Act 33
The Modern Family
The family from the twentieth century
and into the twenty first
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The Last Act of the Farndale Story Podcast This
is a new experiment. Using Google’s Notebook LM, listen to an AI powered
podcast summarising this page. This should only be treated as an
introduction, and the AI generation sometimes gets the nuance a bit wrong.
However it does provide an introduction to the themes of this page, which are
dealt with in more depth below. Listen to the podcast for an overview, but it
doesn’t replace the text below, which provides the accurate historical
record. |
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The
arena of Wilf Farndale’s cricket career |
After the
First World War, social change accelerated quickly. It was not therefore
surprising that the interests of the family started to diversify. We have
already met many of those who continued the family’s association with
agriculture, including in Act 25 and in
the lives of such as Alf
Farndale and there are many descendants of our family who still farm today.
We have met the pioneers who spread the family’s reach to Australia, Ontario, Newfoundland, the United States and New Zealand, where many
branches of the family still live today. We have met the soldiers of the family, and there
are members of the family in the armed forces today. There were policemen in the family
well into the twentieth century.
In this
final chapter, we take just a snapshot of the family as it continued its path
through the twentieth century, and reflect briefly on how the family has spread
its wings into the twenty first century.
Scene 1 – The Professionals
As the
twentieth century progressed, many members of the family took to the professions.
Rather than meet them all, we might briefly follow the life of John
Thomas Farndale (1854 to 1930), who was the son of William and Ann
(nee Brown) Farndale, the Master
Mariner of Whitby,
who we met in Act 15.
By 1890, John was manager of the Thirsk Branch of the York Union Bank, who
later merged with Messrs Barclay and Company Limited. This was a time when the
Bank Manager was the most trusted member of the local community and John
embraced the responsibilities and ambitions of Thirsk in the early twentieth
century.
He joined
the local masonic lodge, and was their treasurer. He was a member and active
participant in the affairs of Thirsk’s naturalist society who relished their
interest in botanical specimens. He was actively involved in the Thirsk Cycling
Club. He was a member of the Thirsk Chess Club. He was treasurer of Thirsk’s
Golf Club. He was involved in the Church. It was he who arranged the town
subscription to mark the Royal Wedding of the Duke of York, and Princess May of
Teck in 1893. A public meeting was held to decide on a suitable way of
celebrating the approaching marriage of H.R.H. the Duke of York to Princess
Mary of Teck, later coming to the Throne as King George V and Queen Mary.
Proposals were made ranging from water troughs, fountains and clocks. The final
agreed design was for an illuminated turret clock and drinking fountain which
was costed at £200. The old Cross stump and steps were removed and relocated to
the left of The Hall where they can still be seen today. John took the leading
role in the administration for the commissioning of Thirsk’s memorial clock in
1893. He was regularly involved in other fund raising projects.
He was
involved in organising a pageant in Thirsk in 1907 to perform a historical play
to illustrate Thirsk’s history and he later inspired his ancestral home of Whitby to perform their own
pageant play.
He was
treasurer and district correspondent for the Thirsk branch of the National
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He was involved in the
National Service League in 1911, which advocated the introduction of compulsory
military training in response to the European arms race. He participated in the
activities of the Thirsk and District Constitutional Club who opposed the
disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales and home rule in Ireland in
the immediate pre war years. He joined the Primrose
League which aimed to spread Conservative ideas.
In 1916, he
became a Commissioner of the Peace, a magistrate and justice of the peace, for
North Riding.
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1854 to 1930
The Bank Manager
of Thirsk |
In the
modern family there are solicitors and surveyors, an auto test engineer,
electrical engineer, a finance coordinator, wealth manager, biologist,
Environmental Agency adviser, Geothermal energy manager, Cambridge professor of
biochemistry, general practitioners and home care professionals.
Scene 2 - The Sportsmen
Sport has
been a significant feature of the family’s history. There were many footballers
including many of the second generation of the Coatham line.
Wilf
Farndale (1910 to 1965) was an exceptional cricketer who played with some Yorkshire
greats and used his sporting platform as a social influencer in his work as a
Sanitary Officer and advocate before his time of standards which later came to
be understood and accepted.
