Peter Arendzen (born 1887), my grandfather, was the only one of five sons who didn’t become a priest. He was due to enter a seminary to study theology but he was forced to give up his place in favour of his errant brother Leo, who was already studying for the priesthood but had just been expelled from another seminary.
Leo had been tending his chickens on the roof of the seminary (illicitly) when he heard someone approaching. In a panic that he would be discovered, he pushed the chickens off the roof and they fluttered down around a priest walking the grounds reciting his breviary. Apparently, this wasn’t the first time he had been in trouble and this proved to be the final straw.
Peter went on to study first medicine and then electrical engineering, and later became responsible for the supply of electricity to the South East. He married Winifred Winebloom, a postmaster’s daughter from Leeds, and they had four children – three daughters and one son.
Click the following link for interactive tree and further information on Peter Arendzen
Peter and Winifred Arendzen with their son John
Peter and Winifred with their son "little John" who lost his life at sixteen in a rowing incident at Beaumont School.
A little searching on the internet has confirmed the location for this picture as "Ye Olde Fighting Cocks" in Abbey Mill Lane, St Albans, Hertfordshire. According to The Guiness Book of Records, this is the oldest public house in Britain, constructed in the 11th century on an 8th century site.
Archive: Matthew Stancombe.