Children

The place and experiences of children

Childhood in the Farndale family

In a talk between Alfred Farndale and his son, Martin on 29 July 1982, Alfred Farndale (FAR00683) recalled, "I remember going to school at Charltons near Tidkinhow. We then went to Standard 1 at Boosbeck. We stayed there until we were 14. It was a two mile walk each day. The headmaster was Mr Ranson. I remember Jim, my elder brother catching me fishing and playing truant. He just said "Get in" (he was in a pony and trap) and he took me to a days marketing at Stokesley. I remember the second masters name was Ackroyd. I got a fork through my leg and he sucked it out. We were always inspected as we arrived at school. We had to walk past the Bainbridge place and people used to say that he had more sheep on the moor than he was allowed. I remember William looking after me at mother's funeral. I was crying and very upset.”

Martin Farndale (FAR00911) recalled:

One event I can remember clearly was when my father promised to take me the 5 miles or so to the other half section – the Wickizer Place – to see the horses. Towards evening I was playing around the threshing set at the farm when I saw a Chevrolet car like the one my father owned drive past the red gate at the entrance to the farm and was convinced that I had been left behind. I therefore set off to walk. I was about 6 years old and the corn was high and it was getting dark. There was consternation when I could not be found later on, for once into the corn I would be very difficult to find. Search parties were called out from neighbours and from Huxley but apparently I had got into a ditch beside the road and could not be seen. However the ditch took me to Huxley and though I can remember nothing about my 3 mile walk, I do remember being picked up by two men who worked in the Huxley garage and being taken home to a mixture of relief and scolding.

A vintage photo of a group of people posing for the camera

Description automatically generated

Martin, Geoff and Anne at the farm at Huxley in 1934

I remember my sister Anne falling down the cellar steps, and, on another occasion, while visiting Aunt Grace and Uncle Howard, throwing his best spanner down his well. I also remember learning to ride our horse, Chubb and I remember our Colley dog, Scot, who slept beside my bed.

… I became aware of the world situation and listening to the BBC radio news became a feature. There were press pictures of a man called Adolf Hitler and another called Mussolini. My father talked about his army days and our games in the woods were always as soldiers fighting the Germans. Once, it must have been in about 1938, I remember seeing a colour film about Rogers Rangers in Caada and for months afterwards we were Roger Rogers in all our games. About this time I was given a bicycle. We used a cycle everywhere with Betty and it was all exiting.

On Sundays we went to the village Sunday School and on Saturdays we each had 6d (sixpence) and spent it at the village shop seeing how many different items we could get. One stick of liquorice and a small paper sachet of sherbet were about 1/4d each, a small packet of sugar cigarettes a penny and a bar of chocolate 2d. I was pretty bossy at that time and I had the advantages of ‘supervising’ the expenditure of all our money, which together was 1/6d. I collected tin soldiers at 1d or 2d each. This normally meant going to Northallerton or exceptionally to Woolworths at Darlington. I also collected Meccano and Hornby trains, but had to rely on Father Christmas for these more expensive items.

Victorian children

Lark Rise, Flora Thomson, Chapter I, Poor People's Houses: Good manners prevailed. The children were given their share of the food, there was no picking and choosing, and they were expected to eat it in silence. 'Please' and 'Thank you' were permitted, but nothing more. Father and Mother might talk if they wanted to; but usually they were content to concentrate upon their enjoyment of the meal. Father might shovel green peas into his mouth with his knife, Mother might drink her tea from her saucer, and some of the children might lick their plates when the food was devoured; but who could eat peas with a two-pronged fork, or wait for tea to cool after the heat and flurry of cooking, and licking the plates passed as a graceful compliment to Mother's good dinner. 'Thank God for my good dinner. Thank Father and Mother. Amen' was the grace used in one family, and it certainly had the merit of giving credit where credit was due.