It was
his father who first instigated a love of cricket in Wilf’s heart, and on
moving to Saltaire, the pair soon became ardent supporters of the Robert’s Park
club. In those days Wilf recalls watching Sydney
Barnes and many other famous players. He also accumulated an immense
interest and passion for the “noble game” while at Salts School, and was soon
turning in fine performances there.
At an
early age Wilf
secured a regular place in the Saltaire 1st XI as “a promising opening batsman,”
and was playing with and against the best players of the time. Saltaire Cricket
Club was founded in 1869 and still operates today. It's
home has always been Roberts Park where it has a scenic pitch and pavilion with
a backdrop of the River Aire, Salts Mill and the United Reformed Church. Among
its more famous players was the England bowler Sydney Barnes
who played for the club between 1915 and 1925 and helped Saltaire win the
Bradford League three times. He also played football successfully but after he
suffered an injury which kept him from playing sport for some time, he focused
on his amateur cricket career.
In his
first spell with Saltaire which lasted from 1924 to 1938 Wilf played many
hundreds of games, and scores of fine innings, but undoubtedly the one which he
and many others remember best was the one he played in the “Marathon Game” at
Baildon in 1938. The match was marked by a feat which to this day has not been
equalled to, there were four centuries scored, two on each side. Baildon made
259-1, and the man out, George Senior, got a “duck”. Ronnie Burnett scored 152
not out and Bob Edney 100 not out. Jim Laker the former Surrey and England
bowler was one of the most punished of all on this day of run getting.
Wilf
played with and against such eminent players as Tom Goddard, Bill Copson, Bill
Voce, Alf Coxon, all with Saltaire, Arthur Mitchell, who was captain over Wilf
at Baildon and George Senior. The player whom he considers the best and most
feared he has played against in the Bradford league was Sandy Jack, the fast
bowler, who played with Saltaire and then Undercliffe.
The most
accomplished batsman whom Wilf played against was the renowned Len Hutton. “You
just couldn't get him out,” said Wilf, who played often when Hutton and Edgar
Oldroyd used to open the Pudsey innings. Charlie Lee was another great batsman
with whom Wilf played.
He used his
sporting platform to promote his passionate advocacy of public health, and had
early involvement in rehousing schemes and clean air measures. He regularly
gave public lectures on the subject and became President of the Rotary Club
locally.
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1910 to 1965
Wilfred was
brought up in the community of Sir Titus Salt’s Saltaire Mills. He was an
accomplished Cricketer who played with some Yorkshire greats and a social
influencer in his work as a Sanitary Officer |
The sporting
gene still sifts through the modern family.
Joe Farndale
is another successful cricketer who played for Marlborough Blues, where he was
the highest season scorer.
Jamie
Farndale signed with Edinburgh Rugby, where he became and is still the youngest
ever debutant for the club. He became a mainstay of the international under-20
side and played in three IRB Junior World Championships in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
He finished his final tournament as joint, all-time top try-scorer. He also
captained the youth commonwealth games sevens team in 2011 who finished 4th.
From 2015, Jamie joined the Scotland national sevens team and played in every
tournament for the next two seasons, being awarded player of the season and
making selection for the wider Olympic training squad at the end of the first.
He went on to win fifty nine World series appearances and is currently the
second-highest try scorer of all time for Scotland sevens. He co-captained
Scotland in 2018 to 2019 with Robbie Fergusson before taking over the captaincy
in 2019 until the Scottish program moved to a Great Britain setup. Farndale won
Twickenham 7s in 2016 and 2017, scoring the winning try in the quarter-final victory
over New Zealand to become the first and still only Scottish side in history to
beat a Kiwi side at any level. Farndale was a World Series runner-up in 2021
with Great Britain, scored the World Rugby Sevens Series try of the season in
2022 and was European Games silver medalist in 2023.
Jamie also became a Cambridge Blue in 2024, with a record margin of victory in
the varsity match. Jamie captained Scotland at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens
in Cape Town and the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. He also competed World
Cup in San Francisco and the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games both in 2018.
Jamie also
uses his sporting platform to advocate important issue, particularly the
challenges of sustainability and climate change.
Scene 3 - The Entertainers
The artistic
gene has often remained dormant in our family story, but has emerged from time
to time with a flurry. In the early twentieth century, Sophia Farndale,
provided the entertainment at local events in Kilton.
