Howard Boys - the early years.
The early years are usually the formative years and I hope that here I can give something of an insight into the early influences that were to produce the interesting and inventive man Howard was to become.
Born in 1906, Howard was the oldest of eight children who were born over a period of nineteen years. Howard was born less than a month after his parent's wedding, a fact which would hardly cause a raised eyebrow nowadays but it was something which caused a sense of shame throughout his life despite the fact that his father's comment on the matter was "you don't buy a pig in a poke".
The photograph on the right shows Howard at the age of about eleven (don't ask me why he seems to be in the middle of a rhubarb patch) by which time there were six children. We see a boy, cleanly dressed and with an honest looking grin. The clothing may well derive from the fact that Howard's grandfather was a successful tailor and his father had been apprenticed into the business. Grandfather also owned a fair amount of property in the village and it was in one of those properties that the family lived. Howard's mother was an organist primarily but played a number of instruments and gave music lessons. Howard learned to play the violin.
By the time this photograph was taken WWI had started and Howard's father was away serving his country in the Army Ordnance Corps. As with so many families this would have been a hard time for them all and no doubt Howard's seniority in the family gave him added responsibilities. This was, in a way, true of all his life for despite family quarrels Howard always maintained contact with everyone. It was probably at this time that Howard adopted a lifestyle of frugality, those who remember him will be very aware of the style of life he led.
After leaving school Howard took an apprenticeship with Basset Lowke's in Northampton and then moved on to Twining Models which E. W. Twining had started in Northampton in 1920. E.W.T. is shown on the right with the model with which he won both the "Model Engineer" and "Wakefield" Cups in 1911. E.W.T. was certainly not alone in having an interest in both model and full-size aeroplanes. Richard Fairey, Frederick Handley-Page and A.V. Roe are all when known for their connections with full-size aircraft but all were also very much involved in the model scene.
Twining himself had interests in many fields other than aeromodelling but Howard was thrilled when E.W. gave him a model of his own design, a twin-stick, twin-propeller pusher. Illustrated right is Twining's 1908 model photographed in June 2009. Yes it really is 100 years old.
While working for Twining's Howard did part of the model of Bournemouth which stood on Waterloo Station for some years.
It was also in the twenties that Howard showed an interest in radio; constructing a series of wireless sets from crystal to three valve and, as one did in those days, he constructed the loadspeakers too. Included in his loadspeakers was a plywood exponential horn created from an old tea chest and one formed from Japanese silk glued on a wooden framework and doped. An obvious parallel here with the construction of model aircraft at that time.
Taken in late 1925/early 1926 the above picture shows the completed Boys family. From left to right we see Mother, Sophie Orland; Howard, Donald, Muriel, Christine, Jimmy, Stanley, Rex, Pamela and Father, James.
The Great Depression reportedly began in America in 1929. However, things in England had taken a turn for the worse before that and two of the casualties were Howard and his father. Howard's grandfather had had to terminate his son's employment because of a downturn in the tailoring and haberdashery business. Mr. Twining also, apologetically sacked Howard who before the decade was out worked for Mather (Wellingborough) Ltd., Engineers where he was apprenticed as a fitter and turner and also did general repair work which included Acetylene cutting and Welding. In addition, Howard worked for A.E. Nixon, Engineer where he was noted for an interest in reading drawings. In both these cases Howard's work was terminated because of a lack of trade. Finally, it seems, Howard accepted a position in Northampton as a draughtsman; he had obviously been seeking positions with a number of companies because English Electric of Rugby wrote to him regretting his accepting the Northampton position because they felt he would have got on well with the company.
There was obviously quite an amount of spare time in Howard's life and following the gift from E.W. Twining aeromodelling had become a great interest. The family home was pretty crowded but at Howard's grandfather's house there was a loft above the coach house which proved an admirable workshop. No electricity there so it was heated in winter by a Valor stove and a Primus stove was used to heat a soldering iron when that became necessary. With Howard if it was possible to make things oneself then one did; it was as simple as that. Of course, the soldering iron had been used in making the family's radio sets too.
Before finishing with Howard's early days, and on a more positive note, I'd like to refer to something I've already put on the Internet Howard's Sketch Book. I've chosen to take just one picture to illustrate his abilities. This is the sixth in the book which he started at the age of about sixteen and whereas many of the other sixtyseven have been inked in later; this one is in its original pencil. The picture illustrates an attention to detail which was to stay with Howard all his life.
