An English war bride teaches music at the Latin School of Chicago

A School Teacher in Wartime Britain

Mary Younghusband was born on 11 September 1920, in Reddish, a community area of Manchester, to James and Winifred. Her childhood home was a small apartment above a shop. The surrounding area was a working-class neighborhood, filled with red-brick terraced houses, and several factories, typical of a Victorian industrial town.

Music regularly filled the air of the Younghusband household. Influenced by her mother, a music aficionado, Mary was exposed to melodies and tunes at an early age. She learned to play several instruments including the cello and piano. Winifred provided her daughter mentorship, having taken lessons through Tonic-Sol-Fa College in London. One of her most cherished possessions was a junior certificate in ‘musical memory, singing in time, singing from the modulator, and in ear exercises’ from 1904.¹ Mother and daughter shared the same passion.

During her time at Levenshulme High School, Mary submerged herself in the music department. Participating in choir, playing at public concerts, and writing music, she constantly found ways of expressing her creativity. The 1934-5 school year was particularly rewarding for her. Not only was her music score to Sir Walter Scott’s poem ‘Hunting Song’ published in the students’ record, she won first prize in the school’s music competition.² This passion transitioned into a career.

Deciding to become a teacher, Mary began certification at Sheffield City Training College (SCTC) in 1939. By then the Second World War had begun.

Students at the college were well exposed to the dangers of war. German aircraft targeted Sheffield during the Blitz bombing campaign and most devastating of all were the raids of 12 and 15 December 1940. Over six hundred inhabitants lost their lives, including that of SCTC student George H. Daniels. Falling debris pinned down Daniels as he was assisting firefighters in battling a fire inside a tea merchant’s shop. Nonetheless, the British kept calm and carried on as the slogan of the famous 1939 government poster instructed them to do so.

Mary’s graduation in mid 1941 coincided with the end of the Blitz. Certified in the general subjects of English, Geography, Music, and Art, she remained in Northern England where she began teaching. Work and the study of music did not consume all of her time; however, like with most of her generation, Mary enjoyed to dance.

The dance halls of wartime Britain swarmed with electric youths. Despite many young British men vying for Mary’s attention, ultimately it was a foreigner whom struck a chord with her.

A Polish Airman in Britain

At the time of their first encounter, sometime in 1944, Tadeusz Maj likely wore his light blue Royal Air Force uniform. His appearance was rather deceptive at first glance. He was actually a member of the Polish Air Force (PAF) which at the start of the war evacuated to France and later to Britain, operating under RAF command. His British uniform bore insignia identifying him as a member of the Polish Armed Forces in the West.

Tadeusz proudly wore a single ribbon on his chest. It was for Poland’s Cross of Valor. Receiving the decoration while a member of the Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade, he showed great courage at the Siege of Tobruk in 1941. He skillfully led a reconnaissance patrol out from a German minefield where they came under heavy fire from machine guns and mortars.

After transferring to the PAF to pursue a childhood dream of becoming a pilot, Tadeusz arrived in Britain in 1943 to undergo advanced pilot training. This dream did not become reality. Dropped from the school as a result of administrative punishment, lying about a medical condition, he instead trained as a wireless operator on Lancaster bombers. During this period he met the charming Ms. Younghusband.

From left to Right: Tadeusz Maj in his Polish Air Force uniform; Tadeusz and Mary in Manchester, September 1944; the couple on an unidentified Royal Air Force base. From the author’s collection.

The war in Europe ended before Tadeusz could fly in combat. Continuing his relationship with Mary into peacetime, the couple married on 26 October 1946, in Manchester. He still served in the PAF but the end was near, his military career soon coming to a finish.

In 1947 the Polish Armed Forces in the West was disbanded. Poles serving under British command were given three choices. They could settle in the United Kingdom, emigrate to a part of the British commonwealth or other foreign countries, or return to a communist Poland. Together Mr. and Mrs. Maj decided to emigrate to the United States. Tadeusz had family in Chicago who informed him that work was plentiful there.

Goodbye Manchester, hello Chicago

Tadeusz and Mary Maj arrived at New York Harbor on 6 October 1948. They sailed onboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth, a civilian passenger liner, converted to a troop carrier during the war, now returned to its regular pre-war transatlantic route. Awaiting them at the docks was a Polish officer. Supplied with an allowance and residence documents, they proceeded on the last leg of their journey.⁴

The job hunt in Chicago affected husband and wife differently. Whereas Tadeusz had to establish himself in a new profession, knowing only soldiering since 1934, Mary continued her career in teaching. In time Mary found employment at the Latin School of Chicago as a music teacher.

Mary left her mark on the Latin School very early into her tenure. In 1960 she co-wrote the lower school’s song ‘To Latin We Are True’, which elementary students continue to sing to this day. Arguably a more important legacy, however, was her impact on students. Ron Pen graduated from the Latin School in 1969, going on to become an accomplished musician and scholar of music. He recalled the profound impact that Mary’s singing from the Fireside Book of Folk Songs and her general instruction had on him:⁵

This music formed the core of my musical repertoire today. Mary taught us about music, but she also taught us so much more about listening, about manners, about the love of music.

Ron Pen, Latin School of Chicago – class of 1969

Countless other students attributed their appreciation of music to Mary. At the time of her retirement from the Latin School in 1982, she was flooded with thank you cards from students and coworkers. These cards were then bundled together and saved as precious keepsakes. Particularly moving was a card from a student in the school’s choir, who, like Ron Pen almost two decades before, was deeply inspired by Mary:

Left: thank you card from a Latin School student to Mary. Right: Mary in Latin School yearbook, 1982.

Besides her students at the Latin School there were also her own children which Mary raised. Mirosław Nicholas was born on 22 April 1950, followed by Halina Elizabeth on 21 November 1952. Music was a fundamental part of the Maj household, as was the case in the Younghusband household in Reddish many years before.

In addition to her duties as a teacher and as a mother, Mary still found time to participate in the Polish Air Force Veterans Association. Both she and her husband belonged to the association’s Chicago chapter. An active member, she spent countless hours organizing events, helping at functions, and supporting her husband in general, who later became the national president. As part of his duties as president Tadeusz had to travel internationally. On one occasion the couple met with Pope John Paul II, a fellow Polish survivor of the war, in Vatican City.

At the age of eighty-four, Mary passed away on 4 January 2005. She is interned at St. Mary Catholic Cemetery in Lake Forest, Illinois, along with the remains of her children and husband. Her legacy lives on through the students whom she cultivated musically.