A Family History of the Illustrious, Notorious and Eccentric Lloyds of Birmingham, Brigstock and Pipewell Hall - Flipbook - Page 94
WILLIAM FREDERICK LLOYD Uncle Billy, Uncle Welky
1899 - 1971
e second eldest of the siblings, Uncle Billy must have been a constant source of worry to his parents.
pewell, large stones, like oversize curling stones were used to keep the large hanging draught excluder
ns in place, and from hearsay, one of his brothers may have at some stage dropped one on Uncle
head which left him somewhat wonky forever after.
ely recollect from hearsay about Uncle Billy being cashiered from the army but this may just be my
nation about the blackest of the two black sheep of the Lloyd family. He joined the Fifth Lancers
ds the end of the First War. Although the Fifth Lancers were disbanded in 1921, Uncle Billy was still
at the Cavalry Club in Piccadilly in 1927. He attended the regiment's annual dinner at the Savoy held
night after the Derby where he had had a big win. In those days there was a cabby rank just
ite the Savoy, across the Strand, where the old type of cabs were still running with horses.
Billy rolled out of the Savoy Hotel, being as tight as a coot, went across the Strand, up to one of the
s, and said, "I want to go back to the Cavalry Club", "Very good, 'op inside" said the cabby. Uncle
ooked at him somewhat sourly, and said, "I don9t 'op inside, I am a Cavalry Officer, I ride" to which
bby replied, "You can't ride my bleeding horse". Uncle Billy then said, "Well, I'll buy the blighter
He took £30 out of his pocket, which was a lot of money in those days. This was too much for the
He could not resist it, seeing that Uncle Billy was tight, so he shoved the £30 in his pocket, took the
out of the shafts, rolled up the traces, and popped on top of the horse a very inebriated ex-cavalry
r, white tie, tail coat, top hat, the lot, who solemnly rode back along the Strand, through Trafalgar
e, and all the way up Piccadilly to the Cavalry Club. Outside the Cavalry Club there was a lamp
rd, so Uncle Billy fell off his horse, tied it to the lamp standard, and went on his hands and knees up
eps. He hammered on the door, and the night porter came out whom he told to give his horse a
mash, and then took himself off to bed.
uldn't remember much about it in the morning except that he had bought a horse. He looked out of
ndow, and, of course, the horse had gone, the cabby having followed him and taken the horse with
actually inherited a pair of riding jodhpurs which I wore for years when riding in Northamptonshire
Uncle Billy9s wife, Mittie Mary Starr Bailey (daughter of Sir Abraham Bailey). They had one son,
L (William Alexander Samuel Lloyd) whom I don9t remember ever meeting, and one daughter, Mary
Apparently, they moved to South Africa, and both died quite young.
