THOMAS EDWARD PETTMAN (1841-1910) was born at Ramsgate on 10 May 1841 and baptized on 12 September 1841 in the parish of St Peter the Apostle. Like his father, he taught music. He was also a church organist. On 8 April 1868, at the age of 26, he married a local girl named Agnes Deane at Thanet Register Office. She was 34.
Agnes was the eldest daughter of John Deane, of Ramsgate (but originally from Deptford), and his wife Agnes, née Norris, and was the middle of five children. Her father (John Deane, 1800-1884) was famous as the inventor of Deane's Diving Apparatus. Agnes had been baptized at Ramsgate on 29 September 1833.
Advertisements in the Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald of Saturdays 14 and 21 August 1869 addressed "To Schools and Others at Herne Bay and Whitstable" offered tuition at 12 William Street, Herne Bay. It is not clear the young couple were living at the time. Agnes would have been pregnant with their daughter, Grace, who was born early in 1870,
Thomas was active in the Plymouth Brethren at Ramsgate. A conversion experience while walking near the cliffs is said to have changed his life.
He became a leading member of the (liberal, breakaway) Abbott's Hill assembly at Ramsgate, and was one of the signatories of the letter of 3 September 1879, along with T.A. Brunker, A, Hope and J. H. Smith to G.C. Millward excluding H.J. Jull, W.R. Cox, W. Johnson jnr., C.J. Smyth. R.W. Crane and G.C. Millward from fellowship as long as they broke bread at an independent table at Ramsgate.
This letter was passed on to John Nelson Darby, who was in France at the time. The dispute continued, and correspondence between Darby and Thomas Pettman in July 1880 and May 1881 survives, where Darby disputes the claim of Abbott's Hill to be God's assembly. He favoured the stricter assembly at Guildford Hall. This led to one of the early schisms among the Brethren.
For many years, Thomas held beach services for children at Broadstairs.
In 1871 and 1874, Thomas and Agnes were living at 1 Victoria Terrace, Vale Square, Ramsgate, with their daughter Grace. By 1881, though, the family had moved to the Elms Estate, living at Ladbroke Villa. Later they moved again, to Cliffdale, 12 Arklow Square, and it was here that Thomas' wife, Agnes, died on 22 September 1897. She was 65.
At this time, Thomas was 56, and Grace, his daughter, was 27. Less than a year later, on 3 August 1898, Thomas remarried at the Thanet Register Office. His second wife's name was Kate Eliza Burch. She was 36.
She was the daughter of the late William Burch, "of independent means", and gave her address as The Firs, Victoria Road, Charlton. (This was near the home of Thomas' sister, Fanny. (The witnesses were Benjamin Beale and Charles Fegan.)) She was born in Boughton, Kent. Her father had been a farmer.
Muriel Pout recalls that his new wife softened Thomas, "made him very happy and shed a good deal of his gloomy and separating Brethen exclusive past."
The couple had two children. They lived on at Arklow Square, and later (some time after 1901) at Goodwin Lodge, 45 Thanet Road, until Thomas' death from chronic bronchitis on 4 March 1910. He was 68, and his younger son only eight years old. He was buried together with Agnes.
Kate moved to 3 Elms Park Terrace, Ramsgate, where she supplemented her income after Thomas' death by taking in summer boarders. (The house had eleven rooms.) On Census Day 1911, she had her three sisters-in-law, Harriet Lang, Elizabeth Pettman and Anna Goodchild staying with her. The children remember being sent to Hawkhurst during the summer, "to keep them out of the way." However, this stopped when war broke out, when the danger of bombing and long-range shellfire led her to move with the children to London, where contacts among the Brethren helped find suitable accommodation. She moved to live with her son, Ernest, at 72 Morley Hill, Enfield. Despite deafness, she was a regular attender at the Enfield Brethren Meeting until her death. She retained the house in Ramsgate, which war conditions had rendered unmarketable.
Kate Pettman, née Burch, died on 2 March 1938, aged 76. She was buried at Enfield.
