Herry's Archives

Parents Patrick Lawford 1914-2002 Annette Lawford 1911-1998 Family History The Family Trees of the Lawford's and the Pugh's  Lawford Family History The Drapers' Livery Company Pugh Evans Family History Pugh Evans Family History - the Lovesgrove Line Sir Griffith Humphrey Pugh Evans 1840 - 1902 The Powell Edwards Line Lawford Ancestors Edward Lawford 1787 - 1864 Edward Acland Lawford and his Descendants HF Lawford 1851 - 1925 General Sir Sydney Lawford 1865 - 1953 Peter Lawford 1923 - 1984 Maternal Grandparents Sir Arundel Arundel 1843 - 1922 Col AJ Pugh 1871 - 1923 Marian 'Nina' Lady Herbert 1874 - 1967 Paternal Grandparents John Lawford 1811 - 1875 Capt VA Lawford 1871 - 1959 Pugh Cousins Brig-General Lewis Pugh Evans 1887 - 1962 Maj-General Lewis Pugh 1907 - 1981  The Last Action of the Calcutta Light Horse 1943 Ruth Stevens Howard 1910-2010 Capt Humphrey Drummond of Megginch 1922 - 2009 Dr Griffith Pugh 1909 - 1994 Dr Griffith P...

 In July 2022 the family gathered from Sydney, New York and Hamburg in Hampshire and in France arriving on 1st and leaving on 25th July. It was a marvellous time, punctuated only by some illness (Marika and Astra), and repeated cancellations of our flights with Thomas, who kindly took on group booking duties, making over 280 phone calls to BA alone. Indeed, a claim of EUR was made to BA for all our extra travel costs including car hire. The main events, the Reunion in Stockbridge and the holiday in Cap Benat passed off beautifully. 50 people attended the Reunion at the Greyhound and it was a joy to see so many old friends and their children (and in some cases, grandchildren) meeting up again, 13 years after the last such gathering in 2008 . Many photos were taken as well as the group photo below,  The full list of those attending is here . Herry addressing the crowd The 14th July Gathering We arrived at Villa Portofino, Cap Benat, on 16th July from various directions and hav...

  John Spreadbury  John Spreadbury was born in Droxford on 13th July 1931.  His mother was called Annie and his stepfather was William Spreadbury, a local farmer who happens to be buried in Meonstoke. His mother died when he was young and is buried in Bolney churchyard. John was schooled at Stoneham in Eastleigh. He had no siblings.  John’s early experience of work was riding cart horses to the farriers for shoeing, but when he left school at 15, as was usual in those days, he got his first job with Austen Moulden at Preshaw. He then moved to Western Farms at Petersfield and it was from there that he won his first ploughing match, at Rogate, aged 17. And it was there he saw my father’s advertisement for a tractor driver at Stocks just as we moved in in 1950. Rita says that when he mentioned the wage he expected, my father replied, ‘That’s a man’s wage and you’re a boy’, but he was persuaded to move not by the wage, but by the fact that my father offered him a new...

  Patrick Lawford and John Spreadbury in the early 90's John Spreadbury, came to Stocks aged 19 when we first arrived there, and became headman on the retirement of Reg Whitear in the 1960s and remained on the farm while it expanded with the purchase of Harvestgate Farm from the Biles's in the 60's and Little Stocks Farm from the Henderson's in the 70's, until Patrick Lawford retired from the day to day running of the farm when he reached 80, and John also retired, though he continued to do jobs on the farm, such a spraying for Stephen Horn who was contracted to look after the farm from his own at Bushey Down. John had been gifted Little Stocks Farm in Meonstoke in the 80's, so that he could build houses for himself and his family - his wife Peggy, and children Andrew, Rita and Shaun. John lives there still, but very sadly his son Andrew, who also worked on the farm from an early age, died in May 2021, and is buried in Meonstoke Churchyard. This photo, in a silv...

Draft                                                   Herry with the boys from Zadar including Peter Kragic   Herry and with Dusko Kacina, Peter Kragic and Herry with Jenny Kacic and the children including Zdravko  Herry, Justin More, Harry and Jenny Kacic at their house in Dingac  Although my first trip abroad on business was to Genoa in 1969, to help investigate a number of cases of condensation damage to grain shipments from Argentina, I was next asked to accompany Frank Ledwith to Split for a lecture he was giving on General Average to a group of shipowners and local insurers. The visit showed me the Yugoslavs at their hospitable best, ending long meals of delicious local fish (which often had different names in each port on the coast but was usually dorade) and local wine (Postup or Dingac) with philosophising and singing. One of their favour...

  Francis Frost 1945 - 2022 Francis in Stockbridge 2021 [Part of a letter to Lies Frost, July 2022] I always thought that I had first met Francis when we joined Millers together in October 1967, but in fact we discovered much later that we had each spent a few early months of 1967 living at Mrs Knott’s boarding house in Ashburn Gardens mugging for our bar exams and that we most probably met there at breakfast, although it wasn’t a place at which one fraternised and I don’t think we would have even known each other's names. As you know, he spent his first years at Millers in Frank Ledwith's training room, which was permanently in state of barely- suppressed uproar, as we played practical jokes on each other and particularly on the luckless Nigel Lindrea, who was a year senior to us.   During that time, and for some years afterwards, we would be invited - with you and in my case with Prue - to Frank Ledwith’s excruciating moral-reamament plays, or for ‘drinks’ at his flat w...

                                                   Martin's Summer Lunch at Hill Farm 1994  Will and Belin Martin had the brilliant idea of holding an alfresco summer lunch for their friends and their children beginning in 1974 in Farringdon with the tradition continuing until the 80s with the final one being held at Hill Farm in 1994. The lunches played an important role in maintaining friendships and creating memories for both the parents and the children.  Summer Lunch at Farringdon 1980. Carol and Martin Ashby, Sandra and Terry, Val and Chris Pile, Denise and Ian Hay, Penny Lawford, and John Lushington, Prue, Nick, Charlie, Jay-Jay, ...., Belin, ...,Tony and Jeanne Ashforth,  Martin and Rosie Lowry, Lucie, Johnnie Cooke, Patricia and John Wedderburn.  Photos of some more summer lunches are  here   Return to  Archive...