Miss S Farndale was accompanist. Songs, duets and recitations were rendered by Miss Farndale. For the entertainment to
visitors there was Mrs Jolly’s waxwork, tableaux vivants
by the Misses Farndale and others, a ping pong tournament and a concert by the
Loftus spring band. A tableau vivant, a French term for a living picture,
was a static scene composed by actors who were stationary and silent, usually
in costume, carefully posed, with props and scenery, and sometimes theatrically
lit.
Samuel Farndale
(1866 to 1936) was the first comedian of the family and was appearing as a
humourist at soirees in Wakefield by
1889. His rendition that year of Quite English you know was irresistibly funny, and “brought
the house down”. The two original verses at the end, about Yorkshire and
Wakefield, created much amusement. An encore was inevitable, and on reappearing
Mr Farndale gave with equal success, “Only One”, a very laughable song. At another soiree, comic songs
were sung by Messrs Speight (“Dear Me”), Farndale (“Nervous Nig”). At
another soiree he gave a rendition of another comic song, Mrs Mulligan's
Homemade Pie. By 1890, his renditions were ambitious. In a very full
programme that year Mr Farndale's comic songs were, as they always are,
highly successful, and kept the audience in almost continuous laughter. They
included “The Magpie said Come In”, “One More Folks”, “The Bulls Won't Bellow”,
and “The Switch Back Railway”.
Gladys Farndale
(1907 to 1996) was a cotton weaver at the commercial mill at Great Harwood in
Lancashire by the age of 13 in 1921. In 1933, she was part of the cast of a
comedy performed by the Orchard Street Players, Oh Susannah!
George
William Farndale (1886 to 1948) was a very successful comic actor from Leeds who was described as Formbyesque. He participated in a string of operatic
and theatrical performances and grew in stature as a comic actor. He was also
described as a humourist.
George
Farndale thoroughly grasped the spirit of the part of Peter the Butler.
George
Farndale, as the lisping Chris, also inclined too much to the grotesque, though
the laughter they provoked may be held to justify the means.
George
Farndale combined in a “riot” of fun.
Mr G
Farndale, evidently a prime favourite, also gave a character song, “Come and
have a cuddle”. His impersonation was very clever, and his patter kept the
audience convulsed. I was rather sorry to notice that he was inclined to step
over the line a bit. It was a pity, as it was quite unnecessary, and rather
detracted from the performance.
The
comedian, George Farndale, who, I think, may be considered a radio “find”
scarcely got enough to do. He has the sort of voice, Formbyesque,
which the assumption of age can wither excellently, and one of the brightest
items was a duologue between him and John Wood Smith as veterans of 90.
By 1931
George was part of a then well known group known as the Yorkshire Mummers who
performed humorous songs and other entertainment on regular radio broadcasts.
In 1933, the popular Yorkshire Mummers on Saturday evening again “take the
air” with Phyllis Brandt, Dorothy Lee, Millie Hodgson, Frederick Brooke, George
Beaumont, George Farndale, and John Woods Smith, who is also the arranger and
producer. At the pianos will be Billy Hobson and Jack Lawton. The programme
which Miss Gracie Fields is to
broadcast from Rochdale tonight will comprise of the following songs.
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A Comic Actor who
joined the Yorkshire Mummers |
Scene 4 – A World of Multiple Parts
And so the
family has blossomed to multiple roles.
William
Leng Farndale (1876 to 1932) was a soldier
of the Northumberland Hussars who probably fought in the Second Boer War at the
turn of the twentieth century. He settled in Rothbury in Northumberland,
adjacent to the famous Cragside, built by the industrialist Sir William Armstrong.
He became the town’s brewer manager. He continued the business of Brewers and Wine
Merchants trading as Geo Storey and Company of Rothbury from 1907 as manager.
He was actively involved in local social activities.
