Act 20
The Southerners
The story of the folk who left
Yorkshire and travelled to London and elsewhere in the south of Britain
The stage
for Farndale Story is largely confined to a relatively defined area in
northeast Yorkshire for its two thousand year span.
Yet the story is not set entirely there. You might recall that as early as Act 8 Scene 2, we followed the
ecclesiastical wanderings of Walter de Farndale the Younger
(c1300 to c1370) who was the parson of Upmeadon
church by 1347 and then warden of St Margaret’s, Chelmsford, northeast of
London.
By the
Victorian Age it is not surprising to find branches of our family expanding
their horizons. We will soon encounter emigrations across the world stage, but
for now, our focus is on those who settled more widely across Britain, mainly
in the south.
Scene 1 - Surrey and Sussex
There are
several individuals who used the Farndale surname, who appeared in southern
England from the fifteenth century, who have been difficult to reconcile with
the wider family. I have grouped them together as the Sussex Line. Robert
Farndale was the rector of South Stoke in Sussex in 1500 and was presented
to the College of Holy Trinity at Arundel in 1508[1]. It seems likely that he was a
descendant of Walter
de Farndale the Younger, but the jig saw pieces have not yet fitted
together.
There was a Joseph Farndale
who married Mary and they had a daughter, also called Mary Farndale who
was baptised in Compton in Sussex in July 1718[2].
Elizabeth
Farendale and George Farendale
were born in Boxgrove, near Chichester, in Sussex in
1728 and 1729. Their parents were George and Mary Farendale
and this might have been George Farnedel
of Amberley. There was also a family of George
Farndale and his four daughters Mary Ann, Jane, Frances and Sarah Farndale
living at Chichester in the early nineteenth century[3].
There are a number of individuals who used the surname Farndell in
Sussex from the early seventeenth century. This is almost certainly a different
family.
Albert Farndale
was born in Middlesbrough on 22
December 1914[4], part of the Loftus 2 Line. He left home and
moved to Surrey where he married Beryl Cattermole in 1939 when he was serving
as an airman and he was a corporal in the Air Force in World War Two[5]. They had a family of a boy who died
at birth and two girls, Ann
and Eleanor,
the Surrey 1 Line. The family
seem to have moved to Chichester, where Albert died in 1986[6].
Scene 2 – The Londoners
Robert Farndale
(1830 to 1877), of the Kilton 1 Line,
was baptised in Brotton[7] and apprenticed as a joiner[8]. By 1869 he had settled in London,
where he became a gardener in Putney[9]. He lived in Cooper’s Arms Lane in
Putney and died of epilepsy in 1877 at the age of 47[10]. His son Robert Farndale
Junior (1848 to 1888), who was a carpenter, married Caroline Lester in 1869[11] and they had three daughters, Annie, Edith and Theresa, but
Robert died in about 1888 when he was only about 44[12]. His widow, Caroline then worked as
a laundress in Putney[13]. Annie was a
domestic cook[14], Edith a
housemaid[15], and Theresa a
domestic help[16] and later cook.[17]
John Farndale
(1847 to 1906) served in the Grenadier Guards in 1872[18] and settled in Clerkenwell as a
clerk by 1875 when he married Emily Greenwood[19]. He was later a civil service clerk[20] and telegraphist[21] in Hackney and Bethnel
Green by 1891.
George Farndale
(1859 to 1931) became a footman at 34 Belgrave Square in London[22] before he returned to Kirkham, where
he was postman[23].
We will meet
the Farndales of Newcastle in Act 30.
From that family, three brothers moved south to start new lives in London. Joseph Farndale
was born in Jarrow in 1907[24] and he moved to London in about 1931
when he married Margaret Lakin at Hammersmith[25]. They had two sons, and their
descendants were the London 4 Line.
Joseph worked as a painter and decorator[26] and he died in Fulham in 1990[27]. His brother James Farndale
was born in Jarrow on 26 April 1912[28] and he moved to Hammersmith before
his older brother in the mid 1930s, and married Emily
Podmore in 1935[29]. They had a family of five and their
descendants were the London 2 Line.
James worked as a bricklayer[30] and by 1953 became a Labour
Councillor in North Hammersmith[31]. He was also involved in the Civil
Defence Corps in the 1960s[32], and the British Legion[33].
