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Margaret Louisa Baker (“Peggy”) later Farndale 24 February 1901 to 17 November
1996
BAK00002
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Headlines of Peggy Baker’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.
1901
Margaret Louisa Baker was
born in Audlem in Cheshire on 24 February 1901. Her father was Arthur Baker (1860 to 1916)(BAK00155), who
was 41 when Margaret was born. Her mother was Marianne (nee Hall) Baker
(1869 to 1908)(HAL00103),
who was 31 when she was born. Her grandson, Nigel Farndale, many years later
remembered that Peggy would say “I was born on St Matthias’ Day, you know”
and then add with a mischievous grin and a roll of the eye, “Haven’t a clue who
St Matthias was though!”
Margaret had an
older sister, Hilda Marianne Baker (BAK00170),
who was born in 1899, so was nearly two years older. Her younger brother,
Geoffrey Richard Farndale (BAK00172)
was born in 1904.
In the year
that Margaret was born, the census recorded
that the family were living at Swanbach Villa, Audlem, Cheshire. Arthur Baker
was head of the family, aged 41, ‘living on his own means’, with his
wife Marianne, aged 31. Living with them were Hilda Marianne Baker aged 1,
Margaret Louisa Baker aged 1 month, and Maude Whiston, a servant.
1905
Margaret Baker with Hilda in about 1905
Arthur Baker with Hilda and Margaret in about 1905 Hilda And Margaret Baker in
about 1906
Arthur and Marianne Baker with Margaret and
Hilda about 1906 Margaret
Baker
1907
We
have an early letter to Margaret from her mother, Marianne, which must have
been in about 1907 or 1908. Nordrach
House at Charterhouse on Mendip was a former tuberculosis hospital, so she must
have been ill when she wrote.
1908
Marianne, died on 16 May
1908 at Swanbach Villa, when Margaret was only seven years old. What a shock it must have been for the
young family to lose their mother so soon.
1910
Nevertheless,
by 1910, there were garden parties and ‘heaps of tennis’ going on, as
recorded in a card to Kit Lynham (LYN00002),
Margaret’s cousin, though Margaret was still only nine then.
1911
By the 1911 census, the family were still living at
Swanbach Villa, Audlem, Cheshire. Arthur Baker was head of the family, 51,
living on his own means, a widower. Living with him were Hilda Marian Baker
(1899 to 1979), who was 11, Margaret Louisa Baker, aged 10, Geoffrey Richard
Baker (1904 to 1974) aged 6, with Mary Alice Baker, aged 27, and
also a housekeeper and two servants.
Swanbach Villa, Green Lane, Audlem (an
early seventeenth century farmhouse, with nineteenth century additions)
The family later lived at Hillside,
Audlem.
Hillside,
Audlem
and Peggy re-visiting in about 1990
1915
We
have a letter to Margaret and Hilda from her father in perhaps about 1915:
Margaret and
the girl guides
Annotated “Margaret Baker – you do look ‘ripping’ ahem! – I sent one
to a friend of yours.”
1916
Margaret Baker went to
school in Southampton, leaving there in about 1916.
Tragically, Margaret’s
father, Arthur Baker, died in his sleep in 1916, aged only 57, and was discovered by
Margaret’s brother Geoffrey. Margaret had been to early communion at church
with their housekeeper, Miss Healing. So Margaret, her
sister Hilda and younger brother Geoff, had lost both their parents by that
young age. Margaret was only 15 when her father died.
Nigel
Farndale, her grandson later reflected that She must have had a sad
childhood, marked by the early deaths of her parents. Yet, for all her formal
upbringing in Cheshire, under the severe gaze of those she referred to only as
“The Aunts”, she developed a spirit of rebellion, independence, and cheerfulness
that was to characterise her life.
“The Aunts”
The rather
eccentric Aunts were known as the “Miss Bakers” and comprised Henrietta (known,
for some reason, as Aunt Poppie)(BAK00150),
Charlotte (Aunt Tottie)(BAK00157)
and Aunt Emily (BAK00158).
