Introduction.

Introduction.

The original intention of this blog was to establish access to data compiled over the years relative to my line of the family of Pettard, i.e. The Pettards of Bermondsey.

With the wealth of information ever increasing it became clear that any demand for copies could not be met.  Having first considered establishing a Web Site I finally choose to blog the information, finding this media easy to work with.

So at last all the information is out there for the world to read, and the last time I checked it had been reviewed by people in some 30 different countries scattered from Europe, Asia, North America, Australia, and Africa.

The blog is arranged in a series of 10 chaptures that conveniently break-down time and content, more significant are the 46 pages each detailing in aspects of the families’ history, descendents and places of interest relative to the families of Bermondsey.

With reference to the index page and its table of contents, chapture 1 page 1 is our starting points, the blog is not in strict story form, so that you can select any page to review its content without too much concern of what went before.  However, I do advise all visitors to read chapture 1 and its pages 1 to 13 published April 2010, these pages are the foundation for all that follows.

The month of publication for each page is the key to selection, on the right hand side of the blog you will see a list of months and in brackets the number of pages published that month.  Click on the month, say April, and a list of page numbers and their titles will appear, then click on any page, say Page 1 ‘The Pettards of Bermondsey – Early Days’, from here you can start reading the history or our family.

Whilst the blog is now completed it could be considered the first issue, with no doubt many errors for me and others to find and correct, also the search for early descendents and their history will continue, adding such information to the blog when available.

This history of the Pettards of Bermondsey and their descendents has been in the main the work of just a few people, to further advance our knowledge of the family both past and present I need your input.  So, if you are reading this and would like to contribute your knowledge and history, I would love to hear your story.  Please use the comment facility on the blog or contact me direct at melvynpettardusa@aol.com.

Mel Pettard – August 2011.

    

          

DEDICATION

THIS STORY IS DEDICATED

TO OUR

ANCESTOR OF BERMONDSEY

LONDON

WHO HAD THE

FORTITUDE TO FORGE AN

EXISTENCE FROM THE

THE BANKS OF THE RIVER THAMES

AND DEFIED THE PERILS OF

TWO WORLD WARS.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

*******

Years before genealogy was a common pursuit as today, family members had begun work towards finding early members of our family in the Bermondsey area of London. At this time before the advent of personal computers, the quest entailed much determination along with a good deal of leg work and hours of searching through Church and Civil records. Such records were not always easy to find and often difficult to read and decipher, by comparison we can to day, to a large extent, sieve the internet in search of useful data bases and tools. Genealogy sites have sprung up all over the internet; many have organized data into logical order making searches by name, place or time relatively easy.

It’s with this in mind that we acknowledge the early work of Reginald Pettard which was a considerable contribution in its own right. Much of the hard facts and dates within these pages stem from the hard work and dedication of my uncle, it would also be appropriate at this stage to acknowledge Reggie’s wife, my aunt Betty for passing down to me all of her husbands findings.

In his pursuit and search for our early family Reggie was not always alone, for he was often helped and accompanied by Stanly Tomin husband of Margaret Pettard. Also during his genealogy searches he was aided by a William Ford who was also tracking down the line of Pettards in Bermondsey. William Ford was the son of Louise Maud Pettard and in researching his family he had unearthed much data related to the family of Joseph Henry Pettard and Annie Holland. I had the good future to be in contact with William Ford, and found him to be of immense help when I first took up this challenge after the death of my uncle Reggie Pettard.

Finally thanks to my wife Barbara for being a great help with spellings and the odd proof read through, along with her encouragement, and help from her family book Gunter Genealogy by Trevia Ramzy Smith, from which I got some good ideas on presentation and content. Thanks also to Barbara Goodyear for proof readings and corrections.

Just one last thanks must go to my aunt Margaret for supplying material and so much in the way of her family memoirs that you, the reader, will find scatted throughout these pages on the History of the Pettards of Bermondsey.

And finally to all those family members I have pestered for information, thank you.

             

                                                     Melvyn Francis Pettard

                                                                 ~2011~                                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                       

Index - Table Of Content.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Introduction.

Dedication.

Acknowledgements.

Chapter 1         Early Days.                                                                   Published

                                                                                                           

Page 1              The Pettards Of Bermondsey-Early Days                      April 2011

Page 2              The Pettards Of Bermondsey-Corner Stone                       

Page 3              The Pettards Of Bermondsey-The Parishes                  

Page 4              The Pettards Of Bermondsey-Lightermen                     

Page 5              The Pettards Of Bermondsey-Census                          

Page 6              The Pettards Of Bermondsey-Next Generation

Page 7              The Pettards Of Bermondsey-Last Generation 

Chapter 2         The Last Generation & Family Trees.