The Civil Defence Corps was a civilian volunteer organisation
established in 1949 to mobilise and take local control of local areas in the
aftermath of a major national emergency, such as a nuclear attack. His son Roy
Albert Farndale was a cab driver and car mechanic. George Farndale
was born in Jarrow on 17 March 1921[34]. In 1936, when he was in the Boy’s
Brigade, aged 15, George helped to recover a young boy who had drowned at sea
and tried to give him artificial respiration[35]. He also moved to Fulham, in the
1940s, and his descendants are the London
3 Line.
Tom Farndale was
born in Stockton on 10 September 1912[36], part of the Stockton 3 Line. By the
outbreak of the Second World War, he was an engineer and metal and sheet turner
in Ruislip in Middlesex, where he married Freda Tuck[37]. They had a family of three, the Uxbridge Line, who were all born at
Uxbridge to the west of London. Their son Stuart
Alan Farndale worked as a pantryman on passenger ships operating in the
Pacific[38] and later, with his wife Sue, worked
for a hospice at Bexhill on Sea near Hastings.
Scene 3 – The gardens and mustard
fields of Norwich
William and Jane
Farndale’s son William Farndale,
of the Stockton 3 Line, was
born in Bedale on 3 May 1870[39]. He married Mary Ann Carter in Long Wittenham, south of Oxford on 13 January 1894[40] and they lived for a while at nearby
Sutton Courtney[41]. William and Mary had two boys and a
girl, the Norwich Line. At the beginning of the twentieth century,
the family moved to Norwich, where William worked as a gardener[42], sometimes judging gardening
competitions[43]. William died on 22 December 1953[44].
William’s
son, Herbert
Arthur Farndale became a mustard packer in Norwich by the age of 17, in
1911[45]. In 1814, Jeremiah Colman had first
advertised his mustard in the Norwich Chronicle
and he made mustard at a water mill just south of Norwich. In the nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries nearby Wisbech, haunt of the Whitby
mariner Farndales, held annual mustard markets where the sale of the
harvest of brown and white seed took place. By the early twentieth century,
Norwich was at the centre of mustard growing. Herbert served with the Norfolk
Yeomanry in the First World War[46] and after the war he was working for
J and J Colmans[47]. By the Second World War, he was
working as a mill hand[48]. He died in 1966[49]. Herbert’s brother was William
Claude Farndale who served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the First
World War including during the Gallipoli campaign, having worked as a tinsmith
before the War[50]. After the War he worked in a saw mill in Norwich[51] and was a tin smith in 1926 when he
married Gladys Browne[52]. William died in 1953[53]. Their sister was Mary Amelia
Farndale who worked as a coal machinist in Norwich in 1939[54] and later married Frederick Clarke[55]. William’s
son, Brian William Farndale
emigrated to New Zealand in the
1960s, where he was a pattern cutter[56].
Scene 4 – The First Farndale Comedian
who became a Clerk to the Admiralty
Samuel Farndale
(1866 to 1936), of the Wakefield 1 Line, was
born in Wakefield on 5 May 1866[57], the son of an innkeeper. His uncle was
the Chief Constable of Birmingham and his brother, Joseph Farndale,
later became Chief Constable of Bradford.
By 1875 Samuel was achieving academic success in English at Mr Reyner’s School
in Wakefield[58].
Samuel was
the first comedian of the family and was appearing as a humourist at soirees in
Wakefield by 1889[59]. His rendition that year of “Quite
English you know” was
irresistibly funny, and “brought the house down”. The two original verses at
the end, about Yorkshire and Wakefield, created much amusement. An encore was
inevitable, and on reappearing Mr Farndale gave with equal success, “Only One”,
a very laughable song.[60]
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What
queer things we see, and what queer things we do, That's
English, you know, quite English, you know; And now
its the rage, and 'tis
something quite new, It's
English, quite English, you know. We're
out of the fashion, unless we're agreed To
follow wherever they lead; To
dress just as they do, to look as they do, It's
English, quite English, you know. |
Chorus. It's
English, you know, quite English, you know, How
queer are the people, it's English, you know; We copy
their ways, we pay for their plays, It's
English, quite English, so English, you know |
They
sent us an actor to show us the way, That's
English, you know, quite English, you know; He showed
us his manner of playing a play, It's
English, quite English, you know. We
studied his walk, and copied his dress, We
puffed him well up in the press; Some
said he was trash, but he gobbled our cash, It's
English, quite English, you know. Chorus |
They
sent us a boxer from over the sea, That's
English, you know, quite English, you know; He came
just to visit this land of the free, It's
English, quite English, you know. He
played the drop game when at Madison Square And
this with a heart free of care; He
managed to join on with hard Yankee coin, It's
English, quite English, you know.-Chorus[61] |
At another
soiree, comic songs were sung by Messrs Speight (“Dear Me”), Farndale
(“Nervous Nig”)[62]. At another soiree he gave a
rendition of another comic song, Mrs Mulligan's Homemade Pie[63].
