Jack was born in 1925, the youngest of three children and the last to survive. He was brought up in Stamford Hill and lived there with his mother and stepfather. Jack joined the Army , having lied about his age and at age 20 years, he was one of the youngest sergeants in the Royal Berkshire Regiment. He served in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. A few days before the end of the war, he was slightly wounded and ended up in a Field Hospital just outside Bremen. He rejoined his unit ten days later in what was left of Hamburg and was asked to take a party of men in a three ton truck to a meeting point where he met a convoy of 30 vehicles escorted by Military Police. Unbeknown to him this convoy was travelling to Bergen-Belsen. They were taken into the camp and the horrors he saw there stayed with him for the rest of his life. In September 1947 he came out of the Army, aged 22, and was introduced to an 18 year old girl, named Esther. Esther lived with her parents, Ettie and Woolfie in Ilford. Jack and Esther were engaged in the December and married in Great Garden Street Synagogue on April 18th 1948. Jack worked in Soho and Esther worked in Hatton Garden and after they married, they lived with Esther’s parents as accommodation was very scarce after the war. After living with his in-laws for two years, Jack and Esther eventually found a flat in Crystal Palace and this was a very exciting time for them – both working and being able to buy furniture and other things to set up a home. They even had their first holiday in Weston-super-Mare in 1950. This holiday must have gone extremely well as in January 1951, David was born. To mark the occasion, Ettie and Woolfie bought them a Rolls Royce of a pram from Harrods. Jack and Esther were very much in love and in 1954 Richard was born to complete their family.
At that time, they were still living in Crystal Palace but both their families lived north of the Thames, namely Stamford Hill and Gants Hill, which was then a thriving Jewish Community. Eventually, Jack and Esther managed to buy a semi-detached house in Gants Hill, a hundred yards from Esther’s parents and they lived there happily for 33 years. They enjoyed being able to shop at Kosher butchers and delicatessens and they joined various committees, Jack eventually becoming Vice-Chairman of the Coventry Road Federation Shul. In 1969 Jack acquired two Dry Cleaning Shops with a partner, Percy who was a very good tailor. The shop was very successful, Jack doing the dry cleaning and accounts and Percy doing the repairs and alterations. After the boys left home to go to University and Esther’s mother died, Woolfie, his father-in-law came to live with them and the shops were sold.
In 1981, Jack had a minor heart attack and he could no longer play squash or any other energetic sport. Then his best mate – his father-in-law, Woolfie, died and Jack and Esther decided to move to be nearer to David, their eldest son who was living in Norfolk. Esther would only move if there was a Synagogue nearby and they settled on a lovely bungalow in Sprowston. Jack always thought that moving to Norwich was the best move they ever made. Jack and Esther joined the shul and made many friends. Within a year, Jack was made Hon.Secretary and held this position for 9 years. In 1987, their first grandchild, Rebecca, was born followed by Alice, Sophie and Rachel.
The Griffiths Family