General

The idea of community seems to have changed over the years. Being part of one meant being part of a pseudo-family; everyone helped everyone out and supported them whether it be in business or with a special event. The Penroses were part of the fabric of the Alnwick community, and thanks to a contract, are still written into that fabric; their name standing proudly above 23 Bondgate Within.

Jane ‘Penny’ Penrose was the only child of William and Jane and was born in August 1922. She was brought up in the family business, but due to the unfortunate falling out between her father and his siblings, had no contact with her familial cousins even though they resided in Amble.

Her job in the shop was to listen to and write down the music charts so that customers were aware of what was what in the music world. She was a well-known face in Alnwick, and, as she grew older, she enjoyed dramatic arts, taking part in a dramatic society that would eventually become Alnwick Theatre Club.

She joined the war effort as a Nurse, starting at Lemmington Hall and later finding herself stationed in Londonderry. It was here she met Kenneth Lewis, a Navigator for the Fleet Air Arm. The story goes that Ken was due to fly out, having just met and fallen for Penny. He asked his Commanding Officer if he could stay another day as he’d just met the woman he wanted to marry. In a rather sad twist, the man who took his place as Navigator was shot down and killed. So, if Ken hadn’t made this plea, then I wouldn’t be writing this blog now!

The two married in 1944 at St. Michael’s Church, Alnwick and took over the running of the shop after the war. They soon produced a son, Michael in 1945, a daughter Jill in 1948 and finally another son, Peter in 1951.

Ken taught himself how to make and fix radios and in 1953, he had a go at building a television on which to watch the Coronation. The business went from strength to strength as technology developed, moving from LP to cassette tape, radio to television, batteries to charging cables and so on. The pair were hugely involved in the community – they were members of Alnwick Theatre Club, Round Table and Ladies Circle, The Alnwick Fair Committee (Ken was the first Chairman of the event in 1969), the Alnwick Chamber of Trade and the Rotary Club.

In 1976, their youngest son Peter left a career in teaching and re-trained as an Electronics Engineer, becoming a part of the Penrose empire. He repaired countless electricals over the years including: a Falcon tracker, an electromagnetic sheep feeder, a grain moisture tester, a Racing Pigeon weighing machine and a Bull ejaculator! The job also involved climbing ladders and sorting out aerials and satellite dishes; one of their clients being the Duke of Northumberland. The shop had a fantastic group of electricians over the years, but the stalwart remains David Darling, an Amble lad who began his apprenticeship for George Penrose and Sons at the age of 15 in 1964, semi-retiring in 2018 after 54 years.  

Peter married Ann Bell in 1980 and they have two children, a son Nicholas (whose middle name is Penrose) and a daughter Sophie, the author of this blog.

At age 15, I worked in the shop as an assistant (albeit not a very good one!) helping at the counter and answering the phone. Fast forward 10 years and I learned a small part of the repair trade from my dad, fixing G.H.D hair straighteners. It was wonderful to feel part of the business in the way my father, grandfather and great grandfathers were.

In their final years, Ken and Penny could be seen behind the counter or in the office, chatting with customers and friends alike, appearing on the Playhouse stage to great aplomb and laughing and enjoying their grandchildren and great grandchildren in their house on the hill. Penny passed away in 2000 and a huge presence disappeared from our lives. With her and Ken went the generation that saw and did so much. They lived through wars but brought peace wherever they went.

Of course, technology has its advantages, but with progress comes huge change. Small businesses suffer when customers can find what they need online. It’s certainly cheaper to ‘buy a new one’ rather than get it repaired.

The final Penrose, Peter, retired from the business in 2017 and passed it into the very capable hands of Guy Filer and his wife Sarah. They continued to trade from the premises under the name ‘Penroses’ for two years before it became impossible to continue. Unfortunately, this seems to be the case now for many local and family businesses and it has had a huge impact on a town that was once a thriving and vibrant community.  Their business has however continued in a different vein, focussing just on aerial and satellite work.

The Penrose family have reconnected on occasion; Peter visited his Great-Uncle Fred at his house in Amble when he moved back to the area in the 70s. He also met family again in later years at the funeral of a cousin and Fred’s great-grand-daughter joined Alnwick Theatre Club, taking part in their annual pantomime. Penny would have been proud.

George Junior is the business’ namesake. The second son of Owl Pen and Hannah was born in 1864. The story of his elder brother, Thomas, is a sad and rather morbid one. In terms of our own passed down memories, nothing was really known of Thomas. Born in 1859, he disappeared from the census; his last mention was in 1881 age 22. He is detailed as being blind and then all trace vanishes. Rumour was he ended up in an asylum, but the reasons why were unknown, or at least not spoken of. After some digging at Northumberland Archives, he was discovered as having ended up in St George’s, Morpeth in 1891 aged 32.

It seems as well as being blind, he was epileptic, which is maybe why he ‘was violent, shouting, swearing threatening to injure others his father in particular…’  He died in 1903 aged 44 and was buried in Morpeth.

As with all family history, the truths we uncover are not always happy ones.

George Junior began his apprenticeship as a hairdresser with Mr Mark Patterson of Narrowgate, Alnwick. This then led to him opening his own Hairdressing business in Wellwood Street, Amble in 1883, later moving to a larger premises in Queen Street.

