In the late hours of Monday 14th April/early hours of Tuesday 15th April 1941 (this was the Easter Holiday which came to be known as "Black Easter") 15 Queen's Road, Portland was demolished by a world war two bomb killing 6 members of the Farwell family and an unborn child of about 8 months.

There would have been about nine members of this large family at Queen's Road on that night: Archer (dad), NELLIE (mum), Charles Walter (Babe), his pregnant wife Charlotte (Lottie), Marion (Dinah), Cecil (Albert), Lionel and Peter. The eldest son, Archie, was away at sea and served on the Arctic Convoys, whilst elder daughters Doll and Lil were married as was son Les. Arthur (Len) lived at the family home but was attending the Easter Dance. The previous week had been son Les's wedding. Les was a Lance Bombadier with 103/522 Coastal Regiment whilst Len served in Africa.

On that fateful evening the three youngest boys, Albert 16, Lionel 11 and my father Peter 9, were luckily sleeping in the Anderson Shelter in the garden. The bomb was a direct hit on the property leaving 6 members of the family dead whilst the three youngest boys were terrifyingly buried in debris. Rescuers dug frantically from the outside trying to free them. Fifteen hours later the boys emerged with fingers raw and bleeding. The physical injuries including perforated eardrums would heal but the loss of their parents, siblings and home left the inevitable scars. Albert was rehomed with sister Lil on the Island whilst Peter and Lionel were moved away from familiar surroundings to live with sister Doll in Ealing.

Nellie was born 1st December 1888 at Brandy Row, Portland and was one of 13 children born to Frederick Richards Matthews and Matilda Alice Dollin. She herself had 12 children with her first child Archie in 1909 and her last child Peter in 1932. Nellie married Archer Farwell in 1909 at the Brackenbury Memorial Church. Archer was in military catering.

From 1912 to 1917 the family moved home several times from the Island to Aldershot, then Farnham and then Guildford before returning to Portland. Nellie was no stranger to the harsh realities of war having lost 2 of her brothers and an uncle in World War One. And now, all of her sons who were of age were in the military. It is perhaps ironic that the only one of those sons to be killed was her son Babe in his own home.

Memories of her are as a loving and kind woman who struggled through immense poverty to raise her children. Photographs of her are rare but the one of her sitting with Peter on her knee was kindly given to me by Pam Oswald.