Gordon Cowley

Gordon Cowley was born in 1922 and spent his childhood living with his parents on the top floor of a house on Athol Street in Douglas where his mother looked after the office on the ground floor.  Athol Street was then full of shops, garages, public houses and even a post office along with some banks and legal firms that would be familiar to us today. Gordon remembers Archibald Knox living nearby and he describes a very different Douglas to the one we know today, his memories include that of some Douglas ‘characters’, visits to Dalby where his father’s family came from, of local entertainment and the busy market on North Quay, also memories of attending Hanover Street School and playing in the Salvation Army Band, something which he has been involved in all his life, he is still conducting the band aged 96! Gordon started at the Post Office aged 14 as a telegram boy and ended his employment when he retired in 1997 after 52 years of employment, he talks about working in Regent Street PO headquarters in the 1930’s and of their own ‘Home Guard’. Gordon was involved in transporting supplies to Russia during WW2 and was on a boat carrying 50 tons of gold bullion when it sank, he tells of his wartime memories and his return to the Island where he rejoined the Isle of Man Post Office and became Postmaster at Castletown until his retirement in 1997.

Interviews

When you click play on one of the interviews below there will be a slight delay as the audio file is downloaded. Large files or slow internet connections will increase the length of this delay.

• Interview with Gordon Cowley