Thomas Edward Pettman and his wife Agnes had one child:
1 GRACE PETTMAN (1870-1952), born on 19 March 1870. She wrote numerous Christian books, as well as articles in "Horner's Penny Stories", under her own name, and under the pseudonyms of G.E.C. Sutherland, Nigel Strong, Spencer Deane, Helen Kent, Fan of the Ferry, A Curate's Wife and the Daughter of the Manse.
As a child, she hated the silence at Brethren meetings. (Her mother once told her: "If you fidget in the meeting I shall take you out and whip you." In the next pause a voice said: "Well, take me out and whip me then. I'd rather that than stay here.") Although she joined the Baptists, she retained much of her Brethren upbringing, not knitting, sewing, reading secular books or allowing homework on Sundays, and avoiding the cinema, dancing, alcohol or the theatre. Yet at 17 she was writing fiction without her father's knowledge.
Grace lived at home in Ramsgate until she was 31. In spring 1902 she married Herbert Pout, who is said to have been converted at a meeting taken by her at a mission service in a chapel "on the Kentish hills". He was born on 14 July 1878, and so was 23. She was 32. Grace paid for him to attend Glasgow Bible College. He become a travelling evangelist, and the couple went to live in Brighton. In 1906, they were at 'Roslyn', Horsham, Sussex, and in 1910 and 1911 at 'Glendevon', Portland Road, Hove. In 1921 they were at 116 Hollingbury Park Avenue, Hove.
She retained her links with Ramsgate, however, and in November 1932 published Milestones of Memory, a history of the Cavendish Baptist Chapel, founded in 1833. She described herself for this centenary booklet as "formerly a member of Cavendish."
During the First World War, Herbert served in the Royal Naval Air Force. In September 1939, Grace was at 13 Treassowe Road, Penzance, describing herself as an author and freelance writer. Herbert was at 19 Fearon Road, Hastings, an "incapacitated RAF mechanic."
Herbert Pout died on 4 August 1940. Grace Pettman-Pout died in 1952 at the age of 81.
Herbert and Grace Pout had a daughter:
1.1 MURIEL LUCY GRACE HELVETIA PETTMAN-POUT (1907-2001), born on 5 July 1907 in the Hotel Byron, Villeneuve, in Switzerland. She was a teacher and writer. She gained a B.Sc. In September 1939, she described herself as a secretary and lecturer in health and moral welfare. She was living at 50 Longcross Street, Cardiff. During the 1950's and 60's she lived in Monmouthshire. She later moved to Lower Kenneggy, Rosudgeon, Penzance, and subsequently to Porthleven in Cornwall. She fell ill on Christmas Day 2001, and died in the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro, on 27 December 2001. She was buried at Penwith Woodland Burial Place, near Penzance, on 3 January 2002.
Thomas Edward Pettman and his wife Kate had two children:
2 FREDERICK THOMAS PETTMAN (1899-1989), born on 10 August 1899. He became an accountant and company secretary. In 1921 he was living with his widowed mother at 27 Alconbury Road, Hackney and working as an accountant for Messrs Peal and Co of 11 Ironmongers Lane, E.C. On 25 June 1927, he married Helen Ebben, the youngest daughter of Frederick Ebben and his wife Helen Sanders. Helen's grandparents are said to have come to England from the Netherlands. She had been born on 14 January 1894. They lived at Mount Pleasant, 80 Gordon Hill, Enfield.
Helen Pettman died on 16 October 1953, and Fred remarried, to Nora Anne Marsh, who had been born on 26 November 1912. He died on 17 August 1989, just after his ninetieth birthday.
Fred and Helen Pettman had five children:
2.1 EILEEN MARY PETTMAN (1928-), born on 7 October 1928. She married Norman William Burke at Edmonton in the first quarter of 1957. Norman Burke died on 8 September 1992. Norman and Eileen Burke had three children:
2.1.1 ROSEMARY HELEN BURKE (1957-), born at the end of 1957 in Bromley.
2.1.2 HEATHER MARY BURKE (1959-), born at the end of 1959 in Bromley. She married Graeme Rose.
2.1.3 RICHARD NORMAN BURKE (1962-), born in Bromley in the second quarter of 1962.
2.2 DOUGLAS JOHN PETTMAN (1930-), born on 28 April 1930. In the first quarter of 1964, he married Nancy M Allsop, born on 18 January 19??, at Carmarthen. He is an accountant. They have no children.