He married Charlotte Gibson in 1885, and, as well as starting a rather large family, George expanded his business portfolio to include tobacconists, sweetshops and penny bazaars, as well as a facility for charging accumulator batteries.  These were very heavy, plastic batteries full of acid. The acid gradually turned to alkaline as the battery ran down. When people bought a radio, it came with two batteries so that one would always be charged. This was a very popular service.

He opened new branches in Radcliffe, Broomhill, Red Row and of course, Alnwick. He and Charlotte had 14 children, only five of whom survived.

George’s eldest son, William, left to join the war effort in 1916, as a clerk in the Northumberland Fusiliers.

After a posting to Bombay, he contracted smallpox and malaria, returning home in 1919.  He joined the family business and began making radio sets for family and friends in the 1920s but realising the potential for this ‘wireless telegraph’, he began to go on to sell them. This was only the beginning as soon, with high demand, he had to source them from suppliers such as HMV and Columbia and thus, the family diversified into electrical goods.

In 1935, George Penrose died, six years after his wife Charlotte. They are buried together in West Cemetery, Amble.

After his death, George left the businesses in the very capable hands of William. However, his siblings were not too happy with this idea, and this then led to a rather big falling out. To combat the resentment felt, William gave his younger brother, Fred, the business in Amble and to his sisters, the other shops in the surrounding areas. The family house in Amble, Farndale, became the home of Fred and his wife, Dorothy (nee McKay). The name itself comes from a valley located in the North York Moors, a tribute, perhaps, to their Yorkshire ancestry. Fred’s business was passed onto his son, another George after his death in 1987. This George was a familiar face in Amble, known for his haircutting abilities and his frequent visits to the betting shop!

Of all the businesses left by George Junior, William’s shop in Alnwick outlasted them all. William met and married Jane Douglass in 1920. Jane took an active role in the business and was fondly remembered for always having a fresh vase of flowers on the countertop every day. They had one daughter, Jane, born in 1922, who affectionately became known as Penny.

Sophie Towers, x3 great-granddaughter of the ‘original’ George Penrose, looks back at the origins of her family name and the legacies they left behind.

In 2023, we said goodbye to a place that holds a mountain of memories for our family. 

George Penrose and Sons was taken over in 2017 when the final Penrose retired; Peter Lewis being the 2x great grandson of the original George. The name and business Penroses are still in existence, thanks to Guy and Sarah Filer, but the shop itself has a new owner as well as a new trade.

The family can trace their lineage back to 1195 with the first recorded spelling of the name being Philip de Penros, a then resident of Cornwall during the reign of Richard the Lionheart; the likelihood being that they had travelled over with William the Conqueror in 1066.

 The coat of arms (see below) has the motto Rosa sine Spina translated as ‘A Rose without the Thorn’.

The family eventually moved to Yorkshire in 1680, settling near Fountains Abbey fish pools where trout and eels were reared.

In 1833, George Penrose Senior was born in Aldborough, North Yorkshire. He grew up in The Aldborough Arms, his father Thomas being the Innkeeper there. He began work as an Innkeeper himself at The Ship Inn, Aldborough and as a shoemaker but his passion was in playing cricket. As a professional player, he joined Alnwick Cricket Club, moving to Alnwick and living in Painters Hill (now the site of St. Michael’s Church Hall), in 1860. He and his wife Hannah had four children, Thomas, Annie, George Junior and Mary Jane.  

In an article from The Alnwick Mercury, dated Tuesday October 1st, 1861, George’s prowess on the Cricket field is noted – ‘the two crack bowlers, Messrs. Dixon and Penrose, are both benedicts, and their splendid bowling told heavily on their opponents.’ It seems George Senior was quite the sportsman & was certainly deserving of his visit to the ‘Nags Head’ that evening!

In and around the 1880’s George Senior, affectionately named “Owld Pen”, suffered an unfortunate fate, finding himself gored and crippled when picking mushrooms. According to his obituary in The Morpeth Herald, George Senior ‘went over the hedge [in Washburn Field], to gather mushrooms, and a cow in the field charged at him and gored him severely, breaking his leg, and causing other injuries.’ It is also noted that ‘…only through his strength and determination…he escaped with his life’. He was undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with, even by bovines! He was an avid fisherman, spending time on the River Aln ‘plying his art’. After his accident, the then 6^th Duke of Northumberland granted him ‘permission to fish in the “Pasture”’, a privilege only granted to the Percys themselves.

We find him again mentioned in The Alnwick Mercury in 1873, having caught a rather large fish ‘below the “Sumph” – ‘[it] was 22 inches in length, 11 ½ inches in girth, 5 inches deep at shoulder, and a weight 4 ½ lbs.’

His exploits at his Painter’s Hill home brought him to court in 1875 due to ‘wasting the town water’. It seems George felt that there was a ‘very serious deficiency’ and took matters into his own hands, ‘tying up the handle of his water-closet so as to allow the water to run full tap’. He was fined 15 shillings, including costs for this misdemeanour. 

George Penrose Senior passed away in 1902 aged 69. He was then residing with his daughter, Mary Jane Charlton in Aston Stevenage, Hertfordshire.