Lockie Photos Part 1

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William and Jemima Lockie, and their son George.

Jemima was born Jemima Orr on 20 December 1885 in Edinburgh, Scotland. She died in 1939 in Selkirk, Scotland at the outbreak of WWII. William Lockie and Jemima Orr married on 21 August 1908, in Selkirk, Scotland and had one child: George Lockie. George was born on 11 April 1914, in Selkirk, Scotland, and died on 14 November 1985, in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.

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George Lockie with his grandfather (William's father) also called George Lockie. And (right) with his wheelbarrow. These pictures confirm that, even in the early 20th Century, baby boys were dressed in clothes more like girls are now.

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George Lockie was an enthusiastic rugby player, and, in later life, coach. I think this photograph is of the Selkirk Junior RFC team of 1929-1930 and George is the rightmost rear player. He played at scrum-half, and graduated to the senior Selkirk RFC teams of the early 1930s before he joined the RAF.

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George Lockie joined the RAF in 1936 under training as an Electrical Mechanic, and Air Observer. The alternative was to remain in Selkirk and continue to work in the woollen mill like his father, but he decided that kind of life wasn't attractive. I think this is some kind of graduation photograph taken with a friend.

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George Lockie continued his interest in rugby in the RAF. This is a photograph of the Wing's rugby team 1938-1939. Note the biplane in the background.

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This is George Lockie in the observer's seat in a Lysander. On the outbreak of WWII he was sent to France with 13 Squadron as a member of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) but their airfield was overun and he had to return in 1940 via the Dunkirk evacuation. In later years, he would never talk about his experience of the Dunkirk evacuation, so it must have been traumatic.

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George Lockie was stationed in the South of England in 1939 and met Mollie Burden after an introduction by Alice Burden (nee Crooks). Alice was from Selkirk as well, but was married to Mollie's brother Les Burden. This is a picture of George Lockie in, I think, early 1939.

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When George Lockie heard that he was to be sent to France with his Squadron in 1939, he and Mollie Burden were married quickly before he departed.

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Another picture of George Lockie in those happier days of 1939 before the outbreak of WWII.

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When George Lockie returned to England in 1940 he retrained as an electrical and instrument fitter and this became the basis of his future career in the RAF.

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It's hard to be sure but I think this picture was taken with a friend in 1940/41 during their training.

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In 1941 George Lockie was promoted to Sergeant and sent to the USA for 6 months with a colleague. The primary purpose was to attend US factory courses to learn about US aircraft instruments that the RAF planned to adopt but there was a secondary purpose to inform the US public about the war and encourage their support. There was therefore a considerable number of social activities, but I don't suppose he enjoyed them.

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In 1946 George Lockie was posted to Aden to serve in the rapidly growing RAF presence in the Middle East at RAF Khornaksar. This is a photograph taken in the Red Sea at the end of the long sea journey on the SS Strathnaver.

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Lots of sun, sand and tents.

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But some compensation with promotion to Flight Sergeant.

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There was even time for golf, and it seems that a golf club existed.

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George Lockie won the Robertson Cup golf tournament at Khornaksar in Nov 1946.

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This looks like the entire Wing seated in front of a Mosquito.

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And maybe the Squadron photograph.

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This is a photograph of George spending some time with his first child, Marquita, on one of his visits home.

Quita Parsons (nee Lockie) 04 (111K)
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After the War, George Lockie spent many years leading teams of men providing technical maintenance and support services on all kinds of aircraft. This is one of many photographs of George and one of his teams.

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I think this was taken at RAF Kinloss when George Lockie was responsible for maintaining Shackletons. It obviously involved a lot of paperwork.

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It also involved parades. This looks like the regular C-in-C inspection.

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Explaining a point to the C-in-C.

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George Lockie was promoted to Warrant Office and posted to HQ NEAF at RAF Episkopi, Cyprus. This is a photograph taken at Episkopi in about 1965.

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It was a desk job at RAF Episkopi but George Lockie seems quite content to be behind it.

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This is 3 generations of Lockies. From top to bottom, William, George, and Melvyn. This photograph was taken at William Lockie's Selkirk home in about 1953.

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Another family group photograph taken at William Lockie's Selkirk home. At the rear are Mollie, Melvyn and George Lockie. At the front are Aggie and Bessie who were sisters of Jemima Orr, William Lockie's wife who died in 1939. Aggie and Bessie were spinsters, and lived next door to William Lockie. Jemima Orr had a third sister, Nen, who had married, and lived elsewhere in Selkirk.

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Another family photograph along the same lines, but this time, with Marquita and a young neighbour, name unknown.

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Mollie and George Lockie with their daughter, Marquita. This photograph was taken when Mollie and George visited Quita while she was at school in Germany in about 1955. At that time, the children of UK forces stationed in Germany normally attended special forces boarding schools when they left primary school. There were 3 such boarding schools in Germany, and Quita attended Windsor School, Hamm.

Mollie and George Lockie 01 (80K)
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George Lockie escorting his daughter, Marquita, to church for her wedding to Mike Parsons in 1962.

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