|
Served
in the RAF |
John
Horace Thomas Farndale 21 July 1919 to 11 September 2018
FAR00856
|
|
Headlines
of John Farndale’s life are in brown.
Dates
are in red.
Hyperlinks
to other pages are in dark
blue.
References
and citations are in turquoise.
Context
and local history are in purple.
Geographical context is in green.
Essex
1919
John Horace Thomas Farndale, son of
Horace Ernest Farndale and Rosalie (nee Mole) Farndale (FAR00584), was born on
21 July 1919 in Southampton, and baptised at St Mary the Virgin, Prittlewell, Essex on 7 September 1919 (BR). The birth was registered in Rochford
District, Essex in the third quarter of 1919.
1921
John’s father Horace died when John
was only three years old.
1925
John
Farndale (right) with his step father Thomas Gill, in
about 1925
His daughter Patricia told me that
he went to Clarke’s
Private College, London for a while.
Before the Second World War,
Patricia tells me that he became a trained book keeper
and accountant, while also being trained in his mother’s restaurant.
1939
When the Second World War started,
Patricia tells me that her father joined the Royal Engineers initially
repairing searchlights.
1940
John Farndale with his sister Kathleen Farndale in about 1940
Patricia was told that he then
trained to be a Spitfire pilot and he took her to a cemetery behind RAF Coltishall where he showed her the graves of his squadron,
killed in the Battle if Britain. There were many eighteen to twenty years olds, and many were Polish. John couldn’t fly on the day
when many members of his Squadron were shot down due to a heavy nose bleed.
He later joined the catering branch,
which he hated.
He was later trained for the Far
East Theatre, and avoided being posted to Burma, where many of his friends died
on the construction of the Burma railway.
John recalled seeing doddle bugs
decimate London. There was an occasion when his soldiers were training in a
gymnasium when it was hit, but John had not made it on time so was not there.
He was also trained in a secondary
duty as a paramedic.
On another occasion Patricia was
told that a bomb dropped next John and he curled himself up in a ball and
survived an explosion. He used to tell his family "my
guardian angel was with me when that bomb exploded".
Surrey
1942
John H T Farndale married Mildred Irene
Croft in south eastern Surrey in the second quarter of
1942.
Norwich,
Norfolk
1949
John Horace Thomas Farndale, married
Rose Irene Taylor Bessey (“Pat”) on 20 January 1949 at the Norwich City Hall
Registry Office, Norwich District, Norfolk (MR and
Patricia, their daughter). They met at Saint Faith’s.
1951
Patricia
R Farndale (FAR01046)
was born in 1950. She was
born at Abyad, Egypt, a British Armed Forces birth overseas.
Syndey,
Australia
On 10 August 1951 John Horace
Farndale arrived in Sydney having departed Southampton via Aden and Port Said
on the Ministry of Transport ship, Asturias. He was with the RAF.
Travelling with him were Rose Irene Farndale, 31 (John’s wife); Sharon Joan
Pearson, 6; Leslie Laurence Bessey, 10; Robin Charles Bessey, 5; and Patricia
Farndale, 9 months.
Norwich
2003
2003 to 2005 – lived at 14 Patricia
Avenue, Horsted, Norwich.
2011
Rose Irene (“Pat”) Farndale died on
20 November 2011.
2018
John Horace Thomas Farndale, died at
Norwich Hospital on 11 September 2018, aged 99. Probate Cardiff on 8 February
2019.
John and Pat Farndale are buried in
St Faith’s Garden of Rest.