Ernest Skudder 1889 - 1949
Ernest Skudder was born on 15th September 1889, to Frederick Edwin Skudder and Helena Martha Selena Avery Skudder, then living at 76 Evelyn Street, Deptford. He was their only child and married Helen Ethel Weeden at St. Nicholas Parish Church, Arundel, Sussex on 29th March 1915, the witnesses were Richard James Weeden, Winifred Kate Weeden and Richard James Weeden jnr. They were lent a DE-P Car for use on their honeymoon. After marriage he lived with his wife at his parents home, 33 St Donatt's Road, New Cross until 1925, when they moved to a newly built house in Maclean Road off Stondon Park Road, Honor Oak Park, followed by a move to Lakeside Drive, Bromley Common, around 1936.
Unfortunately my Grandfather died before I was born so what little I know about him has been gleaned from my Grandmother, Granny Skudder. As a young man he was a keen amateur wrestler and always drove an Indian Motor Cycle, later fitted with a sidecar for Helen, not without mis-hap as the two sections once parted company at Biggin Hill depositing Gran in a field. He was keen on speedway and motor sports and they often went to Brooklands at Weybridge, Surrey to enjoy the spectacle.
From what I was told it seems he had an eye for the girls and once introduced his wife as his sister, which was followed by a sharp response of "I wish I was!". Apparently he was a terrible dancer and only managed to co-ordinate his movements on the floor when being led on roller-skates. However he was a skilled craftsman and made an oak corner desk that sat in Granny's house until her death. He tended to like things to remain as they were and once when Gran had given away his favourite tatty armchair to the works foreman, he went and asked for it back, even offering to pay him for it, but he refused to return it as "the Missus had given it him". He was member of a Masonic Lodge.
He was apprenticed as a wheelwright/coachbuilder and worked in his Father's business, Skudder & Co, and later in his own Companies; Imperial Motor Works, Vulcan Coachbuilders and latterly Sinclair Vulcan Ltd. He was at one time offred employment in Argentina, and had apparently accepted the postion but his wife Helen refused to go - this position may well have been with Grace Bothers (W R Grace & Compnay) for whom his son started working on first leaving school.
During both wars his expertise was required in the manufacture of armaments and munitions, serving as a Foreman at the Woolwich Arsenal during the First World War, and as a consequence the business suffered, particularly during World War II. Prolonged periods of chronic ill health, resulted in his death on 4th January 1949 and the eventual closure of Sinclair Vulcan. He was buried at Brockley Cemetery Plot V.809.
Unfortunately my Grandfather died before I was born so what little I know about him has been gleaned from my Grandmother, Granny Skudder. As a young man he was a keen amateur wrestler and always drove an Indian Motor Cycle, later fitted with a sidecar for Helen, not without mis-hap as the two sections once parted company at Biggin Hill depositing Gran in a field. He was keen on speedway and motor sports and they often went to Brooklands at Weybridge, Surrey to enjoy the spectacle.
From what I was told it seems he had an eye for the girls and once introduced his wife as his sister, which was followed by a sharp response of "I wish I was!". Apparently he was a terrible dancer and only managed to co-ordinate his movements on the floor when being led on roller-skates. However he was a skilled craftsman and made an oak corner desk that sat in Granny's house until her death. He tended to like things to remain as they were and once when Gran had given away his favourite tatty armchair to the works foreman, he went and asked for it back, even offering to pay him for it, but he refused to return it as "the Missus had given it him". He was member of a Masonic Lodge.
He was apprenticed as a wheelwright/coachbuilder and worked in his Father's business, Skudder & Co, and later in his own Companies; Imperial Motor Works, Vulcan Coachbuilders and latterly Sinclair Vulcan Ltd. He was at one time offred employment in Argentina, and had apparently accepted the postion but his wife Helen refused to go - this position may well have been with Grace Bothers (W R Grace & Compnay) for whom his son started working on first leaving school.
During both wars his expertise was required in the manufacture of armaments and munitions, serving as a Foreman at the Woolwich Arsenal during the First World War, and as a consequence the business suffered, particularly during World War II. Prolonged periods of chronic ill health, resulted in his death on 4th January 1949 and the eventual closure of Sinclair Vulcan. He was buried at Brockley Cemetery Plot V.809.
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No part of or any information contained on this or any page on the Skudders website may be copied or reproduced without the express permission of the Webmaster