Just five minutes after midnight on 17 February 1920 the Peagam family acquired two additions. Frank and his twin sister Gwen were at the family home: 3A Khartoum Road, Tooting, in the SW17 district of London.

 

Francis Robert and Fanny Elizabeth Darvill had married in  September 1905 and Frank and Gwen were not their first children.

 

By 1911 the young couple were living at 8 Mellison Road, Tooting, and had two children, Eva Ellen and Fanny Elizabeth (presumably named after her mother).

 

By 1915 the family were living at 3A Khartoum Road, Tooting.

 

On 23 November 1915 the thirty-two year old French Polisher enlisted with the Royal Fusiliers (36th Btn) but is not believed to have served overseas.

 

Francis Robert and Fanny Eliza had three more children, two of them twins.

 

They kept up the family tradition with regards to names.

 

A son born in 1915 was given the names William Francis John, and on 17 February 1920 when twins were born, one was called Gwendoline and the other FRANCIS ROBERT.

 

All the children were to marry.

• Eva Ellen Peagam married Richard B Ladd in June 1926

• Fanny Elizabeth Peagam married Henry J Wilson in June 1939

• Ivy Irene Peagam married Walter / Len Drury in 1935

• William Francis John Peagam married Beatrice R B Keenan in September 1940

• Francis Robert Peagam married Joyce Hadley on 6 October 1945 (in Stockton on Tees, County Durham)

• Gwendoline Peagam married James Fudge on 10 November 1945

 

Francis Robert and Fanny Eliza continued to live at 3A Khartoum Road, Tooting. It was here that Francis Robert died on 16 July 1955 – the death being registered by his widow, who died a few years later on 6 December 1959.

 

During Frank’s childhood the country was gripped by the Depression and there were many less fortunate than the Peagam family.

 

Frank attended Fountain Road Infant and Junior School until 1931 then moved on to Defoe Secondary School where he remained until 1935, leaving at the age of fifteen with a school Leaving Certificate.

 

On leaving school Frank was employed both by his father and by Carters of Raines Park SW20 serving an apprenticeship as a printer. He attended the London School of Printing on a part time basis from 1935 until 1939 and an acquired a City and Guilds qualification in Printing.

 

During this period Frank got caught up in the riots surrounding Oswald Moseley Riot on Sunday 4 October 1935. The truth of this legend is being investigated.

 

Nevertheless when another Fascist, Adolf Hitler, threatened England, Frank knew that he had a role to play.