F Warren Dillow

Frederick Warren Dillow was born in Kington to Alfred and Annie Dillow, the second of five children (three of whom survived into adulthood). Alfred was the schoolmaster of the local board school, and was also the organist and choirmaster for over 50 years in the church of St Mary. Frederick must have received a good standard of education because by 1911 he was a bank clerk in the Metropolitan Bank, Kington.

The Metropolitan Bank became incorporated into the Midland Bank in 1914, and Frederick remained an employee of the Midland Bank for the entirety of his working life. However, the arrival of WW1 was to put a temporary hiatus on his burgeoning banking career.

Frederick’s service record does not seem to have survived, so to get a picture of his army career one needs to piece together information from his medal roll, local newspaper reports and mentions in ‘despatches’ – often the London Gazette. Frederick joined the Herefordshire Regiment as a private #2402. His first theatre of war was Gallipoli which he entered on 16th July 1915. The Gallipoli Campaign was an attempt by the allied forces to weaken the Ottoman empire by taking control of the Turkish straits. Fighting was intensive, and lasted 8 months with a massive loss of life on both sides. Loss of life was so great that after being in Gallipoli for only a month, Private Dillow was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. This website here The Herefordshire Regiment in the First World War, 1914 - 18, Ewyas Lacy Study Group provides a detailed and harrowing account which includes some first hand memories and recollections. At the start of March 1916, having been evacuated to Egypt with the rest of the Herefordshire Regiment to recover, Frederick had been temporarily promoted to Lieutenant. Frederick was fully made up into Lieutenant in November 1917, perhaps in the Jerusalem offensive. His final promotion was to that of Captain, with responsibility for bayonet and physical training. This came into force at the start of March 1918, and lasted until the 13th February 1919 when Frederick was restored to the establishment.

Frederick signed his pig on 11th September 1916, presumably having been given some time on leave. On first glance, it is hard to see how a bank official would come to appear in a guest book owned by landed gentry. However, through using local newspapers to follow Frederick’s career, it soon became very apparent that he was a gifted musician – specifically a baritone – and regularly took part in operatic, theatre and concert hall productions. For example in the Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser (16th December 1922) “ Mr Warren Dillow is leaving at the end of the year to take charge of a new branch of the bank at Horsham. His departure is greatly regretted throughout the district where he has earned great popularity and esteem by reason of his musical and histrionic gifts……[he will be] greatly missed from local concert platforms and both the Trowbridge and Melksham Amateur Operatic Societies”. Could it have been through his musical activities that he became known to the Lovetts?

From the beginning of 1923, Frederick is settled in Horsham where he was the manager of the local branch of the Midland Bank. Perhaps as a way of meeting new people, Frederick swiftly became involved in the amateur concert scene of West Sussex. One report from the West Sussex Gazette (15th February 1923) details a “successful concert in Slinford Village Hall” which featured Frederick, and also notes that Mrs Hunter Dobbie accompanied the performers. Mrs Hunter Dobbie was the widow of Captain J Hunter Dobbie of Slinford House and had died in April 1921 after contracting influenza. Violet Dobbie was a talented pianist and perhaps that caught the attention of Frederick.

In the spring of 1924, Frederick and Violet married. A daughter, Jean, was born in 1925 with a son, John, following in February 1927. Tragically, shortly after the birth of John, Violet caught pneumonia which then turned into influenza. She never recovered and died February 18th 1927 aged just 40.

Frederick remained in Horsham until 1933. He was given a position in the Pall Mall branch of the Midland Bank (West Sussex County Times, 7th July 1933). The 1939 register shows Frederick living at Sussex Cottage, West Common, Cuckfield with one of his children (the register is closed so we are not able to see whether this was Jean or John) and his stepson, Brooke Hunter Dobbie. Brooke seems to have remained close to his half-siblings; he acted as best man at John’s wedding to Pamela Williams (Worthing Gazette, 27 August 1952). In the same year that John married Pamela, Jean married Antony Bligh who would become a consultant radiologist at University Hospital, Cardiff (Antony Stigant Bligh | RCP Museum (rcplondon.ac.uk)). Jean and Antony retired to a small Herefordshire village barely 12 miles from where Frederick grew up.

In later years, Frederick moved to 89 Vicars Moor Lane, Winchmore Hill where John and Pamela lived. He died there on 8th November 1964.