They were all Arthur Baker’s sisters and they lived together at the Cedars,
with Peggy’s equally eccentric Uncle Dick (BAK00154),
a local solicitor, known for his flamboyant fun making of the local hunt. On
the Hall side of her family, there was also Aunt Catherine (Lynham)(HAL00100).
1918
By 1918,
despite the challenges of the last few years, Margaret was a prefect.
Her Aunt Charlotte (“Tottie”) (BAK00157)
wrote to her on her seventeenth birthday, You do seem to have plenty of fun
what with the games and the Guides. You are an important lady now being a
prefect! It sounds as if it must have something to do with Rome. Well done
getting first in class.
Margaret Baker, head
girl at school (centre right)
Margaret Baker soon became
known, almost always, as ‘Peggy” or “Peggie”. Her second name was Louisa, a widely used Baker name
passing down from Henrietta Louisa Bellyse,
the wife of William Baker the Younger (BAK00121),
but she preferred Louise, so when she referred to her middle name, that is what
she used.
“Heaps of
tennis”
1919
Peggy at about
18, perhaps in about 1919
Peggy went to a girls’
training college at Southport and we know that she was there by 1919,
and in 1921. We think that it was here that she qualified as a physical
training and English teacher.
She had the
support of the vicar of Audlem:
We have this
letter to Margaret when she was at training college in Southport from her
grandfather, James Hall in 1919:
1920
She was the physical
culture mistress at Wintersthorpe,
Birkdale from September 1920 to December 1921:
1923
She was a temporary
gymnastics and games mistress at West Bank School, Bideford in March 1923. The
West Bank School, a private school for girls, opened in Lansdowne Terrace,
Bideford, in 1896. The school moved to Enderleigh, Abbotsham Road in 1898 and
four years later, moved into West Bank, a newly built house on Belvoir Road.
Peggy in the
1920s
Peggy with Geoff Baker
We know that Peggy then
went to teach at Malvern Girl’s College (“MGC”) in Malvern. There is also a suggestion that
she went to Monmouth Girl’s College for a time, but this might have been a
reference to Malvern which is relatively close to Monmouth. We are pretty sure
that she was teaching at the college from about 1924 to 1926, but it may have
been for a shorter time. Malvern Girls' College was
founded in 1893 by Miss Greenslade and Miss Poulton, and
was first located in College Road. In 1919 they acquired the Imperial Hotel and
in 1934, a major extension including an assembly hall was built. Barbara
Cartland (1901-2000), the novelist, is an alumni of Malvern
Girl’s College, but as she was the same age as Peggy, they probably did
not quite overlap.
These
photographs are labelled “SPTC” and “SPTC Interior” and may have been somewhere
where Peggy taught. The third photograph is obviously of a gym, perhaps where
Peggy taught physical education. The middle photograph may have been the common
room.
It was while she was at
Malvern that she became friendly with Grace Farndale (FAR00659),
who was a matron. They used to travel a lot together and Peggy had a car, which was
quite something at the time.
The photo of four girls balancing is marked “Bakerloo” on the back
A postcard from Peggy’s collection
Peggy’s
grandson, Nigel Farndale later admired her trend setting spirit.
She was, after all, the first of her peers to have her hair cut short in the
flapper style; and the first to buy a car which she said she never learned to
drive properly because, with no other traffic on the road, there was no need.
Peggy’s car,
bought in Darlington in about 1926, with Grace Farndale in the back seat.
1927
One of “The
Aunts”, Catherine (nee Hall) Lynham (HAL00100)
wrote in a letter to Peggy in 1927 “how you young people rush about in cars
astonishes me”.
Peggy was a pioneer in a
new age of self expression by women.
Her grandchildren are in awe at some photographs of their trend setting Granny,
caddying for golf sometime in the 1920s:
She travelled
widely with Grace
A trip to
Scotland
Skiing
We know that
Peggy did not like the Headmistress at Malvern. Grace and Peggy got so fed
up that they decided to go to Yorkshire and start a chicken farm
near to where Grace’s elder sister, Lynn (nee Farndale) Barker (FAR00564)
lived, at Scorton, near Richmond.
