In 1928 Marjorie Franckeiss, half-English and half-Italian and known as Madge, was a 20-year-old clerk who became a hero by rescuing 3 people from a flooded building.
On the night of 6 January Madge and her brother Peter, 15, were in a basement flat at Hurlingham Court Mansions staying overnight with the Watson family, Billy, 10, Irene and Dorothy, both 23, and Billy's mother. Madge woke at 2am, to find her room filling with water. She couldn't open the door so she smashed a window and swam to safety. Despite being cut by the broken glass she returned 3 times to rescue Peter, Billy, and Billy's mother. Irene and Dorothy could not be saved. That's the story told by , 96 years after the event, when the plaque was erected.
Just 5 days after the event the told the story quite differently. It's almost certainly a syndicated story, from a reporter at the Westminster Coroners Court. Certainly the 3 people were rescued, but the confusion, urgency and effort involved are more apparent. It's not clear that Madge and Billy were staying with the Watsons, they could have been neighbours. The water washed Madge and another woman out of their room and into another, from where Madge first swam out the window. People in a nearby house assisted, apparently hanging out of their window and using sheets to drag those rescued from the water.
The Lord Mayor of London (either Sir Charles Batho or Sir Kynaston Studd, depending on the date) presented Madge with a certificate and medal to commemorate her bravery. She later married, became Madge Vaidya and moved to Delhi.
This image comes from a very short walking in a group with 4 other people at Fulham Hospital where she was treated after her ordeal.
Madge met her husband – Indian author, journalist and freedom fighter, Suresh Vaidya – in London. At the time she was studying to be a mezzo-soprano and he was writing his first book. During WW2 Vaidya fought a legal battle against the conscription of colonial subjects into the British Army. He won the case but life in London became difficult so in 1943 he and Madge left London for Mumbai. To raise funds she sold jewellery including the bravery medal. One of their 2 daughters, , became an actress and married playwright-director Gopal Sharman. The has photos of Madge in later life.
Sources: , , , .
Our colleague, Andrew Behan, adds that the birth of Marjorie Doris Franckeiss was registered in the 2nd quarter of 1907 in the Richmond Registration District, Surrey (now Greater London). She was a daughter of Frederic Ernest Franckeiss (1879-1965) and Ida Ernesta Elvira Franckeiss née Gay (1877-1966).
She was shown as Madge Franckeiss, aged 5 years, and boarding with her parents and her sister, Nina Mary Franckeiss (1904-1994) in a 6 roomed property at 11 Apsley Road, Bedford, Bedfordshire, on the census return form that was completed on 2 April 1911 by the widowed occupier Mrs Elizabeth Collins. Her father was described as a furniture salesman. Confusingly, both she and her sister are shown as having been born in Twickenham, Middlesex (now Greater London), but this area is not covered by the Richmond Registration District where her birth was registered, but by the Brentford Registration District, Middlesex (now Greater London).
Electoral registers in 1929 show her and her mother listed at 133 Avenue Road, Acton, Middlesex (now Greater London), but in 1930 and 1931 they show her and both of her parents listed at 77 Hotham Road, London, SW15.
She married Dowlat Jay Vaidya in the 2nd quarter of 1935 in the Fulham Registration District, London.
She is shown as 'Madge Vaidya' on the memorial plaque attached to the wall at the entrance to Hurlingham Park Entrance, Hurlingham Road, London, SW6.
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