2.3 MARGARET RUTH PETTMAN (1932-), born on 2 May 1932. On 16 September 1961, she married Dr Gordon Hughes, a lecturer at the University of Liverpool. He had been born on 11 January 1933. He is editor of Scripture Truth.
Margaret and Gordon Hughes have four children:
2.3.1 JOANNA MARGARET HUGHES (1962-), born on 26 September 1962.
2.3.2 ANDREW MARK HUGHES (1964-), born on 22 April 1964. On 13 September 1986, he married Elizabeth Marion Waller (born 1 February 1964). They have two children:
2.3.2.1 JOHN ANDREW HUGHES (1987-), born on 31 August 1987.
2.3.2.2 CHLOE ELIZABETH HUGHES (1989-), born on 31 May 1989.
2.3.3 JONATHAN GORDON HUGHES (1966-), born on 10 October 1966. He married Dawn Richardson (born 19 March 1967) on 13 August 1988. They have a son:
2.3.3.1 DAVID MICHAEL HUGHES (1989-), born on 13 May 1989.
2.3.4 SARAH HELEN HUGHES (1972-), born on 7 February 1972.
2.4 BARBARA HELEN PETTMAN (1934-), born on 13 February 1934. On 19 August 1972 she married Richard Semple Smith (who had been born on 9 August 1926) at Enfield. They have two children:
2.4.1 HELEN AMANDA SEMPLE-SMITH (1974-), born on 9 December 1974.
2.4.2 PHILIP SEMPLE-SMITH (1978-), born on 9 October 1978.
2.5 WALTER ERNEST PETTMAN (1935-), born on 15 November 1935. He works as an evangelist. On 4 October 1986 he married Rosemary Elizabeth Lill.
3 ERNEST EDWARD ARTHUR PETTMAN (1901-1973) was born on 8 May 1901. He worked in the insurance field for the Hudson's Bay Company, and later for A. Besse and Co. and then St. Helen's Trust. In 1921 he was living with his widowed mother at 27 Alconbury Road, Hackney and working as a marine insurance clerk for Lloyds at the Royal Exchange, E.C. He also acted as an insurance broker with his own private company. He married Doris Frances Marion Baker on 5 September 1933 at Danbury, Essex. (Their courtship correspondence has been preserved.)
Doris was the eldest daughter of Frank and Marion Bessie Baker (née Dodd). She was born on 29 August 1905 at Danbury.
At that time Ernest was living at 72 Morley Hill, Enfield. The couple moved to Cuffley, in Hertfordshire. At the time of National Registration in September 1939, the family were staying with Doris' parents at the Pantiles, Copt Hill. It was noted that Ernest was an air raid warden in Cuffley. The couple later moved to Chesterfield House, 4 Camden Hill, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Ernest was an active member of the Plymouth Brethren, meeting at York Road, Tunbridge Wells, and edited a Christian newsletter, Words of Help.
Ernest Pettman died on 25 May 1973 in Tunbridge Wells. Doris Pettman subsequently moved to 19 Orchard Glade, Headcorn, Kent, together with her unmarried son Jonathan. Her son Marcus and his wife lived in the same village. Doris died on 25 June 2000.
Ernest and his wife Doris had five children:
3.1 JUDITH MARION PETTMAN (1934-1934), born on 18 November 1934 at Cuffley. She lived for only 36 hours.
3.2 MARCUS EDWARD FRANK PETTMAN (1937-2020), born on 8 February 1937 at Cuffley. He graduated in Mathematics from Edinburgh University in 1963. He became a teacher, and worked in Sierra Leone for eight years. It was here that he met Maureen Patricia Reynolds, born on 6 April 1948. They married on 18 August 1972.
Marcus and Maureen worked in Kenya for three years between 1972 and 1975. They settled in Headcorn, Kent, and Marcus taught mathematics at Sutton Valence School, retiring about 1995. They moved to Grantham, where they lived for many years. in 2020 Marcus was diagnosed with myeloma, and despite treatment in Lincoln, died in a care home on 29 December 2020. Maureen died on 28 January 2023.