Page 8              Bill Pettard and Family Tree                                          April 2011

Page 9              Johnny Pettard  and Family Tree                                  

Page 10            Reggie Pettard  and Family Tree                                  

Page 11            Dennis Pettard and Family Tree                                   

Page 12            Margaret Pettard and Family Tree                                

Chapter 3         More Questions.          

Page 13            Loose Ends                                                                  April 2011

Page 14            New Light                                                                    May  2011

Page 15            More Loose Ends                                                        

Page 16            The 1911 Census                                                        

Chapter 4         Christina.

Page 17            Christina Louisa Pettard                                                May 2011

Page 18            Trans-Atlantic Passage                                                

Page 19            Quest for Immortality   

                                               

 Chapter 5        Churches and Parishes.

Page 20            Boundaries and Parishes                                                May 2011

Page 21            The Churches of Bermondsey                                      

Page 22            The Parish Records                                                     

Page 23            Early Street Images of Bermondsey                              

 Chapter 6        Other Families.

Page 24            The Leach Family of Bermondsey                                   May 2011

Page 25            Emma Mackglew and Family of Bermondsey   

Page 26            The Palestine Letters of 1919                                       

Chapter 7         Descendents Early Family 1806 to 1895.

Page 27            Descendents of Thomas Pettard (1806-1846)                   May 2011

Page 28            Descendents of Joseph Henry Pettard (1845-1908)     

Page 29            Descendents of Alfred Pettard (1872-1954)                

Page 30            Descendents of William Pettard (1875-1906)               

Page 31            Descendents William Francis Pettard (1895-1968)       

Chapter 8         The Family of Today.

Page 32            Today’s Family                                                              May 2011

Page 33            The Yorkshire Pettards                                    

Page 34            Yorkshire Family Tree – Michael Pettard                     

Page 35            Yorkshire Family Tree – John Pettard              

Chapter 9         The Family of Today, cont.

Page 36            Today’s Family – Dennis John Pettard                            June 2011

Page 37            Descendents of Dennis John Pettard                             

Page 38            Descendents of Dennis Keith Pettard                           

Page 39            Descendents of Dennis P Pettard                                 

Page 40            Descendents of Karen Louisa Pettard  

Chapter 10       Melvyn Francis Pettard

                                                           

Page 41            The London Years                                                        July 2011

Page 42            The Surrey Years

Page 43            Vickers Armstrong Brooklands

Page 44            Air Raids on Brooklands

Page 45            WWII Aircraft built at Brooklands                                August 2011

Page 46            

Page 46

Text to be added.

Page 45 - WWII Aircraft Built at Brooklands.

WWII Aircraft Built at Brooklands, Weybridge.

The following WW2 aircraft were built at Brooklands Weybridge, most were also produced at other sites such was the demand, and the need to keep production scattered.

                            

                  

                             Hawker Hurricane, seen here at Brooklands.

 Britain’s most successful fighter aircraft of this era was the Hawker Hurricane designed by Sydney Camm at nearby Kingston. It was assembled and first flown in prototype form at Brooklands in November 1935.  Altogether, 3,012 Hurricanes were produced at Brooklands – one fifth of the total built.  When the Battle of Britain was fought in the summer of 1940 it was due to the tremendous production and test flying effort at Brooklands and other factories and to the skills of the RAF pilots that the Hurricane became the chief victor of this decisive engagement.  At the time, Hurricanes equipped no less than two-thirds of RAF single fighter squadrons. A Brooklands-built Hurricane was recovered from Russia in 1997 and is now on display in the Brooklands Aircraft Hangar.  The above information was gained from the Brookland Museum site.

                                            Hawker Hurricane MK 6.

The Vickers Wellington was a twin-engine, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, R. K. Pierson. It was widely used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, before being displaced as a bomber by the larger four-engine "heavies" such as the Avro Lancaster. The Wellington continued to serve throughout the war in other duties, particularly as an anti-submarine aircraft. It was the only British bomber to be produced for the entire duration of the war.

A Staggering 11,464 Wellington bomber was built between 1936 – 1945 for the Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Fleet Air Arm and the Polish Air Force.

