Curriculum Vitae
Names:
Frank Penfold, son of Robert Penfold, senior, who (Frank) was father of Gwen Penfold.Archer, and is characterized by her as ‘free-thinker’ and estate agent.
Dates:
Date of birth shown in WPFT as 1875, and date of death as 1959. So Frank Penfold lived to be about 84, whereas his father, Robert, lived about 11 years longer, to be about 95 and died about 14 years before his son died, who had been born when his father was about 25.
Parents:
Robert Penfold and (first name unknown) Lucas, ‘narrow-minded, strict baptists’, the Lucas family being thought (by Gwen Penfold.Archer) to have had a Jewish connection.
Siblings:
Frank, (himself) born 1875, died 1959, who married Rosa (Rose) Wells, and had children Vincent, Gwendolen, and Raymond;
Carrie, a milliner. No dates shown in the WPFT. Did not marry;
Bob, (Robert) who emigrated to New Zealand. No dates shown in the WPFT. It also says that, of the five children of Robert Penfold and his wife (nee Lucas), only Frank married. This is now known (through Helen Archer.Bowler’s research in New Zealand) to be not strictly correct, in that Bob married someone with a (to pba) Maori-sounding name;
Bert, estate agent. No dates shown in the WPFT. Like Carrie and Roz, Bert did not marry.
‘Roz’ (presumably Rosalind), born 1895 died 1981, who, like Carrie and Bert, did not marry, and was an inland revenue accountant.
Education:
Not yet known.
Married:
Rosa Wells, fifth daughter of William Wells and Ann Hamilton.Wells, in 1905.
Not known how they met.
Children:
Vincent, estate agent, born 1906, who married Mary Aherne in 1934, and had children Diana and Thelma;
Gwendoline, born 1909, who married Frederick George Blake Archer, on 31st October 1936, and had children Michael James born on 17th August 1938, and Philip Bruce born on 6th October 1941, and Robert Edward born on 8th July 1949; and
Raymond, estate agent, born 1922, who married Margaret English and had children Jacqueline, born 1961, and Ian (see Raymond’s biography for further information).
Occupation:
The WPFT does not indicate his occupation, but pba clearly recollects that he was an estate agent working first, or at least in his youngish days for the well-known firm of Knight Frank and Rutley. c.f. his father for whom the WPFT says: “He had a modest job as insurance collector with The Prudential”.
In 1916, as described by Gwen Penfold.Archer in her reminiscences (‘Gwen’s Musical Life Story’ and ‘The Wells Penfold photo albums’), Frank Penfold had his own estate agency business, trading under the name ‘Camerons’, by virtue of the financial assistance of the family friend, Jim Rice (who also helped Gwen Penfold to buy her first grand piano, the Bechstein). For that purpose in 1916 the family moved from Brighton to James Avenue, Cricklewood, near Willesden Green tube station, quite close to the office in Walm Lane. Frank worked onwards in his firm Camerons, right up to close to his death at the age of about 84, being driven-in to the office as Willesden Green (or wherever it was – see Gwen’s reminiscences) by his son Raymond, who took over the business and ran it for years afterwards until he sold it (or was it his wife Margaret who sold it after his death?), when his health failed.
The fact that Frank Penfold worked onwards, long after the normal retirement age of 65 for men (which came in about 1940), for another almost 20 years is of interest to pba in the sense that it provides a commentary on his values in life in terms of how he viewed/valued (monetarily and otherwise) the things in his life other than money to which he might have devoted himself in retirement. Of course it has to do with the question of whether they would have survived financially had he not done so. And perhaps on the basis of his financial management from his daughter Gwen’s early days (when his wife Rosa would sometimes run away leaving a note saying ‘I can’t stand it any longer’, due, Gwen thinks, to financial difficulties), he had, indeed, very little idea of such management. (this discussion needs tidying-up/amendment/completion).
Lived:
In many places during his married life – see Gwen Penfold.Archer’s reminiscences. There is a list of about ten or more place that Gwen’s family live before she married. It led to considerable loss of friends and musical contacts and certainly some degree of unhappiness generally on her part. She thinks that much of it was unnecessary, being caused by her mother, Rosa Wells.Penfold’s restlessness.
No record, as yet, as to where the Penfolds lived before Frank Penfold married. It can probably be found in Raymond Penfold’s biography.
