| Sidney Bearne, Stoker and Hero of 'Three Before Breakfast' |
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| Written by Gina Dennis | |
| Friday, 23 February 2007 | |
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The following is a story edited from e-mails sent to us by Tina Wignall, a Bearne descendent. Sidney Bearne and his wife May adopted my mother; they lived in Weymouth in Dorset. There were three Victorian sisters, Florence, Maggie and May, they each had a husband or fiancée on board one of the three destroyers sunk by a u-boat as described the book Three Before Breakfast. My grandfather was a stoker and saved the flag. Of the three, only he survived. From newspaper cuttings, I know that Florence’s fiancée was drowned and Maggie’s husband also perished, so my grandfather always maintained that the flag got caught on him since, to rescue a flag when so many perished would have been considered wrong. Maggie went mad and spent the rest of her life waiting for her husband to return. Florence married her fiancée's brother and had children. May and my grandfather couldn't have children and so they adopted my mother. I’ll try to find out more on the Bearne side. I was told as a child that once the lifeboat was skippered by my granddad’s family, all related, brothers, father etc. I would love to know more about my grandfather and his brothers - he died in 1962.
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 23 February 2007 ) |