William Valentine Mayneord, 14 February 1902 - 10 August 1988

Abstract

William Valentine Mayneord was born 14 February 1902, the last child of Walter and Elizabeth Mayneord, in Redditch, Worcestershire. Walter Mayneord, who worked first in a fishing-tackle factory in Redditch and later as agent for the Pearl Assurance Company, was clearly a man of many parts. As a youth he was an enthusiastic amateur runner, a very able chess player, playing for Worcestershire, and a well-known figure riding his bicycle aged over 80 and singing in the choir at 90, the year of his death. He was a devoted Gladstonian Liberal and a founder of the Liberal Club in Redditch. Walter and Elizabeth had two older children, Ewart and Gilbert. Ewart the eldest, though largely self-educated, had a great facility for languages and served as an interpreter on the Western Front in World War I. After the war he taught himself Russian and became foreign correspondent for a firm trading with Russia, which he visited on business. Unfortunately Ewart died from a brain tumour at about the age of 34. The other brother, Gilbert, was to some degree mentally deficient and worked as a labourer. But clearly, despite the meagre educational opportunities of the time, the Mayneord family had talent and ability: still earlier, grandfather William Mayneord had been a well-known local preacher. The family books also showed that they were surprisingly well read.