Robert Penfold (junior)’s death certificate however clearly states: ‘Where born: Redhill, Surrey, England’. So, that, at least can be a starting point for searches in censuses for the family.
Horsham:
From: ‘British History on-line’/ Horsham: Economic History :
Numbers of professional men increased greatly in the town in the 19th and 20th centuries. At least two early 19th-century banks, one involving the ill-fated John Lanham, were shortlived, (fn. 45) but a savings bank established at the town hall in 1819, which was open for an hour on Saturday evenings in 1824, survived till at least 1905. (fn. 46) Henty and Co.'s bank of Worthing had a branch in 1840, (fn. 47) and by 1855 there was another bank besides. (fn. 48) From 3 in 1912 (fn. 49) the number of banks in the town rose to 4 by c. 1925 and 5 by c. 1950. (fn. 50) Besides doctors and lawyers throughout the period (fn. 51) the town had a vet by 1813. (fn. 52) By 1832 there were 8 insurance agents. (fn. 53) There was at least one auctioneer or estate agent throughout the period; (fn. 54) in 1832 there were three, (fn. 55) and by 1979 as many as twelve. (fn. 56) The firm of Churchman and Sons, estate agents, was founded in 1884, and after amalgamation in 1967 with H. J. Burt of Steyning (fn. 57) survived as Churchman, Burt & Son in 1982. The Horsham Permanent Benefit Building Society was established in 1856, as one of the first in the country. (fn. 58) By 1874 it had become the Horsham and Crawley Building Society; (fn. 59) after liquidation in 1914 (fn. 60) it was reformed to survive in 1982 as the Horsham Building Society. A branch office in Billingshurst was opened in 1978. (fn. 61)
From: 'Horsham: Economic history', A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 2: Bramber Rape (North-Western Part) including Horsham (1986), pp. 166-180. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=18352. Date accessed: 18 December 2007.
Other biographical details:
Quite a lot of photographs of Frank Penfold at family events exist. Likewise of his wife Rosa Wells.Penfold.
The WPFT comments, that Frank Penfold was a free-thinker. This, of course, is his daughter Gwen Penfold.Archer speaking. And no doubt it may well have been so in reaction to the ‘narrow-minded’ and ‘strict baptist’ background in which he was brought up. There may well not be any evidence, pba thinks, of his own free-thinking, in terms of his own writings, other than these, his daughter’s recollections. I will paste in Gwen Penfold.Archer’s quotes in her reminiscences, on the subject. I recall that she says that he thought highly of and/or read the American philosopher Thoreau, though I have no recollection of any talk on any such subject in my hearing. But that is to be expected, I suppose, as his grandson only got to know him in the last decade of his life, the 1950s, through occasional visits and saw him mainly when he came in from work in the evenings, over the supper table.
23.11.07: See Railway Magazine, 1933 for much information including a London/Brighton map, of the electrification of the railway line on which FP must have travelled during quite long stretches of his life. The map shows that Earlswood was on on the line, and Reigate quite near it. I believe FP got on the train (Gwen says) at (have I got it right?) Preston Park, just outside Brighton. This information would fit in with all that about their life down on the beach at Brighton and the flag signalling system they used for telling him whether they were down on the beach.
From Gwen Penfold.Archer on 25.11.07, by phone:
- I asked Gwen about her father and mentioned that I had been referring to an article about the electrification of the Brighton line in 1930. She said that of course he was travelling up and down on that line long before it was electrified. He used to travel on the “Southern Belle” she said. When they lived at Preston Park (‘Lorne Villas’) he would catch a local train into Brighton at (eg at 7.50 am for the 8.05 am train) and then take the 8.05 Southern Belle. Gwen said 7.05 am or 8.05 am, so perhaps he sometimes needed to be earlier than a 9.05 am arrival (at Victoria) would allow.
- These times fit exactly with the timings quoted in ‘The Railway Magazine’ February 1933, page 87 – see scanned-in timetable details including reference to the 8.05 am Southern Belle departure from Brighton;
- I asked Gwen about where their house was in relation to the station, and she said that they were ‘less than 5 minutes’ (presumably walking distance) from the station. Her father was apparently back quite late in the evening, of the order of 7 or 8 o’clock. He used to say, apparently, that he would sometimes ‘meet himself coming home’. I didn’t ask, as I needed to keep the conversation moving along, but presumably this remark referred to the fact that his life consisted then, of work/travel/sleep/travel/work/travel/sleep and he perhaps felt a bit like a zombie. But, as Gwen said, he had a nap after his supper (kept warm for him – the rest of the family had theirs earlier), and no doubt on the train too.