The poultry farm at Scorton.
After moving to
Yorkshire, Peggy met Grace’s younger brother Alfred Farndale (FAR00683).
Peggy Baker became engaged
to Alfred Farndale in 1927.
“The Aunts” felt
protective of Peggy and Catherine (nee Hall) Lynham (HAL00100) wrote in a
letter to Peggy in 1927:
“I was glad to get your letter and to
hear something about Alfred Farndale. Of course I am
very pleased to know that you are happy, but I wish some of us knew the young
man. I hope he is really good enough for you in every
way. For you know I think a lot of you and it is a big
thing to get engaged. However I do hope you have acted
wisely. You ought to be able to know your own mind. I am sure you have my
hearty congratulations and I shall look forward to
seeing your Alfred. Kit is rather funny about it; she likes the name Alfred
about as much as Edgar or Cyril.”
And, in a
rather more endearing note from her Aunt Poppie on the Baker side (one of the
eccentric ‘Miss Bakers”) (BAK00150):
Peggy’s uncle,
Colonel Arthur John Hall (HAL00102)
also wrote to congratulate her on her engagement, a little more formally
(though he quickly turned the subject to the shooting season):
But Aunt
Catherine need not have worried, and Aunt Poppie was rather nearer to the mark,
for the marriage which would then last sixty years until Alfred died, provided
the happy and solid foundation for the large family which grew from their
union. Nigel Farndale later commented, the story of how she married her war
hero and went on to live the pioneer life in the prairies could have come
straight out of a romantic adventure novel.
1928
Alfred Farndale, aged 29,
the son of Martin Farndale (deceased), married Margaret Louise Baker, spinster of Leeming Bar daughter of
Arthur Baker JP (deceased) at Bedale Parish Church, on 16 March 1928.
Alfred and Peggy Baker at their wedding in March 1928.
Bedale Church, December 1986
Bedale Church in December 1986 Bedale
Church interior in 2023
Almost immediately from their wedding, Peggy and Alfred left for Western Canada, to join Alfred’s
elder brothers and they took a farm about a hundred miles north of Calgary.
Peggy on the
voyage to Canada shortly after they were married in 1928.
A telegram from
Peggy’s siblings Hilda Baker (BAK00170)
and Geoff Baker (BAK00172)
Her
son Martin later recalled: Alfred rented a section and a half near Huxley
some 10 miles north of Trochu and built a house there. The farm was almost
entirely devoted to wheat but with some cattle. I grew up at the farm and my
first memories are of playing on the prairie and around the slews (a kind of
duck pond) near the farm. I remember all the horses used for farm work, the box
waggons with racks, threshing in the fields and the hot summers. The winters
were cold - well below zero, and I remember the horse drawn sleighs and the
bright sun on the snow. I remember the village of Huxley, the annual sports
day, the Legion parade and buying sweets at Miss Hibbs’ store. I remember
visits to the neighbours, the Hoggs, the Saggers, the Morris’, the Wagstaffs,
the Millers and I remember the postman, Mr Hibbs whistling in his buggy as he
came up the road to what is still today called Farndale’s corner. But above all
I remember the family. Uncle Martin and Aunt Ruth lived near Trochu and he spoiled
me a lot. Uncle George was a bachelor, remote and living alone near Three
Hills. Aunt Kate was strict and austere, but kind and she lived between Trochu
and Three Hills with her husband Bill Kinsey and their children George, Alfred and Dorothy. I remember evening parties and sitting
waiting while the grown ups played bridge. I remember being well looked after
by our nannie, Gladys Grist who later married Aubrey, the son of our nearest
neighbour, Ralph Hogg.
