Grandson sheds light on what became of Derbyshire’s famous wartime quads and their amazing mum

Norah Carpenter, who lived in Heanor, fell for handsome William Thompson when she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service and he was a Staff Sergeant in the Army stationed in Cheltenham during the 1940s.

Their grandson Scott Henderson, who lives in Pittsburgh, said: “Initially my grandmother went into the Army to get her driver’s licence but she never got it. She became a Morse code interceptor, able to detect where all the bombings were going to happen from Germany.

"I believe my grandfather had got married right before he left the States – he said that it was a mistake, it shouldn’t have happened and he wanted to be with my grandma.”

The couple had known each other less than a year when Norah discovered that she was pregnant. Scott said: “She was very nervous and scared but I don’t think she knew there were going to be four so that was definitely a surprise!”

Norah gave birth to two girls, Madeliene and Maureen, and two boys, Michael and MacDonald, at her family’s home in Derby Road, Heanor.

Sadly, the frailest, MacDonald, only survived a few days.

Scott said: "My grandad was there for the birth of the quadruplets and then he came back to the States.”

Commenting on the quads’ arrival on February 28, 1944, the American news magazine Time wrote: “The chances of a man in Britain siring four children at a single birth are 600,000 to 1.”

While William was in America trying to get a divorce from his wife, Norah stayed in England with their babies. She was inundated with gifts such as clothing coupons from well-wishers around the country, Heanor town council opened a subscription service for the children with a £25 donation and the local cinema allocated tickets for life to the young family.

On July 4, 1946, Norah and her children flew to New York to be reunited with William. By that time, William had been divorced by his wife on the grounds of infidelity, leaving him free to marry Norah.

Scott, who is the son of Madeliene, said: “They travelled around quite a lot because my grandfather was a radio operator. They lived in Tennessee and other areas before moving to Pittsburgh in the Seventies.

"My gran – who I called Mama – had a pretty incredible life. Besides being in World War Two and having quadruplets, after my grandfather passed, her house exploded – there was a natural gas explosion – and she lived. She had third-degree burns over 70 percent of her body but she was only in the hospital for a month and came home on Thanksgiving Day.

"After that she ended up moving in with my mum and dad. She was still doing laundry up until her 90s. She fell one time and they took her to hospital where they found she’d broken her hip and asked her ‘Mrs Thompson, when did you break your other hip’ – she hadn’t told anybody. She fell again and broke seven ribs and punctured a lung and was only in hospital for a couple of days before coming back home.

"A couple of years later Mama was getting sick and at night would start talking. She would say ‘I see the little boy over there’. I don’t know if it was MacDonald – the fourth of the quads – that she saw.”

Norah died at the age of 97 four years ago this September, but not before she got to know the great-granddaughter who carries her name. Scott, whose partner is Nancy, said: “When we found out we were having a girl – it was a no-brainer, we were going to name her Nora. My grandma grabbed me by the face and said make sure you spell it correctly – the English way. Her mum’s side of the family was French and Norah was the French spelling.”

Maureen, one of the quads, died three months before her mother. She lived with her husband Gordon, also now deceased, in Pittsburgh. Maureen had been a teacher at a sewing school and Gordon was a schoolteacher.

Her sister Madeliene married Jim and they had a daughter, Jill, before having Scott. Madeliene worked for an American greetings card company in merchandising and Jim was an accountant. The couple live in Pittsburgh.

Maureen and Madeliene’s brother Michael joined the Navy after High School and went to Penn State University where he met his wife Molly. Michael owned a computer company and the couple lived in California before retiring to Florida.

Norah had a sister – fondly called Aunt Topps – who passed away around 15 years ago. She also had several brothers, two of whom died in the war.

Scott, 42, who owns a business turning American soccer players into football place-kickers, said: “I believe there are still family members over in England, maybe my generation or a little older...I would love to trace them. There may be people there who wonder what happened to the quads.”