The Munt family of 30 Batford Road

Mr and Mrs Stanley Munt lived at 30 Batford Road, where they brought up their sons Hector (born 1912) and Kenneth (born 1914).  Photos from the family album show the house, garden and the views from the front and back of the house in a snowy winter. The brothers learned to swim in the River Lea.  With the outbreak of the Second World War they both enlisted.  Hector spent around two years in a Japanese camp.

Ken Munt married Rene Weston and photos show them with their baby, Dinah.  Ken Munt ran the shoe-repair business at 3A Station Road, where Di helped out.

Comments about this page

  • Thanks to Geoff for the information on Stanley Munt, I remember him well. Our Sunday School teacher. He often used to let us operate the signal levers at Harpenden East when we were children, (can’t imagine that happening now).

    By Ron Almond (13/01/2015)
  • Alan Hamblin tells me that Stanley Munt remembered the bricks for the building of the National Children’s Home arriving at Harpenden East railway station in 1913.

    By Diana Parrott (28/08/2014)
  • Geoff Woodward has asked us to add the following information about STANLEY MUNT:

    He started on the Great Northern Railway at Wheathampstead in 1905 as a lad porter, becoming an adult porter at the same station. He then trained as a signalman, and was posted to Grimoldby (Lincolnshire) where he stayed for a few months before moving to London Road signalbox at St Albans. He moved to the Wheathampstead signalbox in 1910 and became a full-time signalman at Harpenden (East) signalbox until he retired on 31 December 1958.

    Stanley was secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR), having taken over from W R Almond in 1938, and after retiring he continued with the local branch.

    He was also caretaker of Batford Methodist Church and a trustee of the same. He spent his spare time at work – between trains – writing for the Church, doing NUR business or repairing hymn books. He was also a keen gardener (as can be seen in the photos above). He died in August 1976, aged 85.

    By Rosemary Ross (21/03/2013)

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