However, this meant that Julia, instead of living with her parents, was unsupervised and had the freedom to do what she wanted.
Mimi did this so that her favourite nephew, John, would be closer to her. Meanwhile, Julia's older childless sister Mimi had arranged for Julia and John to live in their own cottage, one that Mimi's husband George Smith owned. Freddie finally returned to Liverpool 18 months after he left.
By the time he was cleared, he had served all but nine days of this sentence. Freddie, along with several other members of the crew, were sentenced to three-months in prison, accused of 'stealing by finding'. On the voyage, other crewmembers onboard were involved in cigarette and alcohol smuggling, and in North Africa a bottle of whiskey was found in his cabin. Freddie was then forced to sail on the next available ship, the Sammex which was heading to the Far East. This caused Julia great financial problems. Instead he was charged with desertion, taken into custody by immigration officers and interned on Ellis Island and his wages were stopped. Anxious to return to his wife, he deliberately missed this boat, hoping to catch the next ship sailing back to England. Due to a mix-up, Freddie was instead assigned to the Berengaria, a ship due to sail to the Middle East. In New York, Freddie was promised a promotion to Chief Steward and a position onboard one of the new Liberty ships due to sail back to England. Freddie claimed that he chose the name John after his father, although John's Aunt Mary, known as Mimi, would always insist that she chose the name John. Freddie left in August 1940 onboard the Empress of Canada and was in New York when his son, John, was born on 9 October, 1940. Between 19, he only spent three months in Liverpool due to his compulsory war duties. War Serviceĭuring the Second World War Freddie served in the Merchant Navy. On his return he was informed that his father-in-law, George Stanley, had offered to share his two-bedroom house with the happy couple. Shortly after the wedding Freddie was called away to sea. They did not tell their families, except Freddie's older brother Sydney, who was his witness. Despite this, they married on 3 December, 1938 at the Mount Pleasant Registry Office 1. On each voyage he would write letters to Julia, who never replied. On his voyages he frequently entertained passengers and crew with his singing and comedy act. In March 1930 Freddie was employed by Cunard on the SS Montrose, the first of many ships he would work on as a steward.
Marriage to Julia Stanleyįreddie met middle-class Julia Stanley shortly after he left the orphanage, when he was 15, in Sefton Park. Although he travelled to Glasgow with them, he was found and returned. Freddie hated the orphanage and when he was 14 he ran away and successfully auditioned to join Will Murray's musical show. When his father died in 1919 his mother, unable to look after all her children, gave Freddie, only seven, and his younger sister Edith to the Bluecoat Orphanage. He suffered badly from rickets as a child, which prevented his legs from fully growing, resulting in his being much shorter than the rest of his family. Childhoodįreddie was born in 1912, the fourth of five surviving sons and one daughter of John 'Jack' and his second wife, Mary 'Polly' Lennon. This was something John never forgave his father for. As John was born in 1940, during the Second World War, National Service prevented Freddie from being with his son during his formative years. It is true that he did not spend much time with his son during his early childhood. In many biographies he has been perhaps unfairly accused of deserting his son. Alfred 'Freddie' Lennon, father of Beatle John Lennon, had an almost outrageously unbelievable life.
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