Joe (DWG see tree above) took over Hague Brothers, the drapers owned by his benefactors, Tom and Henry Hague in Pontefract. For a time Henry had branches in Wakefield and Askern, the third brother Benjamin had a business in Manchester. 29th August 1907 Joe married Bertha Thrippleton, daughter of the mayor of Pontefract. The wedding group photograph was taken in the grounds of Pontefract Castle. They were the most cheerful couple I have ever known. He always appeared to be serene in his allotted role in life, a pillar of the commercial world in Pontefract. He was a prominent Rotarian, and in 1929, on a Rotary trip to Canada, they were able to visit his twin brother. He was also a freemason: Geoffrey remembers asking him what advantage one gained by being a member of a Lodge, to which he replied ‘at least you are sure that there will be plenty of people at your funeral’! Bertha died in 1940, and in 1949 Joe married Hilda Hattan. He died on 22 October 1956. (Children`s birthdates and times are recorded in the Bible presented to Bertha in 1894, at the Wesleyan Sabbath School, Pontefract).
DWG – when researching the Hemmants in 2020 my Grandmother (Emily) and her 2 sisters (Anna Webster & Frances Alice) lived at 1 Bar Terrace, Pontefract. Emily left to marry James Edwin Green in 1904, Anna Webster died in 1946 and Frances Alice in 1965. In Frances Alice Hemmants Will was a small bequest to a Mary Thrippleton so after looking in the 1911 Census I found Joseph Waide and Bertha Marr nee Thrippleton and 3 year old Geoffrey Thrippleton Marr living next door. Until then I had no idea that the Marrs knew the Hemmants so we have another connection to Greens and Marrs via the Hemmants. Both The Hemmants and Marrs were drapers.
Their eldest son Geoffrey Thrippleton (born 4.23pm 23 August 1908) has become the best known of all the Marrs. From an early age, against all precedent he wanted to go to sea. The Conway was a stern introduction, but he battled through, working on Elders and Fyffes banana boats, then for Cunard. During the War as a member of the Royal Naval Reserve he served in warships, most notably the battleship ‘HMS King George V’ during the sinking of the ‘Bismarck’ after a chase across the Atlantic. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his part in WWII. The story is told in his book, ‘The Queens and I’, which also describes his career as Commodore of the Cunard Line. Her Majesty the Queen Mother crossed the Atlantic with him in the ‘Queen Mary’ in 1954 and on another occasion he had the honour of entertaining her to lunch as Captain of the ‘Queen Elizabeth’. In 1935 Geoffrey married a hospital sister Dorothy Crook who died on 6th November 1987, when, to everyone`s surprise it was revealed that she was a Victorian, born in 1898. She was addicted to succouring damaged animals so that their house near the New Forest became a sanctuary. They have 2 children, Graham and Cherry who married George Stefano, now farming north of Aberdeen in Scotland.
Joe and Bertha`s second son Eric Samuel Waide (born 8.20pm 10 November 1911) took over the Hague Brothers business from his father, after a period of apprenticeship in Wood Green, London, where he met his first wife Ethel Letts, marrying in 1935. After divorce he married Beth Bickerdike, and their daughter Sharon, married to Keith Davies, now holds the Hague papers.
Joe and Bertha`s only daughter Ethel Margaret Waide (Margo) (born 4.35 (am) 8 December 1917) married Russian speaker, schoolmaster, musician, Red Cross worker, Arthur Shaft in 1942. During WWII Margo was in the WAAF and Arthur in the Army. They had 2 children, Malcolm and Maureen. Maureen, herself diabetic, sadly died in 1989 having devoted her life to helping handicapped children.
The youngest Joseph Henry (Harry) Waide (born 6.40am 10 September 1920), served in the 13/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary`s Own) during WWII, he was taken prisoner in Libya and met and married Maxie Klop in Holland in 1946. On retirement Harry and Maxie settled in Scarborough, he joining a firm of agricultural equipment makers before concentrating on golf. They had 2 sons, John and Anthony, the latter working in Hong Kong, married to Kakai from Thailand.