In March
1920, his brewery was the target of an armed robbery by two Russian sailors in
a notorious local incident. William told a court room what happened. “I was
called from my home about 9:15 by Curry, who told me that he had been sent by a
policeman. I went to the firm's premises at the other side of the street in my
slippers. As I entered by the gate leading to the back premises a man came
running out, and I immediately tackled him. We struggled for a time, but when I
heard a shot fired behind me, I thought that I could do more good in the fight
which I thought the police were having. The man I was fighting with escaped,
leaving his white muffler in my possession, and I ran to the back door of the
premises. Curry followed, and we were surprised not to find anyone there. We
tried the door twice, and it was only when leaving that Curry said to me ‘What
is that in there?’. We went inside the shed. I found Constable Sinton in a
sitting position. He had his baton lying loosely in his hand, but he was unconscious
from a severe wound on the head. I at once thought that this had been caused by
the shot I had heard, but it is now clear that the constable was struck by a
heavy weapon. We had him conveyed to his home, and up to the present he has
been unable to give any information about the affair. He is badly hurt, but it
is expected that he will live.” The Russian offenders were sent to penal
servitude for thirteen years.
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1876 to 1932
Brewer and
Northumberland Hussar of Rothbury, Northumberland |
Today the
family represents a multiplicity of interests. We even boast the obituary editor for
the Times, Nigel Farndale, the
author of several novels and historical works, including the Road
Between Us, the Blasphemer and
the
Dictator’s Muse. He was the first journalist to expose Donald
Trump’s hairstyle to the limelight, about which the later Presidential
candidate responded to Nigel, People always comment on my hair, but it’s not
that bad, and it is mine, look.
The Farndale
Story is nearly at and end as it has taken you from medieval poachers in
Pickering Forest to Donald Trump’s hair.
An Everyman Story
For those
who are descendants of this family, this has been a journey which has followed
our own family path, finding ancestral links to a first hand
experience of British history. Genealogy provides the means to follow a more
direct and personal path through the timeline of history, and provides the
ultimate context to a historical journey, because it is a personal journey,
rather than a more generic study of events.
The story is
a unique one, yet it is also the story of countless families who followed
similar paths through time. The Farndales are an ordinary family, like the
greater majority of British families. For most of our history we worked on the
land, and many of our ancestors were agricultural workers, with small horizons
over centuries of time. It is only in the last few decades that we, like other
families, have embraced the diversity of modern lifestyles. We are a typical
family, and so whilst this has been the story of one extended family, it is
also the story of many families who have followed similar paths.
It is a
story of changing lives through time in the area to the south and then north of
the North York Moors. Our story brings out the remarkable events that have
unfolded in such political epicentres as Whitby, York of its four names,
Kirkdale and Lastingham of their antiquity, Sheriff Hutton of its Plantagenet
significance. Our story has been touched by the whims of such monarchs as Henry
V and Richard III and the political manoeuvres by such as the Fair Maid of
Kent, the most beautiful woman in all the realm of England, and Anne and Cecily
Neville. It is a family tale which provides a unique perspective on the history
of a remarkable place.
Notwithstanding
its uniqueness and locality, it has also followed the common path which most of
the folk of Britain followed, in parallel, encountering the same or similar
stimuli to the lives they chose to take. It is an everyman story. It provides a
route map to the similar tales of countless others.
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Our
Story is the unique tale of one family travelling through two thousand years
of history. It is also a tale of ordinary folk, and as well as being unique,
it is a story shared with countless other families who travelled the path of
British history. |
Because the
Farndales derive from a locative name, rooted to a particular place in the
North York Moors, it has been possible to map our journey with unusual accuracy
to the sixteenth century when parish
records began. The name has then provided a beacon which has enabled us to
identify large numbers of medieval records, and then piece them together, to
build up our story to the period in the thirteenth century, when names started
to be used. We have then found that the lands of our origin were part of a relatively
stable area, nestled in the safety of the edge of the North York Moors, yet
accessible to rich agricultural lands, which was part of an estate which has
its own rich history. The stability, agricultural richness, and relative
political unity of that area has enabled us to follow our path further back to
the time of the Roman Empire. As we have followed our ancient path we found
that our ancestors were front seat witnesses to momentous events in the carving
of the national story. We then find clues of the Iron Age, Bronze Age and
Palaeolithic folk, and the archaeological remains within a short radius of our
family home. We have even found a cave, with relics of hyena and hippopotami,
from a different era in geological time, only five hundred metres from the
Kirkdale church which was the likely spiritual centre of our ancestors’ world
for a millennium.
It has been
an epic journey, unique, but also representative of everyman and everywoman.
|
The Epilogue - inspiration from our back story What
we can take from our journey through two thousand years of history |