Michael MASTERMAN was the younger son, of Henry MASTERMAN and Mary Elizabeth CASEY. Born in 1921, he was the baby of the family. Mick, as he was known, met his wife, Ruth Floyd, when she went to work in Turnbulls Engineering factory where she did war work as an electric welder. Mick himself was turning out rollers to be welded for the Bailly Bridges.
Around this time Mick Joined the TA to go away to summer camp. His mother was quite hard up at this time and Mick considered that this would be a help to her financially. When war broke out in 1939, Mick was sent to France. Later, at the time of Dunkirk, he was returned home as, being a skilled worker, he was needed in the factory.
Ruth Floyd and Mick Masterman got married in 1945 and lived with Ruth's parents for over five years. When wages at Turnbulls' dropped, Mick found employment at the National Coal Board working on the lathes. Around this time, he took a correspondence course and later went to Mining School. Though he got the chance to go to Armstrong College in Newcastle, he could not afford the £5 registration fee and the nightly travel to college from Ashington after a day's work was not an attractive prospect. In the 1950s he became a Driving Instructor.
Mick was a keen motorcyclist when he was younger and his wife, Ruth, often rode on the back. Always good with his hands, Mick built his own radio equipment and was a "radio ham" with worldwide contacts. In later years, he enjoyed using his computer and spent many happy hours storing family photographs.
Mick and Ruth Masterman were married for just short of 59 years. Mick died in July 2004.