The Wellington used a geodesic airframe construction first developed for the early Airships and later used on the Vickers Warwick. The fuselage was constructed from Aluminium Alloy with W-shaped beams formed into a larger framework. Wood battens were screwed to the alloy frame then covered with Irish Linen; the linen was then treated to many layers of dope to form the outer skin of the aircraft.

The resultant aircraft was very durable capable of taking lots of damage, also its good weight power ratio gave it relatively high pay-loads for a two engine bomber. 

                                          Vickers Wellington Bomber.

                  Damaged rear fuselage.        Geodesic Fuselage Section.

The Vickers Warwick was a multi-purpose aircraft used during the Second World War. Built by Vickers Armstrong Brooklands, Surrey, the Warwick was used by the Royal Force (RAF) as a transport, air-sea rescue and maritime reconnaissance platform, and by the civilian British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). The Warwick first flight was on the 13^th August 1930, being a larger version of the Vickers Wellington with some 842 built for the RAF, Polish Air Fore in exile and BOAC.

                                         The Vickers Warwick.

The Vickers Windsor was a four engine prototype aircraft produced 1943-1944 of which only three were built.  The fact that only tree prototypes were built was due to refinements in the existing Lancaster bomber, rendering it suitable for the role for which the Windsor had been designed. The first prototype flew in 23 October 1943, second on 15 February 1944, third on 11 July 1944 and all three were built at Vickers secret dispersed Foxwarren Experimental Department between Brooklands and nearby Cobham. The two latter prototypes were tested till the end of the Second World War, when further development and production were cancelled.

                                     The Vickers Windsor.  



The Vickers Wellesley was a 1930s light bomber built by Vickers-Armstrongs at Brooklands near Weybridge, Surrey, for the Royal Air Force. While it was obsolete by the start of the Second World War, and unsuited to the European air war, the Wellesley was successfully used in the desert theatres of East Africa, Egypt and the Middle East.

                                           The Vickers Wellesley.



Page 44 - Air Raid on Brooklands

The follow are police reports on two air raids on Vickers Armstrong, Weybridge Works, Surrey. These attacks took place whilst my father William Pettard was working at the site.

Attack on Vickers Armstrong aircraft factory 1940

1940, 4 September: Worst attack was on Vickers Works, Weybridge was bombed and eighty three killed and over four hundred injured. One aircraft on the raid was shot down near Shere and the airman who bailed out was captured by a Special Constable at Ripley.

 Contemporary report Weybridge: The attack on Vickers Armstrong Works was carried out by an unspecified number of aircraft but from reports received it appears that five or six direct hits on buildings were made and other heavy calibre bombs dropped outside hangars causing some damage but it is considered that casualties would have been greater but for the fact that the attack was made during the lunch hour. It appears that bombs dropped before the red warning was received. The full extent of the effect on production is not yet ascertained, but it is gathered that considerable delay will occur.

On the morning of 21st September 1940 at about 08.30 hours the Vickers Aircraft Factory at Weybridge was attacked by an enemy aircraft. Three bombs were dropped, two of which exploded, doing slight damage. The other, a five hundred pound bomb, penetrated the factory roof, passed through a wall at the end and came to rest on the concrete driveway outside the erecting shed, having failed to explode.  As the explosion of the bomb at the position where it rested would have caused considerable damage, its immediate removal was a matter of national importance. Lieutenant J. M. S. Patton, Royal Canadian Engineers, undertook to remove the bomb to a place of comparative safety and Section Leader Tilyar-Burrows together with Volunteers W. J. Avery, E. A. Maslyn and C. E. Chaplin, with complete disregard of personal safety and having no previous experience of handling unexploded bombs, immediately volunteered to assist. The bomb was lashed to a sheet of corrugated iron, attached to a truck by wire cable and towed to a crater about two hundred yards away where it could do no harm. The task was accomplished in little more than half-an-hour from the time the bomb had fallen. The bomb exploded the following morning.

Throughout the operation these men displayed cool courage of the highest order and contributed largely to the removal of a serious threat to the production of this factory.

Note: Lieutenant J. M. S. Patton was awarded the George Cross and Captain D. W. C. Cunnington, also of the Royal Canadian Engineers, the George Medal for their gallantry on this occasion.

PC Arthur Bruce in 1980: One of the aircraft from this raid was hit and crashed on Netley Heath area close to a Canadian camp. Bert Bradley and I received an instruction to collect the remains of the crew and this we did in several brand new sandbags. We took these to the Woking mortuary then, having left our grisly load we resumed patrol.