A story of sex and scandal at London's Savoy Hotel has emerged after two sides of one of Suffolk's best-known families got together after the publication of a story in the EADT.

Three years ago we published a story about Biddy Chambers from Devon, a descendent of the Pretty family of clothing manufacturers, who visited Suffolk to visit a sewing festival and find out more about her ancestors.

The online version was spotted by Karen Tinsley, who lives in Greater Manchester. She knew her grandfather was (Leonard) Ernest Pretty who had made her grandmother pregnant after they met at the Savoy.

She contacted Biddy - and now the families have met up in Suffolk - at the Sutton Hoo home of Ernest's brother Frank.

Ernest and Frank - who was married to Edith who called in Basil Brown to unearth the Saxon burial ship at Sutton Hoo - were the sons of William Pretty, who ran the clothing factory in Ipswich's Tower Ramparts.

Ernest was married to Marguerite and the couple had two girls, Barbara (Biddy's grandmother) and Audrey.

A quarter of a century after Barbara was born, Ernest had a brief liaison with Nellie Allen who was in service at London's Savoy Hotel - and that resulted in her becoming pregnant with two boys.

Nellie was originally from south Wales, and returned there while pregnant. She took Ernest to court in Carmarthen in the early 1930s to prove paternity - and he was ordered to pay her £1 a week for the children (it is not clear this was for each boy or both).

Nellie gave them her surname - but one of the boys was called Ernest, suggesting to the family that she may have retained some affection for their father.

The case did cause quite a stir in south Wales and Karen thinks news of it may also have reached Suffolk because of the Pretty name and the general interest in this kind of scandal at the time.

Ernest Allen (known by some as Godfrey) was Karen's father - he was born in south Wales but moved to London and met her mother when he was on a trip to Manchester for a football match.

She said her side of the family knew all about the court case and the scandal that it caused at the time - but Biddy knew nothing about this side of her family's history.

She said: "I don't know if my grandmother knew. She was very family-orientated so it might be that she did, but she chose not to say anything about it."

Karen has been very keen on researching family history and when she read about Biddy's visit to Suffolk she contacted her on social media to ask if she was descended from Ernest Pretty and told her about their family connection. DNA tests have proved that they are closely related.

This week has been the first time the two sides of the family have met - they booked holiday lets at Tranmer House on the Sutton Hoo estate which was the home of Frank and Edith Pretty before the Second World War.

Biddy said: "It's the first time we have met but we'll certainly stay in touch now."

Also staying at Sutton Hoo is Derek's daughter Donna Gould from the New Forest in Hampshire and her sister-in-law Kate Allen from Somerset. They are also joined by Karen's husband Christopher and grandson Alfie.


Nellie's side of the family all knew each other very well already, but this was their first time to meet up with Biddy.

While Nellie won the court case in the early 1930s, it is not clear how much she gained from it financially.

Biddy said: "From what my grandmother said, he was always rather strapped for cash - so I don't think there would have been much for them."

And Ernest did not live that long after the court case - he died in 1935 by which time he had no connection with the family factory and had moved away from Suffolk to live in Surrey.

But now the current generation of Pretty family members have discovered their family's old home turf they may well make return trips to Suffolk!