Fig 1: parish Register for All Souls Cawnpore 1921 showing the baptism of Irene Nellie TRENDALL
Most people know their Aunts and Uncles, and in most working
class families there are (or were) generally, lots of them. But my Father had only one sibling – and I
never met her.
Irene Nellie TRENDALL (1921-2012) was born in India where
her Father, my Grandfather, (Frederick TRENDALL 1890-1940) was serving with the
British Army. I know nothing of her
life growing up in the sub continent or about her schooling when the family
returned to London in 1932. It would be
fair to say that she has remained a mystery to me and has resisted attempts at finding
out much more. Most of this blog will
therefore be highlighting what I don’t know rather than what I do.
It has long been known in the family that she had become
involved with a much older man who was a well known band leader and that she had
later emigrated to the United States. It
has been suggested that she never fully got over the ending of that first
relationship.
One thing that has bothered me has been my inability to
discover where she was at the time of the creation of the 1939 Register. The Register was compiled in the first months
of the war. It was a mammoth undertaking
and was put together with much speed and considerable accuracy. It was used to issue national Identity cards
and after the war it formed the basic database of people entitled to NHS
treatment. It continued to be used for more
than 20 years, being updated as necessary.
Because an ID card was essential part of wartime living the Register
successfully captured virtually all of the civilian population.
It was clear that Irene (often known as Rene) was not living
with her Mother (her Father had already re-joined the colours) in the Autumn of 1939 – but where was she? Years of checking back on the various
transcriptions of the Register did not turn up a result. She was only 18 at the start of the war and
searching using just her date of birth in the London area failed to find
her. One day recently it occurred to me
that she could have been using the surname of her older boyfriend but this too
failed to produce a result. In fact I
couldn’t find him in the Register either!
Fig 2: Billy TERNENT with a young Frankie HOWERD c1953
Frederick William TERNENT (always known as Billy TERNENT) was a northerner who had made his name as a talented
musician, arranger and a band leader, achieving a celebrity status by the late
1930s. He was much in demand and later
provided the band for stars such as Frank Sinatra when they visited the
UK. In 1939 he started to work for the
BBC. Reading about the war plans for the
Corporation I noted that some of its functions were transferred to
Bristol. This caused me to widen my
search, but still without a result until I discovered that the indexes to the
Register had been mis transcribed and he was listed as TENNETT. In the Autumn of 1939 he was living in Bristol
(described as a Musical Director) with two other people. One was a well known character actor, Sidney
KIRKMAN, whose stage name was Syd WALKER.
The other was my Aunt Rene. She
had added a year to her age, presumably to close the age gap between her and
Billy (who was 40 at the time). She was
using the name Irene TERNENT and was listed as doing ‘unpaid domestic duties’ – the phrase usually
employed to describe stay at home housewives. Billy’s wartime work for the BBC
included providing the music for ITMA and a weekly slot on Music While You
Work.
The exact nature of her relationship with Billy TERNENT is
unknown, but they were to remain together for several years. It is not clear but he may have been married
but estranged from his wife. In 1943
Rene arranged for a notice to appear in the London Gazette confirming that she had
changed her name to TERNENT. Her address
at the time was an up market flat. Electoral
Registers show that she shared various flats, mostly in the Marylebone area
with Billy until at least 1952. We do
not know exactly when or why the relationship ended but in 1956 Rene married
Delbert Allen BRUESCH.
Delbert was a divorced American airman (Master Sergeant
USAF). According to the marriage
certificate he was living at the same address at Rene: 24 Stafford Terrace,
London W8. The marriage was witnessed by
non family members.
Around this time the couple went to the US where Rene was to
stay for the rest of her life. Her
Mother (my Grandmother) emigrated to the US shortly afterwards.
Rene and Delbert divorced in 1967 after having two children. In 1971 she married again to Joseph ADRAGNA
in California. They divorced in
1980.
She then disappears from international view almost
completely. I had some correspondence with
one of my cousins in around 1983 and in 2010 I tried to contact Rene but the
letter was returned as she had moved from the address I had found for her. She died in 2012 aged 91. My Father did not leave a great deal of
information about his family so I have always hoped that any family paperwork
may have descended from my Grandmother (Nellie PARROCK) to Rene and thence to
her children. Perhaps one day I will be able to fill in some
of the gaps.
Neither of Rene’s marriages lasted as long as her
relationship with Billy TERNENT. We do
not know if they were in contact in later life.
A family story suggests that she retained a ring with his initials during
her time in the US. His career continued
to flourish and for several years he was Musical Director at the London Palladium. He performed until the mid 1970s. His style was by then long out of fashion but
he still had a strong following. Not
long before he died he married a woman who was 20 years younger than him. She had previously changed her name to
TERNENT and it looks as if they were together for many years, possible from
around the time that he split with Rene.
I find that in studying families, both for clients as well
as my own, that I am constantly reminded that there is no template. Every family is different. Every family is made up of individuals who
chart their own path through life. I will
continue to research my Aunt Rene, together with many others and to celebrate
the complex lives of those who came before me.
Note: If anybody has a picture of Rene (I only have one of her as a baby in India) then I will update this blog.
Philip TRENDALL
May 2025
NB: There is a fan website for Billy TERNENT - this contains links to some of his programmes on the BBC and to recordings: http://www.mastersofmelody.co.uk/billyternent.htm
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Another good piece of research Phil. I knew about about Billie Tennant and her subsquent marriage to Delbert, but why she and Billies split up I don't know. Chris
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