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Most of the information on this page was kindly supplied by one of Glady Rosina's children.
Gladys Rosina Woodhurst was born on January 15th 1923 to parents James Frank Woodhurst and his wife Rosina Ellen (nee) Parkins [Birth Index: Southwark 1d 18, 1923 (March)].
At the outbreak of WW2 she was living in London and working in a factory. The factory was bombed and several of her workmates killed, but she happened not to be in the building at the time. Around 1942 she joined the Land Army and was initially based on a farm at Defford, just south of Pershore in Worcestershire.
Around 1943 she met a young Welshman named Dennis who was training with the RAF Operational Training Unit No. 23 in Group 91. He was probably based at Pershore at that time and was training as a rear gunner in Wellington bombers. In 1944 she gave birth to a daughter, named Elizabeth A. "Woodhurst", whose father is presumed to have been Dennis. The child was probably born at the home of James Frank. Gladys must have returned to Worcestershire soon afterwards because within a few weeks of birth the baby died there [Death Index: Worcester 6c 121, 1944 (Sept)].
In 1945 Gladys moved to Herefordshire to live at Hill Farm in Castle Frome, working for the Farr family there. She had by now produced by Dennis a son Richard Keith "Woodhurst". By the time this child was born on July 10th 1945, however, Dennis had been killed in action. The Hill was a typical Herefordshire hop farm of around 300 acres. Gladys enjoyed her work and life there, and developed a strong affection for the Farr family as the years - and the War - passed.
She presently met a Council roadman John Shuck and married him in 1947 [Marriage Index: Ledbury 9a 123, 1947 (March)], from which time Richard Keith assumed the Shuck surname. She and John then moved into a local farm property at Castle Frome known as Boxes Cottage.
In 1950 a son Terence Harry John Shuck was born to them.
By the 1960s John had become ill and had separated from Gladys, taking Terrence with him. Gladys, now living at Ark Cottage, Watery Lane in Yarkhill - about 8 miles from Hereford - then met and partnered a railway trackman Henry James Barber by whom she produced a son in 1964 and a daughter in 1965. On November 27th 1965 she married Henry James at Ledbury Register Office. They then moved to a property named Garbrook in Tarrington, about 2 miles from Yarkhill, and remained there until 1994.
Henry James died in 1996 and Gladys Rosina in February 2002, both from lung cancer.