Fanny Cradock
| Fanny Cradock | |
|---|---|
Cradock in 1976
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| Born |
Phyllis Nan Sortain Pechey 26 February 1909 Apthorp House, Fairlop Road, Leytonstone, London, England |
| Died | 27 December 1994 (aged 85) Ersham House, Hailsham, East Sussex, England |
| Years active | 1949–1987 |
| Known for | Cookery |
| Spouse(s) | Sidney A. Vernon Evans (1926–1927) (his death) Arthur W. Chapman (1928 – ?) (separated) Gregory Holden-Dye (1939 – ?) (annulled) Johnnie Cradock (1977–1987) (his death) |
| Children | Peter Evans Christopher Chapman |
Phyllis Nan Sortain Pechey (26 February 1909 – 27 December 1994), better known as Fanny Cradock, was an English restaurant critic, television celebrity chef and writer frequently appearing on television, at cookery demonstrations and in print with Major Johnnie Cradock who played the part of a slightly bumbling husband.
Cradock's family background was one of respectable middle class trade; her ancestors included the Pecheys (corn merchants and churchmen), the Vallentines (distillers) and the Hulberts (cabinet makers). She was the daughter of the novelist and lyricist Archibald Thomas Pechey and Bijou Sortain Hancock.
Cradock was born at her maternal grandparents' house, 33 Fairlop Road, Leytonstone. The birth was formally registered in London, in the district of West Ham. Fanny was given the name ‘Phyllis Nan S. Pechey’. The 'S' was for Sortain, a name that had been passed down through her mother's family.
As a child, Cradock lived with her family at Fairlop Road, with her maternal grandparents. A plaque, with her name misspelled, Fairwood Court, Fairlop Road, London E11: "Fanny Craddock 1909–1994. On this site until 1930 stood a house called Apthorp, birthplace of the famous TV cookery expert Fanny Craddock; born Phyllis Pechey."
Her birthplace was named after Apthorp Villa, in Weston, Somerset, where her grandfather Charles Hancock had been born. Cradock's parents did not manage their money well; her mother, Bijou, spent extravagantly, and her father, Archibald, had sizeable gambling debts, many run up in Nice. In attempting to keep their creditors at bay, the family moved around the country, going to Herne Bay in Kent, then to Swanage in Dorset and on to Bournemouth in Hampshire), where Archibald's brother, Richard Francis Pechey (1872–1963), had become the Vicar of Holy Trinity Church in 1912. Whilst in Bournemouth the 15-year-old Fanny attended Bournemouth High School (now Talbot Heath School).
Archibald moved the family again to Wroxham in Norfolk, c. 1927, where his creditors caught up with him and by 1930 he was appearing in Norfolk's bankruptcy court faced with debts of £3,500.
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