The Railwayman
The story of the family of John
Farndale and his family
The Signalman of Loftus
John Farndale, the son of Martin and Elizabeth
Farndale of Fogga, was born on 26 June 1848 and
baptised at Skelton on 19
July 1848. His father was a farmer. By 1861, John was still at school and the
family were living at 61 Galey Hill, Hutton Lowcross, to the south of Guisborough, where Martin was an
agricultural labourer.
By 1881, 32
years old, John was living at 1 Kilton
Village, and was working as a railway porter. On 8 October 1881 he married
Elizabeth Featherstone aged 27, a spinster of Roxby, daughter of john
Featherstone, labourer at the Parish Church Hinderwell, near Staithes.
John
Farndale in about 1881
John worked
as a railway porter for the London North Eastern Railway (“LNER”). In
February 1883 at Whitby, the monthly
sitting of this Court took place on Wednesday before Mr Bedwell, judge. John
Farndale, railway porter, Loftus, and Elizabeth, his wife, sued Charles
Hodgson, groom at the Black Horse, for £12 5s, amount due for maintenance of a
child. Mr Woodwark appeared for the plaintiffs, for
whom a verdict was given for the full amount with costs.
Hannah Mary
Farndale (1880 to 1953) was born on 17 October 1880. John Martin
Farndale (1886 to 1966) was born on 4 March 1886. George Farndale
(1888 to 1974) was born on 28 March 1888. William Farndale
(1890 to 1947) was born on 13 August 1890. Elizabeth
Farndale (1893 to 1971) was born on 5 January 1893. Albert
Edward Farndale (1894 to 1971) was born on 8 December 1894.
By 1891 the
family were living at 4 East Street, Loftus
and John was a railway signalman. They lived in the same house and John was
still a signalman, in 1901.
Loftus Station, about 1910
Loftus Station, about 1950
Lofthouse
Station opened for goods traffic on 27 May 1867. It was renamed Loftus on 1 November 1874. The station opened to passenger traffic on 1
April 1875 as the terminus of the line from Saltburn
and become a through station when the Loftus to
Whitby line was opened on 3 December 1883. The station was closed to
passengers on 2 May 1960. The station had two platforms with brick buildings
incorporating the stationmaster’s house and the signal box on the down side
and a smaller brick waiting room and toilet on the up side. The goods yard was
on the down side of the line behind the station and comprised three
sidings with a substantial brick goods shed.
In February
1910, the annual meeting of the Loftus Wesley
Guild Institute was held on Monday evening. Mr. J Farndale presiding. The
accounts were read and passed, and showed a satisfactory balance in hand. The
following officers were elected: President, Reverend O Wardly; Secretary, Mr L
Wilson; assistant secretary, Mr E V Collier; Treasurer, Mr. J Farndale. It was
decided to discontinue the cycling club. In 1911, they still lived at East
Street and John was still a signalman on the railway.
John Farndale’s
sons, John,
George, Albert
and William John Farndale with
his daughter Hannah in
about 1913
John Farndale died
on 10 May 1914, aged 65 and was buried in Loftus
Cemetery on 13 May 1914. While preparing to attend the Wesleyan Chapel
at Loftus on Sunday morning Mr John Farndale, who lived at East Street, Loftus,
fell and expired immediately. Mr Farndale was a familiar figure in Loftus and
especially at the NER station where for so many years he was signalman and also
acted as platform porter.
A well known figure at Loftus Railway Station, Mr. John
Farndale, passed away suddenly during the weekend. Deceased acted as the
signalman at the railway station, and for many years bathed in the sea near
Skinningrove every Sunday morning. Mr Farndale had not enjoyed good health to some time past.
A well known resident of Loftus,
Mr. J Farndale, of East Street, was taken ill on Sunday morning, and expired
almost immediately. Mr Farndale was a familiar figure in the Loftus district,
especially at the railway station, where, for many years, he was signalman, and
also acted as platform porter. He was extremely fond of sea bathing, and bathed
at Hummersea regularly on Sunday mornings, both in
the summer and winter months. Lately he had not been well, and heart disease
was the cause of death. The funeral took place on Wednesday, at Loftus
cemetery, there being a large attendance.
The
second generation
Hannah Mary
Farndale (1880 to 1953) was a housemaid at The Hollies in Whitby by 1901 and later moved to Hartlepool. She married Herbert Richardson in 1927 at Bedale, and they lived at Canbara
House, Romanby, Northallerton.
They later settled in Sheffield.
John Martin
Farndale (1886 to 1966) became a grocery store manager and he and his wife,
Bessy, emigrated to Newfoundland. Their story will be told in Act 26.
George Farndale
(1888 to 1974) was a farm worker and ironstone miner who married Nana Mann in
1915. They lived in Guisborough and had
no children.
George
Farndale
William Farndale
(1890 to 1947) was nicked for cycling without a light in 1909 by which
time he was working on a farm in Moorsholm.
He married Cecilia Harding in 1915. By 1921, he was an ironstone miner at Sir B
Samuelson’s Spawood Mine. They had a family of four. By
1937, the family lived at Freebrough Farm, Moorsholm. William died on 7 September 1947,
aged 57 and was buried at St Mary, Moorsholm.
