Its been a few years since I first heard a remarkable tale about a tortoise that had ‘survived the Blitz’ and was something of a local celebrity in a quiet corner of Tooting. It took a while to track him down and hear the full story. On the night of 1st July 1944 at 1130pm, a VI ‘doodlebug’ landed at Renmuir Street near Tooting Junction station. Seven people were killed. It was the third doodlebug to land on the area that day. At just after 1pm, two people were killed in Freshwater Road. At 325pm three people died on Rectory Lane at the junction with Welham Road. During the week commencing 25th June, 125 flying bombs fell on this area of south London. 357 people were killed and thousands injured in what is considered one of the worst weeks of the rocket campaign. This was the frightening world that Freddie the tortoise emerged into nearly 80 years ago.
Pam was about 5 or 6 and had been evacuated to Port Talbot. Her father was fighting in Burma. The family returned to their home at 13 Glasford Street to face one of the worst periods of the War. Her memory is that the doodlebug struck a civilian shelter in Renmuir Street which accounted for most of the casualties. Very likely the incident described above. Not long after, her older brother Alan had gone out with his mate looking for shrapnel souvenirs when they saw what looked like a discarded military kit bag. Inside were two small tortoises. Alan’s mate took Teddy who sadly went into hibernation that autumn and never re-emerged. The other tortoise he gave to his sister and eight decades later Pam and Freddie are still together. The family had no idea how he came to be there or how old he was but one theory was that he was brought back to England by a serviceman on leave, perhaps from Greece or the Middle East.
The family moved just a few streets away after the War into the house where Pam still lives. Freddie soon settled down. Pam attended Sellincourt School. They had chickens, ducks and a budgie but all got along with amiable Fred. He was there when Pam’s Mum harangued the landlord to put in a bath so they didn’t have to troop off to the ‘slipper baths’ at Tooting Broadway to have a scrub. He was around in the swinging sixties when The Beatles, The Stones and Jimi Hendrix all played at The Granada.
Pam has no idea precisely what kind of tortoise Freddie is but he is an adventurous character prone to going AWOL into neighbouring gardens. On one occasion he was returned on a shovel. Not one to be pushed around, he wasn’t afraid of the occasional spat with a much larger tortoise who lived next door. He even took a little bite once of gentle Pam. Freddie moves deceptively fast across the floor and this active high-energy lifestyle perhaps explains his excellent health and why he has never seen a vet.
His plant-based diet is also to be admired. He’s particularly partial to little gem lettuce and the dandelion stalks that local children often leave on his doorstep. With Freddie in mind, neighbours plant runner beans every Spring. These are harvested right through September for him to munch on the flowers and leaves. For years he was part of the family and Pam feels very special to have had a lifelong connection with him. Her front room has a number of turtle-themed ornaments and artworks paying testament to the devotion of friends and neighbours. An altercation with a fox saw Freddie flat on his back and he retreated into his shell for a while so Pam does need to keep an eye on his movements. Unpredicatable weather patterns and climate change have also messed him up a bit. It was mid-November and he’d only just gone into hibernation on the bright sunny morning I first called. Pam had a check to make sure he hadn’t awakened but there was no movement so it looked like I would have to wait to meet him.
Its not hard to picture what happened in Renmuir Street today with a cluster of new-build 1950s properties half-way down the street on both sides of the road contrasting with the Edwardian houses built along the River Graveney. Pam recalled hearing about the bomb cutting out and crashing through the alleyway between Glasford and Renmuir Streets, flattening a corner-shop. The brick-built shelter was at street level and not fit for purpose. Very fortunately Pam’s family couldn’t make it to the shelter in time on the night of the bombing and she recalls them hiding in the front room.
A post war map shows a huge bomb-site with nothing between 15-45 Renmuir Street where Doland Court now stands and a vast section at the end of Longley Road also disappeared.
According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s list of ‘Civilian Dead in the Second World War’, these are the people who were killed that night.
Charles Rummens (65) 31 Renmuir Street
Daisy Priestnall (60) 29 Renmuir Street
Albert Priestnall (59) 29 Renmuir Street
Elsie Priestnall (29) of 27 Byton Road, died at 29 Renmuir Street
Brian Priestnall (21 months) of 27 Byton Road, died at 29 Renmuir Street
Harold Good (52) 29a Renmuir Street
Elizabeth Jackson (77) 187a Longley Road
In a week of terrible news with bombs still falling around the world killing innocent civilians, hearing Freddie’s story and observing a beautiful lifelong bond with Pam raised my spirits. Six months later I was back to meet him for real. On a grey day it seemed even the promise of fresh little gem and a handful of wallflowers wasn’t going to coax him from his cosy straw bed, but as the sun came out, so did Freddie.
I truly felt I was in the presence of someone very special and as I crouched in Pam’s garden it was the greatest thrill to have him amble across to have a little sniff of me. I might just have been to Hillbrook School to talk about the War but the message was clear ‘You don’t know the half of it, mate – I was there’. I was honoured. I’ve had a few historical adventures over the years but few to match this. All the things this little feller has seen, all the people that have passed through his life… it’s unimaginable. It was the greatest privilege to meet you Freddie.
December 2025 update. Unfortunately, after a short illness, Pam sadly passed away on 20 November 2025. Freddie has moved nearby into a new home. In May as part of its commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Wandsworth Council made this lovely little film of Pam and Freddie’s story.