They
stood the pie out on the table that day, And it looked
like a ship without sails, While Mulligan mended a hole in the lid, With a
hammer and two or three nails. Sure it looked very
nice and I asked for a slice, For I eat when I'm hungry and drink when I'm dry,
You may say what you plaze
but I've been a daze Since I tackled Miss Mulligan's home-made pie.
By 1890, his
renditions were ambitious. In a very full programme that year Mr Farndale's
comic songs were, as they always are, highly successful, and kept the audience
in almost continuous laughter. They included “The Magpie said Come In”, “One
More Folks”, “The Bulls Won't Bellow”, and “The Switch
Back Railway”[64].
Alongside
his amateur career in comedy, Samuel became an assistant clerk of works[65] and in 1890, as he was involved in
an extension of the Wakefield Asylum, it was agreed that the salary of Mr S
Farndale, assistant clerk of works, be increased from £52 to £65 a year[66].
Not long
after 1890 Samuel left Wakefield and took
up work as a clerk in Portsea[67], at the mouth of Portsmouth Harbour.
In 1895 he married Pollie Chesters of Nantwich in Cheshire[68] and they had a family of eight, the London 1 Line. By 1897, the
family moved to Lambeth and Wandsworth[69], where Samuel started to work as a
clerk to the Admiralty[70]. By 1907 they were living in Croydon[71]. By 1921, Samuel was an accountant
clerk first class to the Civil Engineer in Chief at the Admiralty[72]. He died in 1936[73].
Samuel and
Pollie’s eldest daughter, Ethel
Chesters Farndale, also worked as a clerk to the Admiralty in the 1920s[74]. Their son Thomas Henry Farndale
served in the Royal Navy Reserve as a telegraphist in the First World War[75] and joined the police force in 1920[76]. We shall
meet him again in Act 21.
Their son, Frank Farndale
became a keen cricketer[77] for Brookside and also played
football[78]. In 1920, midway through the
first half, F Farndale, playing at centre half, dribbled through the Saints
defence and registered the only goal for the Brooks with a hard ground shot[79]. In 1921 F Farndale, of
Brookside, bowled splendidly, taking eight wickets, and each time he hit the
stumps[80]. In 1921, he was a clerk engineer
with Cubitts Engineer Co Ltd at the age of 19[81]. He married Lillie Laver in 1930[82] and was later an accounts clerk with
a brick manufacturer[83]. Later Frank and Lillie were active
in local social activities in Capel and Leatherhead. At a Capel bowling meeting
in 1950 the toast to the ladies was proposed by Mr F Farndale who thanked
the ladies for their untiring efforts in providing teas after the play, but
a suggestion by Mr Farndale that instead of a club captain being appointed,
the selection committee should select a captain for each match, was opposed by
Mr Stone. The motion was defeated[84]. Nevertheless
Messrs F Farndale and G Hayward were elected to the committee which is to
combine the duties of selection and handicapping. In the same year. Miss
Vinall made flattering remarks about the singing of the Women's Institute, when
she gave an interesting talk and demonstration on “English folk songs” at last
week's meeting. She told how Cecil Sharpe travelled through the British Isles,
collecting the songs handed down by generations of country
men. Mrs Farndale proposed a vote of thanks to Miss Vinall[85]. In 1951 a one act play was
presented by the drama group, produced by Mrs Harmon and extremely well acted by Mrs Farndale. Delightful singing came from
Mrs Farndale accompanied by a picturesque dance by Miss
Jennifer Farndale. Miming game, in which some of the male visitors took
part, caused much amusement[86]. When in 1951 Mr F Farndale,
treasurer, reported the highest ever yearly expenditure, and a balance of only
£14, the same indefatigable ladies assured him that financial problems can
usually be solved by the organisation of a jumble sale[87]. In 1954 Mrs Farndale gave a
delightful rendering of two Irish songs, “Cockles and Mussels” and “When Irish
Eyes are smiling”, the audience joining in lustily in the chorus[88].
Walter Reginald Farndale played football for Lyndhurst[89] and in 1926 W R Farndale secured
a couple in the first half, against one by the opposition and the teams crossed
over with the “Hurst” leading[90]. By 1939, Walter was an
Administrative Clerk with Imperial Airways[91]. During the war his business
interests were given protection under the Liabilities War Time Adjustment Acts
1941 and 1944[92] which provided for an adjustment of
the financial affairs where circumstances were affected by the war. Liabilities
Adjustment Officers were appointed to areas by the Lord Chancellor
and their jurisdiction was based on County Court Districts. Business interests
in financial difficulties could apply to the Adjustment Officer in the
appropriate district for advice and assistance to arrive at an equitable and
reasonable scheme of arrangement.
Hilda
Margaret (“Peggy”) Farndale worked as an assistant in a leather shop in
1939[93]. Madge (“Bobby”)
Farndale was an assistant in a chemist shop[94].
