1948 THE HERTFORDSHIRE and BEDFORDSHIRE EXPRESS
EXILE RETURNS TO PIRTON AFTER 60 YEARS
Seven-Shillings-A-Week Shepherd’s Son Made Good
Turning a corner of the village street at Pirton on Monday, Mr. Abraham Weedon aged nearly 80, thought the weather-beaten features of the stranger who confronted him looked familiar. He took a second look and then said, “Hullo Bill, you’re looking well!”
So were reunited two Pirton natives who were schoolboys together in the early ‘80s and had not seen each other for over 60 years.
The “stranger” was Mr. Leonard William Mabbit, now aged 82, who in May 1888 left Pirton because he could not find any employer to pay him more than 7s. per week. He sailed to Canada almost penniless, in an emigrant ship and became a successful farmer and business-man. Now a great grandfather and owner of a farm and three houses he has returned to the Old Country to see the few surviving members of his family and friends and to spend a short holiday before returning to business.
Flying from Montreal to HeathRow via Newfoundland and Ireland, Mr Mabbit arrived back in England on Friday last week and is staying at the re-built house adjoining the site of the old thatched cottage at Bury End, Great Green where he said ‘Goodbye’ to his mother, father and ten brothers and sisters, 61 years ago. He was given a great welcome back by the only members of his family who are left – his brother, Harry, (aged 77) and his sister, Mrs. Annie Wren (aged 72). They say he has not changed a bit.
A MISCHIEVIOUS YOUTH
“He was always getting into mischief, I remember that quite well, though I was only a little girl at the time,” said Mrs. Wren with an affectionate glance at her “big” brother,” when an “Express” reporter saw them at the Bury End house on Monday.
Mr, Mabbit, who could easily be mistaken for a man of sixty, was not abashed at the accusation of “mischief”. “Yes, that’s one of the reasons I went away,” he said. “There were three men …who were always picking on me – the gamekeeper, my foreman and the police constable. If anything went wrong I was blamed.” And Mr. Mabbit’s eyes a twinkling in them ……possibly a reflection of certain ‘starry nights’ in the season of the year 1888. Mr Mabbit’s father worked as a shepherd for Mr. Joseph Pollard of High Down and when he left the Pirton National School (where his headmaster was Mr. Crowther) William worked at High Down too. He has happy memories of the Jubilee celebrations of 1887 where he won several races in the sports at High Down. Its after the harvest of that year that he had a dispute with his foreman over his 7s. per week……….not being raised. He was ………… 2½. Then and the oldest ……….. family of eleven so the next spring when a lecturer on emigration came to speak at the Pirton Church rooms William decided to go to Canada.
The then vicar of Pirton, the Rev. R.L. Loughborough tried to dissuade him but William held to his decision. He sailed from England on …………… 1888 and lande4d in Canada after a 16 day voyage during which the ship was endangered by a ………………….. in the vicinity of Newfoundland and had to make long detours.
FOUR GREAT-GRAND-CHILDREN
Mr. Mabbit started his new life in Toronto and has worked in that vicinity ever since, his present home being in Lancing. He is now a widower but has a son, a daughter, four grandchildren and four great grandchildren living near him in Canada.
He made up his mind to revisit England quite suddenly and flew “home” last week. A minor mishap held up the air liner for 24 hours at Gander but Mr. Mabbit and his fellow passengers were treated to a memorable tour of the Goose Bay area and completed their long journey on Friday afternoon. Mr. Mabbit said he enjoyed every minute of the flight. Asked if it were better than the 16-day voyage out to Canada, Mr. Mabbit replied with a look which said “the good old days” were much over-rated.
A former chorister at the Parish Church, Mr. Mabbit attended the morning service on Sunday and was disappointed to see such a small congregation and, among them, not one of “the old familiar faces.” During his visit he hopes to look up the Church records of his baptism at Pirton Church and of his confirmation at Hitchin Parish Church in 1881.
THE OLD VILLAGE
Looking round the village Mr. Mabbit has formed the impression that it is much “rougher” than when he went away. The grass verges, greens, hedges and gardens are not so trim as they were in the memories he had carried with him through 60 years of exile in Canada. From a window of the Bury End cottage – it was restored after being wrecked by a flying bomb in 1944 – he can see the gable end of the Old Hall, now the residence of Mr. Arthur Lindsall. “Boy!” said William, affectionately admiring the grey stones of the Old Hall, “the grand Saturday night sing-songs I have had in there!” When he left it behind him so long ago, “The Old Hall” was his favourite pub.
