Albert Edward PICKETT was a rogue, according to every grandchild of his that I have spoken to. Almost all of them amend it to: 'A rogue, but a lovable one'. We've heard, but got no proof, that Albert was a bit of a womaniser. When my grandfather, Horie, spoke of his father, his love and respect and interest in what his father did was obvious, but then his voice would soften when he spoke of his mother. Nell, was a very gentle, timid creature.

Much of the following was written by the third child (Horie Pickett) of Albert Edward Pickett and Eleanor Elizabeth Grummitt.

Albert Edward Pickett, (usually known as Albert) was born on 30th September 1881 at 5 Canterbury Place, Myrtle Street, Islington. He married Eleanor Elizabeth Grummitt (usually known as Nell) at St. Ann's Church, Tottenham on 1st October 1905. When first married they lived at Rowley Road or Gardens, Harringay, Wood Green. Sonny and Belle were born there. They moved to Chestnut Cottage, Prospect Place, East Finchley, London N2 in September/October 1910, where their third child was born. Albert's brother Will and his wife went to New Zealand in January 1911. Before they left, they gave this new baby a beautiful matinee coat.

Albert served an apprenticeship as a painter and decorator - he was a super paperhanger. His boss wouldn't pay him the full rate. As the Boer War had started, he went to Canterbury and joined the 5th Royal Irish Lancers. On the way to South Africa, they stopped at one of the Canary Islands for water, and to exercise the horses. He signed up for 21 years, seven with the Colours, 12 with the Reserves. While in the army, to get extra pay, he became a Rough Rider, in other words, to break new horses in. He finished up a full blown Private. In other words, he never progressed to a higher rank.

We're not sure when he came out; it could be 1903-4. He didn't go back into the building trade. He joined the Post Office as a night letter sorter on the railway, London to Carlisle, until the Great War. As he was a Reservist, he was one of the first to be called up. At some time in the war, his regiment, the Lancers, were being relieved by the Hussars and in this regiment was his brother Jack - they were able to wave to each other. He was in the Mons Battle and had a leg wound in 1916, got a whiff of gas, and was sent home. Albert was rather upset when Nell took Sonny, Belle and Horie to see him in hospital (Middlesex Hospital, Edmonton), as the kids didn't recognise him in blue hospital uniform and without his walrus moustache.

When he went back, he became an Officer's Batman, spent some time in Ireland. While he was a batman there, he somehow got a large gammon joint which he sent home to The Cottage at East Finchley.

The next uniform he wore was as a postman.

Round about 1920-1, Albert took Horie to the Docks on the Thames. His brother Jack, wife Emma and children, Evelyn, Norman, Grace and Jack were on their way to New Zealand (they settled in the Gisborne area).

Horie, Sonny, Isabel (Belle), Gladys (and Sid for a while) went to school at Holy Trinity Church School, East End Road, East Finchley, N2.

Sometime about 1922, to save money, the Sunday roast was bought as late on Saturday afternoon as possible (when the prices were reduced). Their 12 year old son was sent to fetch a large joint of beef. He had to catch several buses to get this, and then struggle back with the meat. After Sunday lunch, Albert used to settle down on the sofa to have a sleep. They had a pet rabbit, who used to jump on his chest and had a sleep with him!

Albert had pneumonia and pleurisy in 1921 and 1922. On one of these occasions, the doctor told his wife (Nell Grummitt) that if there were any members of the family who needed to see him, to get them quickly because he wasn't going to last long. He was about 40 at this time. He lived until he was 89.

While Albert was a postman, he also worked for a Mr. Rooke, a jobbing builder. Albert did all his paper hanging for him. We're not sure when he left the post office. It may have been 1924-5. He got a big job of decorating at a guest house at Harrow, where he met a Major Pigott. They later became partners, known as Pigott and Pickett, building new houses at East Finchley, Wembley (twice) and Sudbury. Horie went to work with them in 1927 They dissolved the partnership in 1929. Albert went on his own then, building single dwellings at odd plots, including on his kitchen garden, one of which became Horie's and his new wife's - Albert gave them the deposit to 139A Friern Park, London N12, as a wedding present. He also built Ted and Ellen Scale's house at Arnos Grove (80 The Limes Avenue, New Southgate) for them. (Ted and Ellen Scales were the parents of Albert and Nell's new daughter-in-law, Rene (Horie's wife).

Albert and Nell Pickett moved from The Cottage to The Homestead, 137 Friern Park, in about 1927/8.

Getting back to Albert, Horie had to leave him several times when he hadn't work. In 1936-7 Albert was building some very nice houses at Potter's Bar. Unfortunately, they didn't sell, he was bankrupt. They left The Homestead in about 1936, and moved to 96 Hadley Road, High Barnet.

Because the building trade had been so uncertain for years, Albert's fifth child had badgerred Horie to go into a factory where he worked. They made the famous Bren gun. After talking it over with his wife Rene, Horie decided to give it a try. He isn't sure what Albert was doing for a living at this time.

When the war came, and London was being bombed, Albert led a Rescue Team, saving people and goods from bombed properties. He actually got a front page write up in the Daily Mirror.

RESCUE SQUAD DEFY BOMB Twelve rescue squad men, led by their chief and an A.R.P. warden, searched the wreckage of three shattered houses in a London district during the weekend. Across the road a delayed action bomb had fallen. The men had volunteered for the job. As they tore away at wreckage, recovering the bodies of victims of a Hitler bomb, they heard explosions now and then in the distance. "Our turn next." laughed one of them. In their first six hours' work the men recovered the bodies of three men and one woman. They were told there were four more people missing. Cheered by Crowd With an occasional glance across the road, the men worked on. At the end of the road, behind barricades, crowds of people, ordered from their homes, silently watched the men. As work stopped for two minutes while the men gulped cups of tea, a hatless woman shouted: "Three cheers for the heroes!" The crowd responded. The volunteers waved and went back to their work. Leading them was Mr. A. E. Pickett, L.C.C. clerk of works and rescue squad chief. He said: "The moment I was told I could call for volunteers to start the search, I had all the men of my six available squads marshalled. "I told them of the dangers, but out of sixty men forty-three stepped forward. I selected a dozen and we raced straight here. "These men are heroes, every man jack of them. They don't care a damn for bombs. They've got a job of work to do, and they get on with it without a murmur. "That's the spirit that will win this war."

When the bombing eased up a little, the Powers-That-Be, gave him a cottage at Dane Hill in Sussex, with a job of looking after 40 Italian Prisoners of War doing farm work. When the people in the area of London where he did bomb disposal, heard that he was leaving, they had a collection for him, and arranged a slap up dinner party for him. At the end of the war, the Italians were repatriated and were replaced with Germans until 1947.

Albert and Nell stayed in the cottage for several years, before moving to a flat in East Barnet. They had been pensioners for some years.

Albert Pickett died of stomach cancer when he was about 89.

For more details of Albert's domestic life, see his wife, Nell's, story.