The Witt Family

from I'd Rather Be In Deeping March 2020

Found in Deeping

The Witt family: a story of engineering and adventure

by Maggie McKay

Anyone who has ever looked into the history of the fens will have come across the story of the Dutch engineers, headed by Cornelius Vermuyden in the 1630s, who were persuaded to come over to our part of eastern England and employ their know-how in draining the fens. The Witt ancestors were some of these engineers. They settled in England and in the course of time they moved from the King’s Lynn and Thorney area to the very edge of the fenlands, the Deepings. Near the end of the 19th century and with a marriage into the milling Fullard family, the Witts came to live at Molecey Mill, on the Stamford Road, half a mile from Market Deeping but in the parish of West Deeping

By the time Richard, only child of Cyril and Florence Witt, was born, in 1919, Molecey was coming to the end of its life as a working mill and for most of Richard’s growing up it was simply the family home. Nevertheless, time would show that the engineering ‘gene’, so important in the careers of those Dutch forebears, was to carry on in their descendants, for Richard, or Dick as he was known, was to become, not a miller, but a gifted and versatile engineer himself.

Dick didn’t particularly like school and was not academic but from early boyhood he was keenly interested in all kinds of machines. He wanted to know how things worked and he loved and excelled at all kinds of sports. After attending Uffington primary school he went on to Stamford Grammar School and there his greatest achievements were in sports; indeed, he held the school record for the long jump for many years. Unfortunately physical prowess did not cut any ice with the headmaster of this old and prestigious grammar school, and he told Dick bluntly – and, as time would show, completely mistakenly – that he considered that he was ‘not going anywhere’, so he advised him to leave school and take the apprenticeship offered to him by Blackstone’s Engineering works in Ryhall Road which was where Dick’s father already worked. As it turned out, and by one of life’s little ironies, this decision set Dick onto a road that would lead him into an exciting and adventurous career; for, as an apprentice, he proved to be outstanding so that, even before he had completed his apprenticeship, Blackstone’s sent him up to Shetland and the Orkney Isles to fix Blackstone’s engines into power houses for the RAF. Was this what the headmaster meant by ’not going anywhere’!?

The outbreak of WWII caused a break in Dick’s engineering career and the break proved not only to entail risks to life and limb, but also to open up opportunities. Dick was called up into the armed forces, and anyone with engineering skills was valuable to all of them; after basic training he was assigned to Air Sea Rescue boats based in Newlyn in Cornwall. However, as for thousands of young men at the time, this involved personal complications and some sacrifice. Dick was now in his early

twenties but love and romance had entered his life when he was only a teenager, for he had seen and fallen in love with a very pretty redhead who travelled on the same school bus into Stamford every day. Her name was Ann Otter and she was at the Girls’ High School in Stamford while Dick was at the Grammar School. Now Dick was stationed more than 200 miles away, in Cornwall, and Ann, born and brought up in the Market Place, Market Deeping, was not going to be able to see him very often, nor for very long. What to do? Dick made a decision: he must get up to Lincolnshire and marry Ann forthwith. But D-Day planning was now far advanced and there was no question of getting any leave. The skipper of Dick’s boat had a solution, however: ’Get Ann down here,’ he said ’and you can marry her by licence on the spot!’ And this was what happened. Leaning out of the hatch just out of Newlyn

For a multitude of reasons train services were often delayed or disrupted in wartime, and this was the spring of 1944, so it could be a nerve wracking business taking a 200 mile journey from eastern England to the far south west. But ‘amor vincit omnia’ – love conquers all – and this young couple were lucky, Ann’s train was only two hours late in getting into Penzance! Dick had the licence and they were married next day at Penzance Registry Office, two of the crew from the boat acting as witnesses. Not many people before WWII had short Registry Office marriage ceremonies and Ann felt that without a church wedding she was not ‘properly’ married, so it was with great rejoicing that, at short notice, they found that the vicar of Newlyn church would be happy to receive them in the church and give them a blessing. l-r Back row. Richard Witt. Florence Witt, Earnest Witt Front. Gillian( baby.)Anne Witt , Frederick Fullard, Annie Fullard Taken in front of dining room window Molecey Mill in 1945

Ann & Dick just married

Dick and Ann’s first period of married life lasted exactly 24 hours, for next day Dick had to report for duty at 7.00am and the boat sailed at 8.00 for the Scilly Isles. As they left the harbour Ann stood on the beach and waved at Dick who was leaning out of the engine room hatch. Ann stayed on in Newlyn two more days and then embarked on the long journey back to Lincolnshire. It was October before they saw each other again and, when they did Ann was already six months pregnant with their first child, Gillian, who was born in January shortly before the end of hostilities. When Dick was finally demobbed the family settled in Market Deeping, just a few yards from where Ann had grown up. A new era in the Witt family saga thus began and a marriage, with adventures, that was to last for more than half a century.