Remembering our roots ~ Godfrey Baldwin

John Godsman
Times Contributor

 

A record from 1095 produced by Heritage Studio in England shows the name ‘Baldwinus’ in Bury, England.
By 1200 it had been changed to ‘Baldewin’. The name means a ‘bold friend’ and was common in England in the 11th Century. It later changed to ‘Baldwin’ as shown in reference to Mathias William Baldwin, who lived from 1795 to 1866, and built railway locomotives, one of which was called ‘Old Ironsides’ produced in 1832. Mathias went on to build over 1,000 locomotives by 1861!
Another member of this family was famous in a completely different way – his great-grandmother was a bareback rider with Barker’s Travelling Circus who travelled extensively through England and Europe in the 1800’s. She is recorded as having performed for the Czar of Russia, and appeared with Barnum and Bailey’s Circus in America. Godfrey’s grandmother travelled across England and France accompanying her husband, George Baker, to boxing matches, as he was one of the original bareknuckle boxers.
Godfrey was born in London, England on Feb. 14, 1925, the eldest of two children. He had a younger sister. At the age of five years, the family moved to Quebec, for a year, before returning to England where they stayed until after the Second World War. Godfrey joined the Royal Navy in 1944, and served until after the war ended.
In 1945, his ship visited the Isle of Wight, and it was here that he met his future wife Rosemary at a dance. She was a make-up artist, who came to make up the sailors who were appearing in a show. She also worked as a toupee maker.
They were married in 1945, had a daughter Susan, born the day they arrived in Vancouver in 1947. He now has two grandsons, and four great-grandchildren. As they had nowhere to live, they stayed for some time at the original Hotel Vancouver, with other war vets. He told me some wonderful stories of those days, too numerous to include here. His first job was as a motorman for Harry Lyons and Dick Gardner on the Vancouver Street Cars, which operated sightseeing tours around town. He followed this by eight years with BCE, then became a steel worker and welder for Dominion Bridge, on False Creek in Vancouver. The next 12 years he spent as a Driver’s Examiner for the B.C. Government. In his late 50’s, he semi-retired and travelled across Canada and Europe, with his wife Rosemary. About seven years ago, they decided to settle in Strathmore, so they had their own house built, where he still lives today. Regretfully, Rosemary passed away in 2010, at the age of 84 years.
An ongoing love of Godfrey’s, from an early age, has been his love for music. He is a well-known and respected member of the Gleichen Community Choir, and has sung with barber shop choirs, and on cruise ships, amongst others. His house is always full of music.