Selected Biographies

M^cCaa, William Finlay – Born: Headingley, Yorkshire on 6.3.1911.  Parents: William Anthony McCaa [Curled Horsehair and Bedding Manufacturer) and Jeanie Gibson [née Cruickshank].  Home: 8 Woodland Park Road, Headingley, Leeds, Yorkshire (1911 to 1921), 42 Clopthorne Court, Maida Vale, London [1932 to 1935], 10 Hill Rise, Finchley, Middlesex [1935], 63 Chinbrook Road, Lewisham, London [1935], Tudor Cottage, Little St Marys, Long Melford [1943],[1] 28 Moss Gardens, Alwoodley, Leeds [1984].[2]  Occupation: Magician [1965].  Married: Gladys Elizabeth Ireland.  Service Record: During the Second World War he was a Second Lieutenant with ‘H’ Company, 10^th Battalion, Suffolk Home Guard in Long Melford.  His name is recorded in the official tribute to the organization entitled The Lion Roared his Defiance, photographed in and around Long Melford in 1944.[3]  He helped set up a Rifle Club for ‘G’ Company, becoming a Long Melford Parish Councillor in 1946 and a member of Melford Rural District Council in 1949.  After the war he joined the Long Melford Good Companions Players, in 1949 appearing in Quality Street and in 1951 played tennis for Long Melford British Legion.[4]  Under the stage name Finlay he became a member of the Magic Circle and the International Brotherhood of Magicians using his skill as an entertainer to raise funds for charity during the war and after the conflict appeared in nightclubs around his native Leeds in a professional capacity.[5]  Died: Leeds, Yorkshire on 7.4.1984.[6]

M^cCaa, Mrs Gladys Elizabeth [née Ireland] – Born: 20.6.1910.  Home: 63 Chinbrook Road, Lewisham, London [1935], Tudor Cottage, Little St Marys, Lond Melford [1943].[7]  Married: William Finlay M^cCaa.  Service Record: Gladys was a member the Women Home Auxiliaries attached to Signals Branch of ‘H’ Company, 10^th Battalion, Suffolk Home Guard.  Her name is recorded in the official tribute to the organization entitled The Lion Roared his Defiance, photographed in and around Long Melford in 1944.[8]  Died: Leeds, Yorkshire in 1993.[9]

Notes – [1] see article in Suffolk and Essex Free Press 2.9.1943.  [2] Some addresses taken from the Electoral Roll.  [3] Published by Marten & Son, Ltd., of Market Hill, Sudbury, Suffolk in 1946.  [4] Suffolk and Essex Free Press 1.3.1945 and 30.5.1946, Newmarket Journal 17.6.1949, and SEFP 17.5.1949 and 26.6.1951.  [5] SEFP 4.3.1965.  [6] National Probate Calendar.  My thanks to Mrs Nita Palmer-Randle for identifying this image.  [7] See husband’s record for details.  [8] Published by Marten & Son, Ltd., of Market Hill, Sudbury, Suffolk in 1946.  [9] My thanks to Mrs Nita Palmer-Randle for identifying this image.