William Pett Fridge - A Son of the State: 'He flicked the black ash from the fag end in the manner of one five times his age''

William Pett Ridge was born at Chartham, near Canterbury, Kent on 22nd April 1859.

His family’s resources were certainly limited. His father was a railway porter, and his son, after schooling in Marden, Kent became a clerk in a railway clearing house