1929
Alfred and Peggy had four
children, Martin Baker
Farndale, born in Trochu, Alberta on 6 January 1929) (FAR00911);
Marianne Catherine Farndale (later Shepherd), born on 30 October 1930 in Trochu
(FAR00915);
Alfred Geoffrey Farndale, born in Trochu on 10 April 1932)(FAR00922)
and Margaret Lindsey (“Margot”) Farndale (later Atkinson). born after the
family had returned from Canada at Thornton-le-moor, North Yorkshire on 8
October 1937 (FAR00952).
Peggy in
Huxley, Alberta, Canada The house at Huxley, Alberta
1934
Holidays in the
Rockies and Sylvan lake in about 1934
1935
Alfred and
Margaret Farndale, after emigrating to Canada in March 1928, remained there
until 1935. The slump of the late twenties and early thirties was crippling and the family was forced to return to England in
1935. Martin Farndale later recalled But things were not well on the farm. Prices
were bad in the slump years of the early 30s and the weather was unkind so that
my father, along with many others, soon lost all his savings, and in 1935, he
decided to return to England. I remember well the excitement of the farm sale
by our white house with a black roof, on the hill overlooking Huxley. It was
early April and it was cold with snow still on the
ground. We spent our last few days in Alberta with Aunt Grace and Uncle Howard
at their Ranch near Huxley and finally caught the train at Huxley for Edmonton
on 9 April 1935.
The return from
Canada
1940
On their return to England
Alfred farmed first at Middleton-One-Row, near Darlington, then at Thornton-le-Moor until 1940.
They then lived in Northallerton until 1943.
Martin
later recalled My parents both worked very hard
and times were not easy. My mother looked after us wonderfully well and set
very high standards. She taught us all how to behave, how to talk, to dress and
conduct ourselves in company.
My father was working very hard indeed
at this time. It was hard physical graft and very long hours, but there was
plenty of work as farmers grew all they could. Sometimes I went with him and I learnt how to plough on his Massy-Harris tractor.
We once ploughed in one of the fields from our old farm at Thornton-Le-Moor
where I remembered doing some ploughing with a pair of horses some year before.
Frequently on Thursdays I would cycle out to an agreed point and await my
father with his threshing crew to bring the men their wages. But all this time my father was trying to get
another farm. He went to many, was short listed for some, and turned others
down. I went to some with him at weekends and I remember sharing is hopes and
disappointments. It was a difficult but exhilarating time. There was not much
money, and a lot of hard work. We had always had a car at this time. We had a
1937 Morris 12 which, in 1942, my father exchanged for a Standard 12 which he
got from our doctor, Doctor Milne.
The
1939 Register recorded the
family living at Sycamore Lodge, Thirsk. Alfred Farndale, born 5 July 1897, was
a farmer (mixed); Margaret Louisa Farndale, born 24 February 1901; Martin, Ann,
Geoff and Margot, and Lerna E Gerrard (later married Hutchinson), single, born
6 February 1918, paid domestic duties.
Peggy was the heart of a
happy family. Martin
later recalled about the early days of the Second World War: About this time
there was much going on that I didn’t understand. My mother would come and sit
with me as I went to sleep at night and these moments became highlights of
those days. I adored her, she seemed to understand everything
and she never failed to set my mind at rest whatever my problems. I owe her a
great deal indeed. She ensured that we grew up with balance and understanding
of other people.
Peggy with her
four children
1942
Alfred then took the
tenancy at Gale Bank Farm, Wensley. Martin recalled Towards
the end of 1942, I came home from school one day to be
told by mother that it looked as if we had got a farm near Wensley in
Wensleydale.
We moved
to Gale Bank on 28 January 1943. I remember it all very well. The furniture van
came and everything was packed up. The rest
of us went in our heavily overloaded Standard 12. I remember it over heating
just outside Bedale and my father going into a farm and helping himself to a
bucket of water! I remember our arrival well, the house, and the buildings were
quite empty and we children raced throughout the empty
house. There were strange smells everywhere, particularly that of smoked bacon,
which our predecessors had done for years. We raced through all the farm
buildings which were big and extensive compared to anything we had known
before. It must have been cold in January and apart from a fire in the drawing
room and kitchen in daytime only there was o heat. But I don’t remember it
being cold. With great excitement e all chose our bedrooms and then the
furniture van arrived and we all helped move our
things into the house. The beds were made – the same ones we had got out of
that morning in Crosby Road, and we were ready for bed in our new house. Little
did we know what a major step in our lives this day was to be for us all. Gale
Bank was to become our home, and a firm base for us all, for many years to
come.
