Pictures of Frank Allingham (1925-35)

Frank is the secondmost senior member of the Old Totnesian Society by age of entry to the school. He was OTS President in the 1950s.

Frank has provided the following information:

My grandfather was the vicar of St. Mary's, Totnes from 1888 - 1911 when he died.
There is a brass plaque in the vestry to record that:" The bells of this chvurch (sic) were restored by public subscription to commemorate the 60th year of the reign of Queen Victoria 1897. T.R.H.Elliott.  Vicar."
Elliott was on my mother's side.

My father bought the medical practice in Totnes in 1911/12 - one of three doctors in the Totnes area at the time - the practice spread out to Harberton, Harberton Ford, Morleigh and Halwell, Ashprington, Cornworthy and Tuckenhay. With such a sprawling practice, with many a farmhouse accessed only by tracks across fields, my mother learned to drive to ease the pressure on father. She became the third woman in Devon to be granted a driving licence.

The two girls in the 1926 photo with me are my sisters. The oldest (Eileen) was the Sister in charge of private wards at Great Ormond Street hospital until she got married during the war. She died in Oct. aged 92. The youngest (Margaret) married a doctor and lived in Whitstable thereafter. She died 15 or so years ago.

Click on the thumbnails to view the larger pictures