Archie Jenkins b.1903
Archie John Jenkins was born on 8th September 1903 at 15 Wellington Road, Gillingham, the son of a Chatham Dockyard Storehouseman, John Henry Jenkins (a Welshman by birth) and Mabel Lucy Ellard, who was the granddaughter of William Saxton (the builder that Saxton Street in Gillingham was named after).
Archie entered Chatham Dockyard as an Apprentice Engineer Fitter on 28th July 1919, aged 16 years. He came 17th of 96 boys in the entry exam and among his entry were several boys who joined him in becoming Recorders in later years.
In this period, there were many ships moored side-by-side in the Dockyard basins, so that you might have had to cross several of them to get to the ship you were working on.
After serving his five-year apprenticeship, Archie remained in the Dockyard as an Engine Fitter and was safe in his employment during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Archie may have worked on HMS Kent, a cruiser, or the submarines Oberon or Odin, which were launched at Chatham in 1926 and 1929.
While an Engine Fitter he met Edith Wheeler, a Sheerness-born nurse, who he married on 31st August 1929. They had two sons, Anthony John, born on 30th October 1932 and Brian Ernest, born 2nd October 1937. Brian became a Recorder in the Yard himself.
On 22nd January 1931, Archie, at 28 years of age, became a trainee Recorder of Works. Recorders in Archie’s early days were craftsmen with an allowance. The Recorder’s work was to book the job the men were working on to a correct code, which was the ship’s number, followed by 101 for repairs, or 501 for additions. Another of their duties was to measure piecework and apply the piecework scheme of prices in order to work out how much the men would be paid. The Recorder also arranged and paid the men their wages.
Recording for men working on ships (afloat) was a dirty, noisy job with all the machine tools onboard being driven by compressed air from the Dockyard Air Mains. The ships’ hulls were all riveted and the repairing of a fault on the hull or superstructure vibrated throughout the ship.
Dockyard men wore light brown coloured overalls and virtually lived on board the ships they were repairing, tucking their toolboxes into a corner, where they also rested and ate their food (scran) at lunchtime during their 48-hour week.
Horse-drawn carts were used in the dockyard, along with steam cranes and a few motorised lorries. All the machines in the workshops were driven by belts, which in turn were driven by motors using electricity from the Dockyard Power Station. At the end of the day, the workforce left the Dockyard just like an army of ants on the move.
As a Recorder, Archie was periodically moved around the Dockyard, so that he became well-versed with all trades and workshops.
When the Second World War started, the workforce in the Dockyard was considered vital to the war effort, so was not called up. Not to be left out, Archie joined the local Air Raid Precautions (ARP) during the early part of the war. His wife and sons were evacuated to Long Buckby to be safe from the bombs.
Archie remained a Recorder for the rest of his working life, by which time Recorders were Staff Officers, known as Professional Technical Officers (Grade 4). He retired from the Dockyard on 9th November 1986, aged 65, after having received the Imperial Service Medal, having been a Recorder for 37 years.
Archie passed away at home at King Edward Road after 20 years of retirement, on 10th November 1988.
Brian Jenkins, April 2007
This contribution first appeared in CHIPS - the magazine for volunteers of the Chatham Dockyard Historical Society.
