Memoirs of John Soar, 1927-1949

Typescript memoir by John Soar, former employee of the Wellcome Research Institute, written in 2014

Chapter One - Pre-war years
Chapter two - Evacuation
Chapter three - Blitz
Chapter four - Back to school
Chapter five - Go to work
Chapter six - My social life
Chapters eight - Summary of my career

1927-1949 2014

1 File

Donated to the library at Wellcome Collection by John Soar in October 2014

John Soar grew up in Forest Gate, East London, the second son of Alice and John, a carpenter who served in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, repairing damaged aircraft. His mother had been deaf since childhood, and this was believed to be due to an infection caught at the local swimming baths. She was expert in lip reading, and many people who knew her did not realise she was deaf.

Soar was evacuated to Eye in Suffolk in 1939 with the rest of his school class, but returned home to help his mother at the end of March the following year. He would queue up to get rations for her, but his most important task was to let her know when the Air Raid sirens had sounded and they needed to get to the nearest shelter. He would also let her know when the all clear had been sounded. Living near the London docks meant that John Soar experienced many bombing raids close up, and some of these are evocatively described.

Although his education was disrupted by the war, as a teenager Soar developed an interest in chemistry. When he left school in July 1942, this led the Labour Office to send him for an interview with the Wellcome Research Institute. He was interviewed by the Head of the Chemical Research Laboratories, Dr Henry, who assigned him the job of lab assistant to Dr Gorvin. For the following two years he worked on preparing sulphonomides as antibiotics, and iron chelates for anaemia, before deciding to study physics and chemistry at West Ham Technical College. He received his degree in chemistry in 1947, after which he began his National Service.

Following 6 weeks basic training at Hounslow barracks, home of Royal Fusiliers, City of London regiment, he was sent to Buchanan Castle in Scotland to undertake three months training for the Educational Corps. As part of this he undertook a teacher training course. At the end of his training he was transferred to Woolwich barracks, where he eventually took charge of the Education Centre. This involved organising a range of classes, including those for musician apprentices, and taking Current Affrairs classes with the Military Police at the Tower of London.

After completing National Service, Soar worked as a chemical engineer for FW Berk & Company, and Associated Octel. He received a Postgraduate Diploma in Chemical Engineering from King's College London in 1952, before deciding to return to teaching. He held a number of teaching and lecturing posts around the country, before taking early retirement to study painting in 1984.