Page 33 - The Yorkshire Pettards

The Yorkshire Pettards

First of all, it best to realized that the Yorkshire families are just as much direct descendent of the Bermondsey Pettards as any other line of our family. We all stem from the union of William Francis Pettard and Florence Beatrice Violet Leach.

		1999	1987		2000	1954
1917	Married	1917	1920	1924	1926	1928
William	Florence
Francis	Beatrice
Pettard	Violet
	Leach	William	John	Margaret	Reginald	Dennis
		John	Francis	Pettard	Francis	Patrick
		Francis	Pettard		Pettard	Pettard
		Pettard

John Francis Pettard married Gladys Mattison in 1941 at Pontefract West Yorkshire. Gladys was from Ferrybridge West Yorkshire and it was while John was stationed during the war in Yorkshire that the two first met. The coupled had two offspring Michael and John Pettard born 1942 and 1945 respectively Bermondsey London.

 My family trips across the river from Finsbury to Bermondsey would include seeing Aunt Liz (Leach) Davies and family and then on to Granddad’s, finishing up calling in to see Johnny and family who lived not too far from Granddad’s.  I recall days when we did this round trip; we left Johnny’s late, by which time I had crashed out on the last under ground train back to Farringdon. This then is my major recollection of Johnny’s family, I left London when Michael was 9 and John was 6, shortly thereafter Johnny and Gladys divorced and Gladys moved back to her family in Yorkshire with her two sons.

Being that far apart and not often traveling any distance, my Dad did not learn to drive and purchase a car until while in to his 60’s we never ventured far, but Dad and driving is another story, maybe another book. I only recall a few occasions when John Pettard and I met again, 1984 I remember some of the Yorkshire family attending Kevin Tomlin’s wedding to Penny with John Francis Pettard i.e. Johnny also present, then in 1986 at the funeral of Johnny.  I think in retrospect there could have been more contact and it was often the case that the Yorkshire family was not invited to our family events, I well remember very heated disagreement between my brother and my mum over not inviting any of the Yorkshire side of the family, I point that my brother Dennis still feels sore about.  As for me I had learnt a lot when it came to inviting people, so I invited no one, however, my first wife did invite my parents, my brother and his wife, her mother and one of her sisters. Although we did have a typical London do in the evening with the rest of the family, so you could say I was guilty of not extended an invitation wider.

Johnny after his divorce to Gladys married a Sylvia Lea, and while they had no offspring

Sylvia did have a child which they named John Pettard. After the death of Johnny, Sylvia’s John at some time moved north and was under the wing of John Pettard and family, which I believe is still the case today.   With his remarriage we got to see Uncle Johnny I bit more often when he visited us at Weybridge Surrey.  At no point could you say that the north and south sides of the family were well in contact, only Aunt Margaret would keep some degree of exchange, so when it came to writing about John and Michael families I realized I knew naught.

  After a few weeks of making contact via Facebook with both Michael and John’s offspring, I have managed to put together the following family history of the Yorkshire Pettards and their descendents.

Some time during the 1950’s after the divorce to of Johnny and Gladys Pettard, Gladys with her two sons Michael and John moved back to her Yorkshire roots Ferrybridge West Yorkshire.  Both Michael and John would marry and establish their family in West Yorkshire, namely Knottingley.  Michael’s offspring Tracey, Lesley and Mandy were all born Knottingley.  John’s offspring were born Michelle - Castleford and Carol - Wakefield with Sarah born Haynes Middlesex.  It would appear that John and family moved South to Middlesex some time before or around 1975, at this time John’s Father John Francis Pettard would also have been living Middlesex.  Subsequently John and family with the exception of Michelle moved back to West Yorkshire and the Knottingley area.

Currently the families are distributed as follows;

Michael John Pettard                                        Knottingley        West Yorkshire

John Pettard                                                     Knottingley        West Yorkshire

Tracey Pettard now Cooke                                Donchaster        South Yorkshire

Lesley Pettard now Zorha Kisibi                         Pontefract         West Yorkshire

Mandy Pettard now EI Khayet                           Pontefract         West Yorkshire

Michelle Pettard now Bacon                              Cowley              Middlesex

Carol Pettard now Austerberry                           Knottingley        West Yorkshire

Sarah Jayne Pettard                                          Scarborough      North Yorkshire

Thanks to all the Yorkshire lasses for being very helpful and patient with my endless question, in particular a special thanks to Mandy and Sarah Jayne.  I am still hoping Sarah Jayne Pettard will jot down some of her family stories to include here.

For the time being I will repeat one of her stories. Her Gran Gladys Mattison had a wooden leg, she was involved in a bicycle accident at the age of 14 which resulted in the loss of her leg. Sarah tells the story that the grand children would hide her cigarettes in her wooden leg, so while watching TV and reaching for her smokes that weren’t there, she would put on her wooden leg and search around the house for her smokes, which of course were in her wooden leg.

Margaret Pettard at some time during WWII went to stay with her sister-in-law Gladys (Mattison) Pettard in Yorkshire, apparently having married John Francis Pettard she stayed in Yorkshire during the war years.  Margaret spent 3 months in Yorkshire finding it a great relief from the bombing and noise of London, her two aunts Gladys and Liz Leach would also spend time away from the bombs of London by staying with the family of Gladys (Mattison) Pettard in West Yorkshire.