Scene 5 – Technical excellence in
Cambridge
Alan
Farndale was a descendant of the Craggs
family, born in Wakefield.
He married Pamela Taylor, a Sunday School Teacher, in 1963 in Cambridge. They
had a son and daughter, the Cambridge
Line. Alan was an engineering draughtsman with the East Anglian Regional
Hospital Board and later an engineer and architectural designer, working for GB
Geotechnics, specialists in pulsed radar testing.
John
Farndale BSc (ag) was a descendant of John
Farndale of Loftus who won the Pursglove Scholarship at Guisborough
Grammar School in 1938[95]. In 1561, Robert Pursglove set up a
free school on the site which would later come to house Prior Pursglove College. The school and almshouse
was reformed in the 1880s to become Guisborough
Grammar School, which continued until 1971 before becoming Prior Pursglove College. John became a Ministry Regional
Livestock officer and settled in Cambridge in the 1970s[96]. His son, John
Anthony Farndale was a doctor in the Lake District and his son, Professor
Richard William Farndale became a professor in the Department of
Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge.
Scene 6 - Leicester and Nottingham
John William Farndale
was born in Leeds, on 18 May 1886[97]. By 1901, he was working an as
office boy in a lithographic printing business in Leeds,
at the age of 14[98] and he later became a sorting clerk[99]. He served with the Royal Garrison
Artillery in the First World War and was the casualty of a gas attack[100]. When he demobilised, he settled in
Leicester and became a leather salesman[101]. He had married Doris Chamberlain in
1916[102] and they had two children, the Leicester Line. His son Michael
Anthony Farndale was another entertainer. He acted in Jack and the
Beanstalk at the Norwich Theatre Royal[103] and there was a reunion in 1980 when
Tony Hartman, Chris Fox and Michael Farndale have met up in Scarborough this season, their chat has
eventually turned to acting. For when the show was staged at the futurist
theatre back in 1968, Tony was stage manager, and Chris and Michael were
minstrels. Michael is still a minstrel, he's been one
for the past 14 years and is in this year's production again at the futurist
theatre[104].
Leslie Farndale
was born in Guisborough on 29 March 1909[105]. He married Irene Marriott in 1950[106] and they had a family of nine, the Nottingham Line. Leslie was a
Quartermaster Sergeant in the Sherwood Foresters[107] and his family settled in
Nottingham.
We will meet
Rev
William Edward Farndale in Act
31, who was a leading Presbyterian Minister with particular links to
Grimsby and Lincoln.
Scene 7 - Westwards to Wales
Robert Farndale
(1863 to 1933) was born in Huttons Ambo[108], part of the Huttons Ambo clan of the Ampleforth Farndales, in
1863. By 1891 he was a butler in Wales to the Piercy family at Marchweil House[109]. Marchwiel Hall was a seat of the Broughton
family. The country house was built in the 1840s and has five main reception
rooms, a ballroom, and twelve bedrooms, with adjoining stables and outbuildings
set on 150 acres of estate grounds. In 1883, its then owner, civil engineer
Benjamin Piercy laid out a cricket ground. In 1913, Sir Alfred McAlpine bought
the property. It became home to the Marchwiel and
Wrexham Cricket Club, and Alfred developed it as one of the most picturesque
settings for playing the game in the country[110]. By 1901 Robert was butler to the
Massey family at Cornelyn Manor, Llangoed, Bangor, beside Anglesey[111]. However by
1911, while still described as a domestic butler, he was an inmate in the
workhouse at Wrexham[112]. However in
1913, he married Sarah Samuels in Wrexham[113] and they had a family of seven. Robert William
Farndale, who was later a metal worker[114], was born in 1913[115]. The family then moved to Chester[116]. Ethel Farndale
was a domestic servant to a medical practitioner family, the Guthries, in the 1930s[117]. Cecil Herbert
Langdale Farndale was a motor driver in the 1930s[118], but he died when he was only 25 in
1940[119].
Brian
Picton Farndale was born on 29 March 1934[120], the son of Bernard and Muriel
Farndale. His father was killed on a Lancaster bomber mission on 30 August
1944 over Denmark, when Brian was only ten. Muriel Glenys nee Picton
came from Merthyr Tydfill and that is where the family moved after Bernard’s
untimely death. Brian married Elizabeth Jean Evans in 1961[121] and their family were the Wales 1 Line.
Francis
William Farndale was born into the
Richmond Line in 1940[122]. He married Mary Silburn in Norfolk[123] and they had two children, the Wales 2 Line. The family moved to
East Glamorgan and Pontypridd.
or
Go Straight to Act 21 – The
Victorian Policemen
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