The family lived in the council house through the 1930s, as recorded in the Electoral Register each year to 1938, but in the 1939 Register they have either moved or the council house is officially recognized as 65 Abingdon Road, Steventon. (This itself is described as 65 Council Houses in some later registers). According to an article in the Oxford Mail of 18/12/12 Arthur “went into the army during the Second World War: when he came out he came back to his roots and set up as a blacksmith in Drayton”.

Arthur Grace appears to have lived at 65 Abingdon Road for the rest of his life (while the Breeds family tree gives 14 School Close in 1978, the National Probate Calendar gives 65 Abingdon Road in 1991) but Marjorie is not listed by the 1946 register and appears to have married an Ernest Edward Breeds at some point (Breeds family tree). Beryl married in 1949 and Margaret in 1951: Benjamin (Ben) appears at 65 Abingdon Road on the register from 1951-54, although he married Anna T Stampel in 1951 & they appear in 1955 in Draycott Moor (Southmoor) and in 1959 in Kennington.

The Oxford Mail again: “Ben had taken over the Drayton business after leaving the Cowley car factory, but realised the writing was on the wall for traditional blacksmithing, and expanded into metal stockholding and fabrication. The larger-scale work needed more space, and the company expanded to an industrial unit at the former Culham airfield.”

AW Grace & Son is now run by Ben and Anna’s son Colin W Grace: https://www.awgrace.co.uk/

According to the Oxford Mail article quoted before “Colin Grace was introduced to the art of blacksmithing at the age of nine. The glowing column of red-hot iron, the whack of the anvil forcing it into shape and the hiss as it plunged into water was all part and parcel of his Saturday job at his grandfather’s forge at Drayton.” Colin arranged the take-over of the historic Turnpike Forge in Clifton Hampden in 2008.