8th December 2015 Claud Swanson Claud Swanson was born in July 1899, he was the son of William , a stereotyper and compositor on a newspaper and Catherine. In 1911 he had two brothers, Lewis aged 6 and Cyril 3 and two sisters Rene 12 and Doris 9. In 1901 they lived at number 8 Cecil Terrace and then moved to 22 Recreation Road. His grandfather James was the chief stereotyper for the Stamford Mercury until his death in 1907. Claud’s father William was apprenticed into the trade by his father but later left the Mercury to work for the Sheffield Telegraph and then the Daily Chronicle in Leeds. Claud enlisted with the Lincolnshire regiment in December 1916.When he enlisted he was working as a pattern maker. He was 5ft 4ins and only weighed 103lbs and was unable to play strenuous games as he was ‘short winded’. He was posted to France in March 1918 and served in the Salvage Units for 3 months. He was discharged from the army as he was physically unfit and was described as ‘ a poorly built youth’. He received the Victory and British War medals. .