3.3 JOANNA MARION KATE PETTMAN (1940-2010), born on 4 April 1940 at Cuffley. She graduated in English at St Andrews University in 1963. After a period of Voluntary Service Overseas in Nigeria, she trained as a schoolteacher at the University of Leeds, qualifying in June 1967. She went to Ethiopia in September 1967, where she met Hector Coryn Mark Davie, born on 20 November 1941. They were married on 31 July 1968 in Tunbridge Wells. Joanna continued to work as a teacher of English language and literature.
In autumn 2009, she was diagnosed with the later stages of rectal cancer, and underwent a course of chemotherapy. This had only a limited success, and despite embarking on a second course of treatment, she grew progressively weaker, and died on 3 July 2010.
Hector and Joanna Davie had three children:
3.3.1 ANTONIA JUSTINE MARION DAVIE (1971-), born on 24 June 1971 at Edgbaston.
She married Owen Robert Frost at Laidley, Queensland on 25 June 1999.
3.3.2 TAMSIN MIRANDA DAVIE (1973-), born on 7 July 1973 at Kendal, Westmorland.
On 4 August 2000, she married Erik Lars Jenk in Berne. They have two children:
3.3.2.1 PATRICK CORYN JENK (b.2002), born in Berne on 3 July 2002.
3.3.2.2 SARAH KATE JENK (b.2005), born in Berne on 22 June 2005.
3.3.3 SEBASTIAN JONATHAN DAVIE (1976-), born on 15 July 1976 at Kendal,Cumbria.
On 28 October 2016 he married Anna-Katharina Arnold in Köniz. They have two sons:
3.3.3.1 MATTHEW SEAN DAVIE (b.2016), born in Berne on 9 November 2016.
3.3.3.2 OLIVER EVAN DAVIE (b.2019), born in Berne on 23 January 2019.
3.4 JONATHAN ERNEST FRANCIS PETTMAN (1940-), Joanna's twin, born on 4 April 1940 at Cuffley. He has spent most of his life as a teacher, including many years in the Middle East.
3.5 BARNABAS ARTHUR THOMAS PETTMAN (1943-), born on 8 May 1943 at Cuffley. He trained in farm management, later becoming an accountant. He married Susan Shepherd on 2 September 1971 at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Stockport.
Barnabas and Susan Pettman have three daughters:
3.4.1 EMMA JOANNA PETTMAN (1972-), born at Tunbridge Wells on 28 October 1972. She graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge. She married William Campbell Bissett on 25 August 1996. She later divorced and changed her name to Emma Waterhouse, working in Australia and Dubai. On 28 October 2010, she married Anurag Sharma, born in New Delhi, in Dubai. They have two children:
3.4.1.1 AMALYA GRACE JANAK SHARMA (2012-), born on 2 Feburary 2012.
3.4.1.2 MAX ARJUN SHARMA (2013-), born on 15 June 2013.
3.4.2 MARILLA ALICE PETTMAN (1975-), born in Manchester on 1 September 1975. She married Graeme Swift on 12 May 2001. Graeme had been born on 31 May 1972. They worked as outward bound instructors at Rannoch School, Perthshire, moving to New Zealand in 2003. They have four children:
3.4.2.1 NOAH SWIFT (2007-), born on 17 June 2007 in Hamilton, New Zealand.
3.4.2.2 HANNAH NÉVÉ SWIFT (2008-), born on 18 September 2008 in Rarimu, New Zealand.
3.4.2.3 REBEKAH MARY SWIFT (2009-), born on 28 December 2009.
3.4.2.4 ISAAC TAMA SWIFT (2011-), born on 24 March 2011.
3.4.3 LUCY OLIVIA PETTMAN (1977-), born in Manchester on 18 January 1977. She married Elias Khoneizer, from a Lebanese family living in Sierra Leone, on 11 June 2006. They have three children:
3.4.3.1 EMMA ELIAS KHONEIZER (2009-), born at Stafford on 16 May 2009.
3.4.3.2 JOSEPH ELIAS KHONEIZER (2011-), born on 21 April 2011.
3.4.3.3 FREDDIE ELIAS KHONEIZER (2014-), born on 10 February 2014.