Filling in the gaps - success!

This is my father, Charles Whittaker Roberton. I can date this photograph to 1947 which lies in the period of time (1939 to 1948) when I could find no trace of my father's whereabouts. He left his home town, Balloch to travel to England but I only had vague recollections of where he said he went during this time, before he settled in London.

I've spent the last few days going through my parents' belongings again and I found two items from that period.

The first is a number of merit cards from The Bennett College, Sheffield who ran correspondence courses. Here are the details,


28 October 1940 - first stage in general arithmetic
6 February 1941 - first stage in workshop practice
17 March 1941 - second stage in general arithmetic
16 July 1942 - third stage in general arithmetic
12 November 1942 - first stage in algebra.

I knew that when my father left Balloch, it was not only because he couldn't cope with the pity from the community following his disability, but also because he wanted to improve himself. The fact that he took it upon himself to re-enter education, albeit through correspondence courses, substantiates this.

The second document I found was a telegram from his parents which reads "Letter received. Best wishes for new venture. Love Mother". It is addressed to the Worcester Industrial Hostel. I looked this hostel up on the internet and found the address to be Blackpole road, Worcester. The date of the telegram is 1 November 1946.

I now know that he spent at least some of those years in between Balloch and London in Worcester.