THE FOLLINGTON FAMILY of PIRTON, HERTFORD SHIRE.

                                                         BY RON FOLLINGTON

This is a brief history of how the Follington Family came to live in Pirton and settled there.

To set the scene I will go back to the year 1916 and from that time uncover the family history.

That year found my Grandmother, Step- Grandfather and Gran’s two daughters Mary and Minnie. Both daughters were from my Gran’s first marriage so at the beginning of the year both had the surname of their father-LUMLEY, (my real grandfather). However on the 22nd October 1916 Mary became Mrs Henry Smith.

They all lived at an address on Horton Hill, Epsom. Sadly Mary became a widow when her husband died on 4 May 1917 due to serious injuries in battles near Arras in The Great War. (See addendum)

At that time my Gran and her two daughters used to visit the wounded soldiers in the hospital, as did many folk, to “Cheer-them-up” and that is how my mother met Charles Samuel Follington, an Australian soldier who had been wounded in The Battle of The Somme (1916) and had to have a leg amputated. Thus their romance began.

Her sister Minnie (My Aunt Min) also met her future husband there, FREDERICK BRADFORD McRAE (my Uncle Fred) – he being a Canadian soldier, badly wounded.

How long these two soldiers spent in hospital is unknown although it would have been some time before they were fully recovered.

My mother became Mrs. C.S. Follington when she married my father in November 1917, and my eldest brother was born in Epsom in August 1918, which was a month after his father had been repatriated to Australia to be “demobbed” from the Australian Army as he was no longer “Fit for Service”.

My mother could not sail with him as the war was still ongoing and his vessel was a troopship. When the war was over she sailed, with her young son, to Sydney Australia on a While Star Liner steamship “The Torrens”, the cost fully paid for by the Australian Government.

Having reunited with her husband and living with his family, she only stayed 2 years, mainly because Augathella, Queensland was way out out in the Australian Outback – a 100 miles from the nearest town, Charleville, and no place to bring up her now 2 boys, my brother – Henry Frederick – being born early November 1920, and she sailed from Brisbane to England with her 2 children on the 18th December 1920 and returned to Horton Hill, Epsom. She sailed on the Orient Line Steamship ORVIETO at the cost of £72, and we presume her fare was paid by her parents.

It was on the 3rd January 1925 that my father sailed to the Port of London from Australia on the S.S. LARGS BAY, by which time he had managed to save the fare cost of £39 to then be able to re-join his family at Horton Hill, which is where my two eldest sisters were born to make 4 children before they moved from Epsom.

So, how did the family come to live in Pirton

Well, it seems my step-grandfather was some type of civil engineer, and when the area of slums in Hitchin was being cleared to create the “New Market Square”, he was “Clerk of the Works” and moved to Hitchin as a consequence. We assume that as he was working on that project the chance to be the Landlord of The Red Lion in Pirton arose and he and my grandma became Landlord and Landlady of the pub. Exact dates are unknown, but it was after my second eldest – Jean Harriet – was born (Feb 1928) and my youngest sister – Irene Mary – was born in 1930, followed by my brother – David James in 1932, and myself in 1937, in Pirton.

At first my Mum and Dad and their 4 children also lived in the Red Lion for a while, but the new Council houses were being built and they were allocated one of them. This was 26, Council Houses as the crescent was named at the time. The garden size at 26 was not large and when number 12 became available my parents asked for, and got, a move to that house which had a very large garden – 40 poles my father used to say – and he made optimum use of it all growing all sorts of vegetables for his now family of 7 children. Over many years he added fruit trees of all kinds and ended up with a small orchard, and the abundant supply of “Fruit and Veg” was indeed much appreciated by my mum who made good use of it all.

My Dad always worked in Hitchin, for many years at the Bacon Factory, seven days a week until he had to retire just before he was 65 yrs old, due to having his second leg amputated because of gangrene. For most of those working years he cycled the 5 miles each way despite then only having one good leg. He had to walk up the steep hills of course.

In March 1948, when the village was cut off by several feet of snow, he was one of the team of villagers who cleared the snow off the road as far as “Punch Cross” (over a mile) so the snow-plough could get through and clear other roads.

My Mum was a typical hard working housewife, looking after her 7 children and cooking very good meals on the coal fired Kitchen Range. She was also a fine pianist and was often called upon to play at village concerts.

As a family we became true “Pirtoners and had a happy life in the village even though times were hard especially during the second world war and the years of austerity afterwards.

When “Council Houses became Davis Crescent I cannot say, but it was well after the war when the house numbers were changed and 12 became 15 due to Post Office renumbering.

As children we played games on the Crescent green or in “Docklands”, a meadow near the school. This was allowed by the farmer L.T. FRANKLIN and all sorts of events took place there such as the school sports and village fetes. (No recreation ground back then). A typical village at the time where everyone knew everyone; this had many advantages but for boys like myself if you had done something wrong you could be sure your parents would soon know, sometimes before you got home.

My eldest brother was killed at the “Battle of Arnhem (A Bridge Too Far); he was a glider pilot. And my second eldest brother served on warships throughout the war. My eldest sister became a WREN in the latter part of the war. The name of my eldest brother is on the Pirton War Memorial.

One by one all my siblings, and myself, left the village, though my second eldest sister  – Jean – and her family soon moved  back to Pirton.

My parents lived the rest of their lives in the village my Dad dying in 1965 and my Mum in 1976.

Sisters Jean and Irene, my brother David and myself were all married at St. Mary’s, Pirton.

I am the youngest of the Pirton Follingtons, being born in February 1937.

Written by me in July 2025.

Ron Follington

 

ADDENDUM:

My mother’s marriage to Harry (Henry) Smith was very brief in their being together. As previously mentioned, they married on the 22nd October 1916 but by Christmas 1916 he was serving with the “Hull Pals Regiment” and was in the trenches during the Battle for Oppy Wood, Arras… Obviously he would have done basic training in England before being sent to France. He must have enlisted very soon after the wedding, or maybe was already a soldier at the time of the wedding.

What is sure is that after Harry left for France my mother never saw him again as he died from severe injuries in France at the 8th Casualty Clearing Station on May 1917.

Very Sad for my Mother