William and Cecilia’s youngest son, John
Farndale BSc (ag)(1922 to 2005) married Mary Gill in 1947 and John later
became a Regional Livestock officer. John’s impressive family later became a
lake district doctor and a Cambridge professor of biochemistry.
William
Farndale
Elizabeth
Farndale (1893 to 1971) married Robert Shaw in 1919 and they also settled
in Loftus.
Albert
Edward Farndale (1894 to 1971) was a Gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery
in the First World War. He became a manager in a cooperative branch in the
drapery and boot department in Stockton. In
1930, Mr Albert Farndale, of North Skelton, who for 20 years was associated
with the East Cleveland Cooperative Society’s drapery department and for some
years manager of Brotton drapery store, has
been presented by his late colleagues in the Brotton
stores with a gold watch and fountain pen. He is now drapery manager for Skelton cooperative society.
By 1939 he was a buyer manager in Northallerton.
The
inspiring head teacher
Albert’s
daughter was Rosamund
Farndale (1931 to 2012), an only child who qualified as a librarian in 1951
and soon after moved to London. By 1954, Rosamund was an inspiring
children’s librarian who went onto enjoy a 20-year career as headteacher of a
Kentish Town primary school. Rosamund Pomeyie
worked at Heath Library, now called Keats Community Library in Belsize Park,
for six years in the 1950s. In November 1954 the public libraries committee
approved a suggestion put by the Keats Grove, Hampstead, children's librarian,
23 year old miss Rosamund Farndale, that a puppetry group should be formed. And
now, nearly 50 children are busy at the library making puppets in time for
Christmas. They are being taught by Miss Farndale herself and Miss Joan Oxlade,
of Willow Road, Hampstead, who is a puppetry expert. They meet every Thursday
at 5:30. When the classes first began, the children were split into groups of 6
or seven, and they were asked to choose a play or pantomime they liked. Then
each decided on a character from the play and, with the help of their two
instructors, they began to make the puppets. The classes were so popular, and
the group so big, that more help was needed. So two 19 year old girls from the
Beveridge House Domestic Training College, Fortune Green Road, volunteered to
come along. Another problem was that some children were quicker than others.
This difficulty was soon overcome. An extra class was started for the quick
ones. Now they have finally settled down, each child busy with paper, paste and
plasticine making Cinderellas, Maid Marions and Robin Hoods. When the puppets
are finished, Miss Farndale will help the children to write their own versions
of the plays and fairy tales, using books in the library to guide them. By
Christmas, she hopes to put on a puppet show, which will be produced and
written entirely by the children themselves. The group has been such a success
that Miss Farndale has already a long waiting list of children wishing to join.
In 1959, she
moved to Nigeria and worked there teaching English for three years. On her
return from Africa, she re-trained as an infant school teacher. In 1973 Rosamund
M Martin, nee Farndale, married Singleton Jones Kwalker
Pomeyie, a Ghanaian citizen. Their son, Jonathan Pomeyie was born in 1973. Having re-trained as an infant
school teacher in the 1960s, Rosamund Pomeyie became
headteacher of Torriano Junior School, in Kentish Town, in 1975.
Rosamund Pomeyie worked at Heath Library, now called Keats Community
Library in Belsize Park, for six years in the 1950s – inspiring a multitude of
children into the world of books, including a young Julia Donaldson, author of
The Gruffalo and many other children’s books.
Having
re-trained as an infant school teacher in the 1960s, Ms Pomeyie
became headteacher of Torriano Junior School, in Kentish Town, in 1975.
She was
also celebrated for her 30 years of volunteer work at Camden Victim Support,
dealing with victims of all manner of crimes, from fraud to murder.
The
mother-of-two, known as Ros, passed away in hospital on November 22 after
suffering a stroke at her home in Belsize Park Gardens.
Ms Pomeyie’s younger son Selom, a teacher at William Ellis
School in Kentish Town, said: “My mother was a people person. Wherever she went
she seemed to engage in conversation with almost anyone.
“Growing
up in Yorkshire during the war had given my mother an inner resilience and an
ability to keep calm and carry on.
“She was
able to listen to others when times were hard, and say exactly the right thing
to make them see there was light at the end of the tunnel.”
Born just
a stone’s throw from the Yorkshire Moors in the town of Northallerton in 1931, Ms Pomeyie was an only child who qualified as a librarian in
1951 and soon after moved to London, where she took up the role of children’s
librarian at Heath Library in 1953.
In 1959,
she moved to Nigeria with her first husband Bradford Martin, a professor of
Arabic manuscripts, where she lived and worked teaching English for three
years.
On her
return from Africa, she re-trained as an infant school teacher and later
married second husband Jones Pomeyie, after earlier
splitting with Mr Martin.
In 1975,
she became headteacher of Torriano Junior School, two years after the birth of
her first child Jonathan, which was followed by the arrival of Selom in 1976.
After a
burglary at the family home in 1980 and a visit from Camden Victim Support, Ms Pomeyie started volunteering for the organisation – a role
which she continued for 30 years.
Regarded
as one of Torriano’s most revered headteachers, a governor at the school was
once quoted in a newspaper article as saying: “If we could put Mrs Pomeyie in a cast of iron and keep her forever, we would.”
Ms Pomeyie is survived by her two sons and two grandchildren,
after becoming a grandmother for the first time in 2009
Rosamund Pomeyie died on 22 November
2012.
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