Throughout the
Second World War, Alfred served as a Special Constable.
Alfred farmed at Gale Bank very
successfully until they
retired in 1972.
Peggy and
Alfred (back and Anne and Geoff (front) Margot, Anne and
Peggy
Peggy and Alfred retired in
1972 to Leyburn, where
they lived at Highfields, named after the Baker family home of Highfields at Audlem.
A visit to Highfields – Peggy and family
1978
Peggy and Alfred’s Golden
Wedding, 16 March 1978
- Back row, Geoff, Anne and Martin, sitting Peggy,
Margot and Alfred
1987
Alfred died in
1987 aged 89.
1991
Peggy with her
great grandchildren, Phill and Ian Carlisle in 1991
Peggy’s
ninetieth birthday, 24 February 1991 h
Margot Atkinson, Geoff Farndale, Peggy Farndale, Martin Farndale and
Anne Shepherd
1996
Peggy Farndale died in
Wensleydale on 17 November 1996.
Martin
Farndale, her son later reflected that:
She is
remembered with great love by her family, relatives and friends as a kind very
fair person who took the greatest interest in people and love children,
especially her grandchildren and great grandchildren. They in return loved her
for she was always so very approachable to them all. Throughout her life she
was the focal point of the family and kept them all informed about each other
without any favour. She gave firm advice but weas always there to listen, and
once a decision was made whether she agreed or not, she always supported those
she loved. She played a significant part in local affairs in Leyburn, and in
the Women’s Institute and Luncheon Clubs. She was a very good organiser.
Amongst other things, she was responsible for the street
lights of Wensley. She was one of the first women drivers and started
with a Bull Nose Ford in 1922. She taught each member of her family to drive,
including her husband.
She will be
sadly missed by all who knew her, but she will never be forgotten, because she
devoted her life to the good of those who she knew and had much influence on
them all.
Nigel Farndale,
her grandson later reflected that:
She lived a
wonderfully full, dignified and distinguished life
that spanned, almost exactly, the turbulent twentieth century.
I suppose
any life is the sum of its disparate elements, and those that capture the
essence of Peggy for me are watching her catch falling leaves in the autumn at
Gale Bank ‘for luck’; of her weeping when she played Mahler and Beethoven
recordings when Gran was out round the stock; of her standing somewhat
eccentrically in the smoke of a bonfire because “that’s what we used to do to
keep the mosquitoes of in Canada”; of her ability to recite Shakespeare, Keats
and Sheley from memory; and of her passion for Desert Orchid, the racehorse.
The detail we will probably all remember her for most, though, is her warm
chuckle and the fact that she was never happier than when catching up on, or
disseminating news and gossip about, her children and grandchildren.
Right to the
end she retained her sense of humour. When asked by the welfare inspector if
she was happy at Wensleydale House she said “The nurses are helpful. The food
is good. The beds are comfortable.” Then she turned to Dad and said “There wasn’t anything else I was supposed to say was
there?”
Darlington and
Stockton Times, 7 December 1996
Photographs
from the Twenties which are still to be identified:
OVK and Mary
S
“Rossites”
“Up and
Down”, Madge and “Just a wee Trio”
“D.A.D” and
“Coll or Co II”
Hockey Groups and Buster
“Mary, Nan et Moi”, “Miss A”, “Billy”, “Nan” and “Moi”
Hope, Buster and Bunny, SPTC
Homer (and her puppies?)
Could this
be Kit Lynham wedding to Francis Marshall, a parson?
Peggy’s
photos probably in the early 20s:
Annotated on
the reverse: “Geof, Captain Feldon’s Groom, Captain Feldon. Hydraulic won
Meyrells Hunt, Farmer’s Race, 1929.”