Flossy, My Birth Mother
The Beginning
Flossy about 10 years old
To get the bad bits out of the way quickly. In modern terminology my under age mother was raped by her 68 year old employer (my father!). She later discovered she was pregnant. Her mother, (my Grandmother!) also had an illegitimate baby a few months old. They lived in a tiny two bedroomed terrace house in Hope Street (now part of a Tesco car park) with four other occupants. The local parish denied Flossy any assistance because her mother was unmarried and living in sin. As a result Flossy was sent to the workhouse.
My grandmother was blackmailing my father with the threat of certain imprisonment if he didn’t sign a document admitting paternity and guaranteeing financial support. He objected to involvement with the expense of solicitors and failed to turn up at their offices.
Grandmother with a reputation of being able to put herself about a bit went to his shop and duffed him up. He was determined she wouldn’t get a penny and he hanged himself the next day.
I was born in the workhouse on the 23rd December shortly before he hanged himself. Christmas in the workhouse was a regular music hall joke at the time..
Workhouses
According to Government Records all workhouses were closed in 1931. My birth certificate gives my place of birth as Cliff House. Apparently, this was a concession given to children to avoid the stigma of being born into the workhouse.
Flossy never forgot the experience which she described as being dreadful even though she was only there for three weeks. According to her, the workhouse was operational well into the 1940’s, although they changed the name
This had to be shown by birth mother when enquiring about her child,
or quoting the letter P and year of acceptance. She knew me as P34.
This was adopted much later to replace tokens.
Who’s Edwin Uphill?
I was handed over to the Foundling Hospital in Brunswick square. It was here where I was baptised and given a new name “Edwin Uphill”.
No foundling was ever called Brown-Smith-Jones-Williams. There seemed a determination to avoid common names. In earlier times they were given names of the famous but contested wills introduced new laws denying foundlings the right to own property, to join the police force or become members of the Freemasons.
Things Start to Look Up
Most of the local people worked one way or another for the Fairlawn Estate belonging to the local squire Peter Cazalet. He had married P.G.Wodehouse’s step-daughter. He also trained horses for the Queen.
Fairlawn it seems was one of the most popular country houses of England. Regular visitors included Queen Victoria, Prince of Wales, Lloyd George, Rudyard Kipling, Winston Churchill and Clark Gable.The chef at Fairlawn was Albert Roux who later opened the famous restaurant Le Gavroche with his brother Michel. The late Queen mum was a regular visitor when the after dinner entertainment might be provided Noel Coward another Fairlawn regular as was Elizabeth Taylor, god daughter to Cazalet’s brother.
After a rather dodgy start in life things started to improve. During March 1934 at three months old I was sent to a small village in Kent called Shipbourne. I spent an idyllic five years with foster parents Mr & Mrs Tapp. There were several foundlings in the village and we were blissfully unaware of all the posh people around us.
Most of the local people worked one way or another for the Fairlawn Estate belonging to the local squire Peter Cazalet. He had married P.G.Wodehouse’s step-daughter. He also trained horses for the Queen.
Fairlawn it seems was one of the most popular country houses of England. Regular visitors included Queen Victoria, Prince of Wales, Lloyd George, Rudyard Kipling, Winston Churchill and Clark Gable.
The chef at Fairlawn was Albert Roux who later opened the famous restaurant Le Gavroche with his brother Michel. The late Queen mum was a regular visitor when the after dinner entertainment might be provided Noel Coward another Fairlawn regular as was Elizabeth Taylor, god daughter to Cazalet’s brother.
Boarding School
At the age of 5 I left the tranquil surroundings of Shipbourne and was sent to boarding school. What a shock that proved to be.
My arrival at the Berkhamstead school referred to as the working man’s Eton. The education was much further down the scale and very basic. The original governors insisted foundlings should not have a better education than the children of more responsible parents. Local people thought we were kids from titled families and film stars. There may well of been a few secret arrangements.
The letters and other documents were going back and forth for 14 years. Flossy knew nothing about my foster mother the school or my whereabouts. My foster mother knew nothing about Flossy or her whereabouts. Flossy claimed me from the school and I went to live with her just before my 15th birthday in 1948. The reunion only lasted for one year and I left home and went to London. There was considerable friction between Flossy and my foster mother.
