THE LIFE STORY OF ANNIE SARGENT

was to recur throughout his life. He was awarded the Queen Victoria medal, the campaign medal of the second Boer War. Upon his return to London, Jim obtained employment with the London Railways and he spoke in later life of seeing the tube railways being built. He was employed on the railways for a time as a searcher, which entailed going onto trains once they had pulled in to a station and searching it for anything left behind. On one occasion he had to search the Royal train when he came across a Gentleman’s scarf thrown over the back of a chair. The scarf belonged to King George V and Jim was sent to Buckingham Palace to return it. At the Palace gates he was directed to the Head Butler’s door where he was invited in for whiskey and a cigar. On another occasion he found a pouch full of Gold Sovereigns that had slipped down the back of the seat and upon returning them to their owner, he was rewarded for his honesty.

Annie’s mother, Margaret Thompson nee Harris was born in Norfolk, England in 1890. Her father was the Head Gamekeeper at Felbrigg Hall, North Cromer. Felbrigg Hall is now a National Trust property after it was donated to the nation in 1969 by the last owner as he had no heir to leave it to. Margaret Thompson was one of ten girls and two boys, and the children of the estate all helped their parents in their duties once they were able. As a Gamekeeper Margaret’s father had to look after the game that was found on the estate, such as pheasants, deer and hares. Game was both a sporting pursuit for the wealthy and a food source. One of the Gamekeepers’ roles was to stop poachers who would hunt and kill the game to sell or eat themselves; in addition to managing the game so that the owner could enjoy both the sport of hunting if he was so inclined, and the pleasure of eating the spoils. Margaret recounted stories of her time at Felbrigg Hall to her own children. From a young age the Gamekeepers’ children would help with the plucking of the birds, a painstaking task as the skin of birds such as pheasants is fragile and will tear if handled roughly. Another job involved gathering acorns in bags after they had fallen from the trees as these could be sold to local farmers to feed their pigs. The