A Journey Through Reigate's Past - The Sad Story of Charlie Fuller
| When this Snook picture was obtained by me I had no idea of who Charlie Fuller was or where his shop had been located. I decided to put it in the Surrey Mirror (with the kind co-operation of Yesteryear Editor Mark Davison) and the picture was recognised by Rosemary Gill of Reigate, to whom I am indebted for the loan of the pictures below of Charlie Fuller himself. | ||
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Charlie Fuller pictured looking
business-like at the back of his shop and in more relaxed
mode on a bench somewhere. Charlie's father was Frank
Langton Fuller; his mother Susannah Mary Ann Rowe of
Croydon. For a while they lived at Haywarden Terrace in
Clarendon Road, Redhill, before moving to Station Road,
Redhill. Frank died when Charlie was young, leaving his
widow to bring up the family alone. |
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| Charlie Fuller's wedding group photo, taken in the summer of 1918, and, right, with his bride, Margaret Hollands, from near Godstone.It is noticable that in none of the pictures is Charlie smiling. Whether this is in any way significant is unknown, as is anything about his involvement in the armed forces during WW1. | ||
The sad part of this story is that only weeks after his wedding Charlie was dead, killed by the Spanish Flu epidemic, first reported in Switzerland in February 1918, and which swept around the world. The most susceptible seemed to be men aged between 21 and 40. Charlie was aged only twenty-eight when he died in the last quarter of 1918. On the right is pictured Charlie's fish shop as it is today at 42 High Street, Reigate. The dowstairs window has become a door and the shop frontage has changed but otherwise the building is the same, with the old sash windows still in situ.
Thanks to: - |
| Picture Alan Moore August 2006 | ||