineer to the Canadian Marconi Company and engineer in charge of their transatlantic wireless telegraph station at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.
Jenny Henshaw was born in Talke on 21 June 1890, the daughter of Albert Mayon Henshaw and Matilda Lawton.
Jennie, as her name was affectionately written throughout her life, grew up at the family home of Crown Bank, which her father occupied as the manager of Talke Colliery and as such he was a key figure in the local community.
Jennie actively supported her father in this role, perhaps because her mother had a retiring nature which led to Jennie leading a more prominent role. She organised amateur dramatics, musical and sporting occasions (including the Girls’ Guild) which were often held in the hall of St Martin’s Mission in the village.
Jenny also accompanied her father when he travelled, including in 1913 when they sailed on the SS Laurentic – on that voyage she met her future husband Richard Hubert White.
In March 1914, the engagement of Jennie Henshaw and Richard H White was announced. Jennie visited Nova Scotia that year, sailing from Liverpool and arriving in Quebec on 12 June.
In January 1915 an “interesting ceremony took place at the works of the Talke o’th’Hill Colliery Company…when a presentation was made to Miss Jennie Henshaw…to celebrate her approaching wedding…The presentation was made in the presence of a large number of the staff and workmen. Miss Henshaw very gracefully expressed her thanks for the handsome present and good wishes. A wireless message was received from Mr White, expressing his very deep appreciation of the gift made to his fiancee.” Shortly after, Jennie sailed from Liverpool to Nova Scotia on the SS Hesperion arriving on 8 February. (Trans-Atlantic shipping had become dangerous – later that year the same liner was torpedoed off Fastnet on 4 September by a German submarine, with the loss of 32 lives, and foundered two days later whilst under tow.)
Richard and Jennie were married at Halifax Cathedral, Nova Scotia, on 8 February 1915.
In Nova Scotia Richard and Jennie lived at Grace Bay, near the Marconi wireless station.
In August 1915 Richard and Jennie sailed on SS St Louis of the American Line to Liverpool, and Richard took charge of the field station dept at Marconi for the manufacture of military and naval portable wireless stations at Chelmsford. They lived at the Bower at Boreham, near Chelmsford. While living here, their first two children were born: Richard Mayon on 15 December 1915 and Barbara Ann (“Bay”) on 1 January 1918.
In 1915 Richard was made an associate member of the Institute of Radio Engineers (AMIRadE) of New York and in 1918 a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers (MIEE) of London.
In August 1919 Richard joined C. S. Franklin of the Marconi Company as his assistant. Franklin was a noted British radio pioneer, and when he became chief of the independent research department at Marconi House, Richard joined him as chief assistant in March 1921.
The family lived first at 74 Sunningfields Road, Hendon, where their third child Ernest Roger Henshaw was born on 27 December 1920. In October 1921, the family moved to 60 Sunningdale Road.
In 1922, Richard was offered the post of chief engineer to the BBC but declined the position and in May 1923 was appointed chief assistant purchasing engineer to the Marconi Co. About this time, he started to write for the technical press and in his first two months had 17 articles accepted and none rejected, including articles which carried the signature of G Marconi. In 1924 he was commissioned as technical editor for a history of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co.
In June 1926 he was appointed chief of the purchasing dept (which bought for all the Marconi group). In January 1927 he was elected to the livery of the Worshipful Company of Coachmakers and Coach Harness Makers and on 27 January received the freedom of the City of London and of that Company. He was elected vice-chairman of the British Industrial Purchasing Officers Association, later becoming chairman and then president.
Richard Mayon (“Dick”) attended St Joseph’s Convent School, Hendon, then (Sept 1924) University College Junior School, Hampstead. He was attached to Tenterden Hall School, Hendon and with a tutor (September 1928) whilst cramming (unsuccessfully) for the entrance exam to Dartmouth Naval College. He attended Eastbourne College, and then St Thomas’s Hospital, London.
Barbara Ann (“Bay”) was educated at St Joseph’s Convent School, Hendon and then at Downhurst School, Parson St, Hendon.
Ernest Roger Henshaw (“Roger”) went to Cambridge in 1939 as a student at the school of Agriculture.
In April 1940 Richard retired from Marconi and joined the Air Ministry as a senior production officer. He left this role in September 1940 due to Jenny’s ill-health and they went to live at Ormescliff, Deganwy, which she had inherited from her father.
In his book Spitfire Saga, in which he recounted his experience in the RAF, Roger Henshaw White wrote that by the end of the summer term in 1940 he left Cambridge and went to his parents at Deganwy:
“Our house in Hampstead had been surrounded with unexploded or possibly time bombs and had to be evacuated. The orders to exit were given by the local chief fire officer, who promptly asked if he could occupy it and look after it for us…My father had been living throughout the blitz in the basement of the Air Ministry, sleeping on a Lilo, teaching those in need all they needed to know about radar, Asidc etc…On hearing the news about Hampstead, he told my mother to pack all that she wanted into the car and drive it to North Wales, where he was able to join her shortly afterwards, as his job at the Air Ministry had come to an end.”
In May 1941 Richard joined the Home Guard as a private and in 1944 was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant and became the liaison officer and security officer 1st Battalion Carmarthenshire Home Guard.
Jenny died at the Cottage Hospital in Hendon and her funeral was held at Hendon Cemetery and Crematorium on Monday 20 November 1944.
Her son Roger had been permitted to return to London from Italy, where he was then serving with the RAF, as his mother was very ill. He returned home on 18 November to Hampstead where his sister, Bay, was then living as she was working with the Old Vic company in London, and where his parents were visiting her to see the performance. He wrote: “My father was at home when I arrived – and after a stiff drink together, he told me that my mother had died that morning about 2:00 am. She knew I was on my way home and that made her very happy. As soon as she heard the news she faded away quickly; drugged against pain, she died peacefully.” (Spitfire Saga)
In November 1949 Richard enrolled in the Civil Defence Corps. In 1950 he trained as an instructor in civil defence, passing his exams in March 1951 (tied in 2nd place for North Carmarthenshire). He resigned from the Civil Defence Corps in October 1955 due to age.
Richard was interested in all outdoor sports, but principally in sailing and golf. He served on the committee of the Conwy Yacht Club (motorboat section) and was elected hon. treasurer in 1955.
Richard was initiated into the Freemasons in 1913, and was a member of the Lodge of Antiquity until 1936 when he resigned. He later joined the Lodge of St Cystenin of Llandudno in 1953.
Richard moved to Suffolk to live with his son, Richard, and his family at Humberdoucy House, Ipswich, where he died on 2 March 1966 aged 81 years.