Page 7-The Pettards of Bermondsey-The Last Generation

The Last Generation.  

This deals with the last generation to be born and bread within our area of London, while descends will be born Londoners, this is the last generation of true Bermondsey Pettards.  

The Bermondsey line now appears to be in the sole hands of William Francis Pettard, the only son of William and Annie.  In 1915 William Francis also known as Frank, a good idea with so many Williams in the family, marries Florence Leach of Croydon.

With this generation we see a departure away from the river, skinning, leather processing, lighterman and Dock workers, the Leach family are traders, stall owners and costermongers, but by the age of 20, William, i.e. Frank is a husband, a father and a soldier of the 22^nd London Regiment and he is off to War, France to be exact.  I recall reading some of his letter written to Florence while he was later in Palestine 1919 to be exact, the letters appear to follow a formal and I guess an official war time format, one of inquiring politely after wife and child’s health and hoping things were not too tough for them.  Very little of these letters refers to the sender with the style and immaculate handwriting along with the absence of any personal matters, leads one to believe that these letters from the war-front were written for the soldiers by official scribes.

Frank’s wartime story would no doubt make a book or film of its own; I will only recall here that he suffered from being gassed at the front, leaving him to suffer from the effects for the rest of his life.  I can also recall personally how my father would call out the doctor each November as the cold, damp and foggy conditions of the English winter set-in.  It was the same each year, the doctor informing my father Bill that my grandfather would not see the winter out and could die before Christmas.  One way or another he would make it through those winters, keeping his spirits going each night with renderings of all the classic 1^st world war songs, as in defiance of death and those that gassed him. His war time advantages or misadventures did not finish with being gassed, he was subsequently sent by the army to North Africa with the notion that the dry air there would help him, it did but he contracted Malaria.  My grandfather despite all this lived to a good age, through a period of a history, the likes of which will never be seen again, he died where he felt most at ease living with his only daughter Margaret, my aunt.  He left the family line in good shape; Frank and Florence were the parents of four sons and one daughter; William, John, Margaret, Reginald and Dennis all born and bred in Southwark, these would be the last of the born Bermondsey Pettards of our line to grow up in the area, all would move away to start or with the start of new families.

The family all lived through the horrors of the 2^nd World War from Dunkirk to the London Blitzes and terrors of the flying bombs.

The Last Generation.
		1999	1986	1924		2000	1954	1930
1917	Marries	1917	1921	1923	1924	1926	1928	1930
William	Florence
Francis	Beatrice
Pettard	Violet
	Leach	William	John	Florence	Margaret	Reginald	Dennis	Frances
		John	Francis	Elizabeth		Francis	Patrick	(Sally)
		Francis
1940	Marries
William	Dorothy
John	Mary
Francis	Kelly
Pettard
	1941	Marries
	John	Gladys
	Francis	Mattison
	Pettard
			1949	Marries
			Margaret	Stanley
			Pettard	Tomlin
				1954	Marries
				Reginald	Betty
				Francis	Taylor
				Pettard
					1949	Marries
					Dennis	Sylvia
					Patrick	Hermer
					Pettard