Home Guard
Born: 1st May 1922
Story
Jack was the eighth of nine children born to Robert Hewitt (1887-1955) and Hilda Muscroft (1890-1971, pictured in the centre below in 1914), who had married in Kippax on 4th September 1909. Robert himself was one of 10 siblings who were very close, pictured on the left below is Robert’s sister Ada Hewitt (1882-1941). Ada’s granddaughter Nellie Farrar (1924-2016) remembered all the Hewitt family gathering in their small house at the top of Well Lane having regular parties. Each of the Hewitt sisters had their own specialities like making tea-cakes, and Jack’s aunt Jane Hodgson (née Hewitt, 1876-1956) was particularly good at making sponge cakes, and the sisters would bring their goods to the party to share.
Jack and his family lived at 6 Gibson Lane, moving there from Robinson Lane, and Jack was a pony driver and then coal miner, like his brothers and father. Jack’s friend Stanley Coates also served in the First World War, and married his 1st cousin once removed, Nellie Farrar in 1944. Jack himself went on to marry Stanley’s sister, Ada Coates on 4th August 1945.
During the Second World War, Jack joined the Home Guard, who are pictured below on the steps of Kippax Park Hall. Jack’s Sergeant was his own father-in-law, Albert Edward Coates, who was a veteran from the First World War. Albert had Jack doing exercises on Cheney Basin. Jack’s wife, Ada, would later recall the Kippax Home Guard were just like Dad’s Army:
Jack and Ada are pictured on the right in later life. They lived at 4 Valley Road for many years. Jack passed away on 4th December 1989, aged 67.
Kippax Roll of Honour 