Alexander Will (Sandy) Shaw
Sandy was born 10 July 1897, died 8 February 1955.
 c. 1922 |
 c. 1925 |
 This informal photo of Sandy with Flora is one of the more touching, real-life pictures in the 'family album'. Taken perhaps in the 1940s? |
A native Scot (from Aberdeen), with his wife Flora produced 1 child: John Robert Shaw.
Navigation: To return to Peter / Cathy, select his son John.
The Shaws moved from Aberdeen to Manchester around 1930 (when John Shaw was 4 years old), presumably due to economic conditions at the time. He also spent a while living in Newcastle - we have business cards showing 3 addresses (see below). He was an engineer by training. He spent some years at sea, and came back with quite a few Indian brass souvenirs. In Peter's coin collection is a necklace made of Indian coins (1/2 anna and 1/12 anna - not worth much) soldered onto a chain, which came from Sandy's times in India. See also the picture below of a mongoose-cobra fight in Bombay in 1925.
He stopped going to sea around the time of the move to Manchester.
(This marine career must have posed a huge toll on family life. Sandy's
son John passed on the story that when 3 years old he was woken up by his
mother to greet his father, newly returned from the sea. Poignantly,
he later asked his mother "Who was that boy I was playing with?".)
In Manchester Sandy worked for the National Boiler and General Insurance
company, later specialising in lifts. Sandy - knowing what he did
about Manchester lifts - refused to travel in any lift in Manchester! He
died of a brain tumour, which was diagnosed and partially removed by a
surgeon in1954, who said that Sandy had a year to live - this turned out
to be correct to the day. The 3rd address, 50 Brooklawn drive, was
the house called 'Lochnagar' which I (Peter Shaw) used to visit as a small
child seeing his grandma. It was sold by John Shaw shortly after
Flora's death in 1983. (The Newcastle address below was the home of Sandy's
mother-in-law Mary Wiseman nee Watson - supposedly
he stayed there for a while because he needed a fixed address to get married).
Note that the 8 Seaforth Rd address is the same as given on John
Steven Shaw's war grave record.
Sandy's parents were: Alexander Stephen and Helen Will.
He had 3 siblings: Nell, John
and Daniel.
(Note from PJAS). I must add a note about the items found in 50
Brooklawn drive, mainly by myself as a nosy small boy in the 1960s and
1970s.
Sandy's garage can never have been tidied out after his death - I remember
the amazing amound of dust and spiders' webs over the rusty bikes and tools.
It must have been a superb workshop in its days, with a solid bench, vice,
rows of nuts bolts tools and chemicals. It contained many lethal
gems, all of which I took home with me bit by bit. There were of
course rusty old penknives, and some reasonable padlocks and chains - none
have survived the years. The tools were mainly rusted beyond use
- Manchester being a damp climate. The best bits were in the chemical
cupboard, a mouldy wooded cabinet. This contained lots of bottles
whose labels had almost disintegrated, due to the fumes of strong acids.
I found oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid), HNO3 (nitric acid), spirit of
salts (Hydrochloric acid), a jar of hydroquinone (whatever that is), sodium
chlorate (toxic + highly explosive), elemental sulphur (for burning, to
make the toxic irritant gas sulphur dioxide) and a range of various inoccuous
materials (boring). All the acids were conc, and under 2000 Health
and Safety legislation should be handled in a fume cupboard with goggles
and a plastic apron. Well I played with them in my bedroom with bare
hands and a spirit burner next to my bed, and it never did me any harm.
In Grandma's bedside drawer I found a live round of ammunition, which I
slipped into my pocket and play with a bit. When Dad came to pick
me up he blanched rather, and took it away quickly but carefully.
What did happen to those chemicals in my bedroom after I went to college
Dad?
I still have a 2nd WW fireman's axe (from Sandy's time in the home guard I think) with the initials AWS carved into it, plus a lovely old slide rule which still lives in the oak sideboard I inherited from 50 Brooklawn drive.
On Flora's (=Little Nan's) death we did a proper clear-out. There was a fire extinguisher in an outside shed so rusty you could hardly tell what it was, but still gave a decent jet of foam across the lawn. The loft held 2nd WW relicts: gasmasks (understandable), and sandbags full of sand (less so). There turned out to be bits of wood everywhere - in the loft, all over the garage, in a tiny cellar no-one knew about under the garage (just full of planks of wood). "You never know when it might come in useful" has long been the family motto [ask my wife :-) ]
During the bombing raids of WW2, Sandy, a determined Scots engineer, created an air raid shelter at the bottom of the garden. Unfortunately this was next to a small stream, and despite Sandy's best efforts the hole always filled up with water to the local water table. In despair they gave up and reinforced the front room with girders, so that they would not be crushed if the house collapsed. The front room was emptied of everything prior to this, except for a glass chandelier high up in the middle. As Sandy carried a girder into the room, the only chandelier was of course smashed into smithereens...
Temperamentally Sandy seems to have been a very male person, technically
brilliant but useless at any kind of emotional communication. [Again
ask my wife...]
Last modified 11 August 2004.