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When I was a lad, it's fair to say that I was embarrassed by my middle name.
Everyone else at school who admitted to a second initial seemed to have a nice,
ordinary name, like James or John. I was stuck with Freston.
Why Freston? Well, my dad's full name is
Donald John Freston Broom: note that
he has both an ordinary and an extraordinary middle name.
But why does he also have this unusual name? Because it was his mum's maiden
name, that's why. My grandmother's full name was
Ivy Miriam Patrick Freston, before she married a Broom.
And, in order to carry on the family name, it was given to my dad as a middle
name, then to me.
In turn, and to ensure that he suffers the same embarrassment at school, we've
handed it on a further generation to our son,
Theo Freston Broom. He'll learn
to like it in due course, hopefully.
Recently, digging around the family tree, I discovered that my grandmother's
father was called
Frederick Freston, and that he used to be part of
Freston Bros., a haulage business in Ipswich
from years and years ago.
Freston, the Village
Confusingly, Freston is also the name of a small village to the south of
Ipswich, home to The Boot (the local pub), St Peters Church and
Freston Tower.
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Frederick Charles Freston
b. 1870 (?)
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v
Ivy Patrick Miriam Freston
b. 1902
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v
Donald John Freston Broom
b. 1935
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v
Edward Freston Broom
b. 1966
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v
Theo Freston Broom
b. 2000
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