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The Carpenter Quads of Heanor:
 | 1944 to 2004
Celebrating the Sixtieth Year
of The Birth of The Carpenter Quads:
It's just sixty years ago now since the small town of Heanor, in South Derbyshire (U.K.), became the talking point of The British Isles. It was during the Second World War that U.S. Staff Sergeant William Thompson, an American G.I. at that time stationed at Cheltenham, met Nora Carpenter, just an ordinary girl, looking for love. They became lovers soon after meeting, and then some time later, Nora found she was pregnant. Can you imagine her surprise when she discovered she wasn't expecting one baby, but four?
The family was aghast when local mid-wife Nurse Bryan delivered two boys and two girls, on February 28th. 1944, at their home on Derby Road. They were named Michael, Maureen, Madeleine, and Macdonald Carpenter, and Nora's brother Don, a retired coal miner, recalled at the time how they wrapped the babies in blankets, and placed them in draws in the home; and soon afterwards they took them in a neighbour’s car to Heanor Maternity Home.
Sadly, MacDonald, the last to be born died about two weeks later, and Nora became so ill she was taken to Derbyshire Royal Infirmary. The three surviving quads stayed in the Maternity Home for several months, and were later christened by the Vicar of Heanor, Douglas Smith. The event raised interest throughout the whole of Britain, despite the war. The local cinema, in Red Lion Square, then owned by The Midland Empire Theatres, gave them Christening robes and Savings Certificates, and even free tickets for life!
Heanor postmen carried special large postbags to cope with the increase of mail and parcels from all over the country. There were envelopes with money, clothing coupons, and even a proposal of marriage! The babies all had blue eyes and blonde hair, just like their father, who visited and stayed at weekends. He was demobbed in 1945, and went back to the States.
He obtained a divorce from his American wife; and in 1946 Nora flew to the United States to join him, with the three children, and of course, to get married! Nora Thompson is believed to be still living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with daughter Madeleine.
Husband William Thompson died some years ago, but Nora has returned to Heanor twice since she left. She says she has had a happy marriage with no regrets.
At first she was homesick, but the children kept her too busy to think about coming home. All three children married. Michael Thompson lives in California, Maureen spent two years in a convent before marriage, and Madeleine has two children. So ends a happy story, when Britain was at war; a ray of sunshine amongst the cold of depression. You may wonder how do I remember this, when I was only four years old at the time?
Well my mum was one of Nora's neighbours at the time, living a few yards away in Nook End Road, long since gone; and she kept a scrap book with all the newspaper cuttings and memories, which was handed down the family after she died. Some years later when I was in the entertainment business, and became the Manager of the ‘Empire Cinema’, I was given a 16mm film of the quads and their mother. It’s now possibly the only surviving record in colour and Black and white, of the event, privately filmed where it all happened!
Follow up to this story: |
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It's in the Can:
The following was posted in local newspapers 'The Ilkeston Advertiser' and 'The Ripley and Heanor News':
BID TO GIVE QUADS FILM TO FAMILY
HEANOR man, Bernard Goodwin, is anxious to trace the Carpenter quads born in Heanor 60 years ago, so that a copy of a film recording the first months of their lives can be handed over to the family.
"Having just been given the all-clear for cancer, I thought it was now time for reflection . It would be a tragedy if this film was ever destroyed as it is possibly the only surviving record of the event. It would give me great pleasure to present the quads with a copy of this wonderful film photographed in the hospital and maternity home. There must also be some worthy film archive or records office that would take this into their collection, which I would gladly donate to preserve for future generations to enjoy. It's thought that some relatives who still live in the Heanor area will know of the whereabouts of the quads.
Bernard Goodwin with the film recording the earliest days of the Heanor quads. The film was taken on 16 m/m film stock, which was processed by the kodak Processing Plant at Denham. Colour film for amateur use would have been pretty expensive,and hard to obtain at that time, because 16 m/m gauge was classed as for use by semi - professional users. (The professional gauge, as used in cinemas, was 35 m/m).