- The subject of the acquisition of ‘Camerons - Estate Agents’ business cropped up in terms of me mentioning that Gwen’s father was going up to London to work at Knight Frank & Rutley, but it emerged that the acquisition of Camerons occurred much earlier than I had supposed, and in fact it was not unconnected with WW1 in the sense that as 1914 and 1915 and 1916 ground by, with no sign of the war ending, and the call-up age progressively came lower, Mr Jim Rice, the family friend apparently suggested that the acquisition of a business which Frank Penfold could run, would have the result that FP would not be called-up because proprietors of businesses were not – presumably because businesses needed to continue to run. Hence, Jim Rice helped FP acquire Camerons, in North London, by means of a loan. I wonder whether FP ever repaid that loan. Presumably Gwen never knew, because that would be the sort of question that Frank Penfold would not have discussed with his family, I think;
- Relevant surrounding information: History of Knight Frank & Rutley, shows that that firm was relatively new when Frank Penfold was working for it prior to WW1. I have saved some information from the KF&R website, in FP’s own folder, and showing that the KF&R firm was founded within FP’s lifetime. Interestingly, the website also refers (under the year 1914) to: ‘many members of staff volunteering for the armed forces, seven men subsequently being killed’. When I was younger, I might have taken the view that such service was meritorious, in the case of WW1, I’m not sure. I do know that even in my early twenties, I didn’t join the Oxford Freemen, mainly on account of the oath of allegiance to The Crown, and the military service implications of this. So perhaps not. Now, certainly, I view that war as a monstrous monument to the stupidity of man, especially Kaiser Bill, with his withered arm (my views not relevant to the cv of Frank Penfold!)
See also:
(As part of this cv, to be included as part of it in due course when it is assembled for publication): ‘Frank Penfold’s daily travel to London’ – a Quark Xpress document. This included ‘To London and back daily on the Brighton line’ and information about the ‘Southern Belle’ and its timings.
Copied from Gwen’s reminiscences:
- (Regarding family friend, Jim Rice): (Copied from ‘Gwen’s Musical Life story’, page 1, 3rd quarter of the page’): Those are really my only recollections of Harefield in Hove, because, in 1916 we moved to James Avenue, at Cricklewood, near the business my father was helped into by Jim Rice (I think I’ve mentioned this in my other recollections). But because of that (it was an estate agent’s business, near Willesden Green station), we moved up into the bombing of London.;
- (Again regarding family friend, Jim Rice): (Copied from ‘Gwen’s Musical Life story’, page 4, 3rd quarter of the page): And at that time, I remember Jim Rice who I’ve talked about before, when he used to take us out to lunch at the Regent Palace in London. And he used to take us to The Coliseum, which then put on a variety show. I remember seeing Harry Lauder. And we sometimes saw the farces at The Aldwych, which were quite famous then, and such good fun. So I really did have a taste of the theatre. And also I can remember once, Beecham, when the audience weren’t quite quiet through the overture, he turned round and told them to shut up! I remember that so well.
About Jim Rice (by telephone from Gwen on 1.12.07):
- I mentioned to Gwen that Raymond says in his book that mother had ‘ a soft spot’ for Jim Rice. She agreed, and added that he was a mason, and took her to masonic dinners;
- Was he married? I asked Gwen. Oh yes. But I don’t think they hit it off terribly well. They had just one child, a daughter, Winnie. Gwen doesn’t know what happened to her. Gwen lost touch with the family on Jim’s death. Presumably she inherited her father’s (not lost) motor business fortune. It would be interesting to get a copy of Jim Rice’s will to see just how well off he was. But I don’t have any clear idea of when he died – except that Raymond says it was in the 1930s, and perhaps I could ask Gwen if she can remember which year she acquired the Bechstein, because that was just before he died.
Sources of this data:
‘Wells/Penfold Family Tree (‘WPFT’), ‘Mk II’ by REA/GMA, which is marked: ‘Put together in Summer 2000 by R.Edward Archer from information supplied by Gwen Archer, nee Penfold.
Dates of entry of data:
08 and 09.12.06.