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The Response:
 The publication of the story about the 60th. Anniversary of The Carpenter Quads of Heanor, Derbyshire, has revived some wonderful memories for many people who remember the quads and their mother Nora.
On the day of the publication of the article, DINAH MEDHURST telephoned to say that Nora was her Great Aunt, and that she and the remaining three quads were still alive, and that Nora was living where we believed they were, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America. Dinah has fond memories of Nora’s visits in the past, when she came over to visit the family. She ended by saying she would be sending the newspaper features, gleaned from the ‘Ilkeston Advertiser’, and ‘The Ripley and Heanor News’ to America.
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Navy Lark:
 | Later in the day GEORGE STALEY of Ilkeston, now living in Langley Mill, called to say he remembered the events of 1945, and how it made the headlines in the national newspapers. At the time he was serving in The Royal Navy, on a destroyer in the North Atlantic Ocean, when he picked up a newspaper to see the story emblazoned across the front page for the entire world to see. George recalled “I couldn’t believe my eyes, that there I was, virtually in the middle of nowhere, and I stood reading a story about home!”
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Memories:
 | The following day BRIAN HARDY called; he is a nephew of Nora’s; the son of Nora’s sister, LILY ESTHER HARDY (nee Carpenter), who is now 90 years old, and living in Draycott, Derbyshire. Brian reminisced about more stories of Nora’s visits to the United Kingdom, and as you would expect, the main topic of discussion was always the events of 1944. He related how she still liked to talk about the past, and would laugh about how thing happened so quickly at the time.
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Elated:
 | It was an emotional voice on the other end of the telephone, which thanked me sincerely for bringing back into the limelight, the story of Nora and the quads. GLADYS HART (nee Hardwick), of Long Eaton, tearfully recalled nostalgic memories of the early 1940s,when she and Nora used to cycle from Heanor to Ilkeston, when they both worked at British Home Stores, on Bath Street. Her tears of nostalgia soon turned to tears of elation, as she learned that Nora and the quads were still alive. They were good friends, along with EVELYN COMPTON of Codnor, who shared happy times. “I wonder if she’ll remember me after all these years, I never forgot her, and always wondered what had become of the family, they were such nice people”. Even I had to wipe a tear from my eye, as she specially asked me to pass on her name and address, to renew an old friendship.
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All the Best:
 Within a stone’s throw of the Carpenter home on Derby Road, Heanor, resided GEORGE BAMBER, whose family owned a shop. He remembered the time when he and his wife Kathleen, better known as Betty, were married at Heanor Baptist Church, just after the quads were born, on March 26th 1944. Nora Carpenter was at the ceremony, and presented the couple with a ‘Good Luck Horse-shoe’. George and his family were well known in Heanor; along with his late brother HARRY BAMBER, who was a Minister of Religion.
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Baby Face:
 | On a more personal and revealing note, a telephone call came from HELEN, (surname withheld by request), who was in the Maternity Section at Heanor Memorial Hospital, at the same time as Nora and the Quads. She related how, with three hungry babies to feed, (MacDonald had died at this time), Nora was having a problem keeping up with their demand for breast milk. Helen, who had just given birth to her first son, was in contrast, producing too much, and so the doctor who was treating them both suggested Helen should help out with the feeding of the quads, which she did. Now aged 88 years old and living in Marlpool, she was proud to tell her story of how she got to know the babies, if only for a short time.
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What next.....
 JOHN WRIGHT of ‘The Heanor and District Historical Society’, was the final contact of the week, with a message that the society would like to purchase a copy of the film for their own collection; but as no decision has been made, there’s bound to be a sequel to that story.
I learned one thing from all the calls I received, and that was at the time, how the story had etched its way into local people’s hearts and minds. Some called to say they remembered the event, while some told of what they were doing at the time. Like most special events they are not easily forgotten, so let’s hope that after surviving for sixty years, the film can be found a new home, and survive for future generations to enjoy.
More stories about The Carpenter Quads will be posted here shortly......
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