July 2025

	Reginald Aglio Dibdin "Rex" 1883-1957 Analytical Chemist - Engineer
About 1902		About 1914

Family Photograph

Introduction and Summary

Born the fifth child of William Joseph Dibdin and Marian (nee Aglio), Rex was the second son whose older brother was Lionel Aglio Dibdin.

He was a man of wide interests, which included art, music, astronomy, symbolism and hieroglyphics, and invention. In fact, this creative trait is one that seems to have flowed through much of the Dibdin Aglio Family with outlets in practical science, engineering, art and design.

Among all of his siblings, I feel that Rex was an enigma. In many ways he was like his father, a renaissance man with capabilities and interests in many directions and yet as the narrative unfolds the reader will see that life took its toll. My impression, and it may well be incorrect, is that in his youth he was a highly sensitive, intelligent young man who progressed quickly in the academic world but lacked drive and ambition. In my youth, it was often pointed out to me that this trait was endemic in the Dibdin family. Also, in recent years, it has come to my attention that may of the family have experienced dyslexia, an issue that may be relevant.  Rex’s experiences in the First World War were too much for him and the effect on his “mental health” were probably lifelong.

My memory of Rex is based on a few visits during the last five years of his life when he was in his seventies. My Mother recognized him as a very wise and caring man, supported by a loving “housekeeper”, Peggy.

He was delighted to give my mother, Joan, away at her wedding to my Stepfather in 1952.

Usually, he was in bed ill during later visits, attended by his loyal Peggy.

Aspects of his life I remember from family stories, but there is much that has been gleaned from photographs and a box containing his letters and documents.

This box lay in my mother’s loft with the clear instructions that it should not be opened until the last of her aunts and uncles had died. She believed that the box contained the key to why he and his wife separated.
In fact it did and the story has unfolded in ways my mother could not have imagined.

He died the year I took my O level Exams and I was always saddened not to have attended his funeral as I was protected from knowledge of his death until I returned from School for my holidays.

Chapter 1

Summary of Siblings

 Ethel Margaret
Born  23 June 1879
Married 1 July 1902 to George Edward Moore
5 Children
Died July 1960 in USA

Sophia
Born 19 July 1880
Died at birth

Lionel Aglio
Born 14 June1881
Married to Cecily Grace Haycraft 1909
3 children Stanley Lionel Aglio  died 6 years old,
Peter Haycraft, Joan Mary
Died 28 March1933 in Dixmunde

Marian Alice
Born 26 Jun 1882
Married 11 September 1912 to Paul Montford.
3 Children
Died 6 April 1969  in Brighton

Reginald Aglio
Born 9 Nov 1883
Married 14 February 1912 to Elsie Millicent Marvin
Divorced in mid 1920s
Died 12 July 1957 in Forest Hill

Augustus Aglio Dibdin
Born 8 May 1885
Died 17 Aug 1909 – of cancer at Purleybury

Laeticia Frances
Born 15 Nov 1886
Married Thomas Harrison Frewin
Died 25 September 1948 in Ruislip

Frederick Joseph Aglio
Born 28 June 1888
Married 1 Aug 1930 to Garnett Ella Fowler
1 daughter
Died 1956 in USA

Christine Dibdin
Born 29 November 1889
Married 26 May 1922 to Capt. Richard Thomas
1 daughter and stepson
Died 1967 in Meols

Margaret Mysie Aglio Dibdin
Born 27 May 1896
Married 24 June 1922 to Rev Arthur Gerard Cowham
3 children
Died  1978 

Chapter 2
Life before World War 1

At the age of about 12 years, Rex was at “the family school” Herne House in Margate which was run by Rev Taylor Jones who was the brother in law of Rex’s grandfather T.C. Dibdin. Many members of the immediate and extended family attended this school.
During 1895/6, Rex he passed many matriculation Exams for the College of Preceptors while he was a pupil at this school
Much of this history is described in the book The Life and Times of the Dibdin Aglio Family and can be found in detail on the website www.guise.me.uk.

From the age of 16 he seemed to have been passing numerous exams. In 1899 he passed as a Junior candidate in Oxford University exams. In 1901 he matriculated in exams at University of London. In 1901-2 he passed exams in magnetism and electricity at South Western Polytechnic. In 1902 he passed exams in Inorganic Chemistry at the Education Board of South Kensington which was based at what is now the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1902 he qualified from a Polytechnic in Chemistry and allied subjects and there is a registration document for 1904 for entry to Medical School. It would seem that he did not follow this up. Rex settled to work in 1905 as Gas Examiner for the London County Council. This was to be his career for life although he did also spend time working for his father, William Joseph Dibdin, with free-lance work as an Analytical Chemist specializing in Sewage.

He outlived some of his siblings and records show that he was involved, with his father, in negotiation over the internment of his younger brother at Golders Green Crematorium in 1909 when he was 26. His brother Augustine Aglio Dibdin (Gus) died of cancer at the age of 24 while the family was living at Purleybury.

He was obviously a knowledgeable, intelligent and artistic man but also a tragic figure.
It was convenient that he was in the same field of work, as his father William Joseph Dibdin, as he would get guidance and support and in fact in 1911 they registered a company together.

The view that he had considerable insights within the creative field is supported by a very moving letter to him from Agnes Robertson thanking him for his contribution during a debate, presumably on the “art process”, in 1905.

In 1906, still only 23 years old, Rex had already written a series of articles for a Civil Service Journal on what was, in effect, much of the life work of his father William Joseph Dibdin, on The Evolution of Sewage Treatment.

He married on the 14 Feb1912 at (St Mary’s) Marylebone, to Elsie Millicent Marvin and then within a couple of years, he joined the army at the beginning of the First World War as did many of the Dibdin Family and from family hearsay he was badly injured.

In the years before joining up Rex must have obtained a post with the London County Council as a Gas Examiner.

Chapter 3 About Elsie Millicent Marvin

Elsie was born 17 Jan 1885 in Southham, Warwickshire, the daughter of Edward James Marvin and Sarah Ann Marvin
In 1901 the family lived at 19 Addison Gardens Hammersmith
The family included Elsie’s bother Edward Montague Marvin who was two years younger than Elsie.
He is often referred to by the family as Mont. He was born in Bath 1887.
According to the 1911 census they lived at 7 Somerfield Terrace, Maidstone.
At the time Mont was a 24-year-old boarder in Gateshead, studying Electrical Engineering.
In 6 Jun 1915 Mont got married to Lily Brocklehurst
He was on active service in WW1 reaching the position of Major in Royal Engineers.
He died about Jan 1968 in Sheffield where he had been living and working as an Automobile Engineer
In the 1911 census Elsie was 26 years old living with her parents at 7 & 73 Somerfield Terrace, Maidstone, London and Rex was a visitor in the house. I think that this should be interpreted as Somerfield Terrace 73 (or 63 -75) London Road which was part of a large building, once used as a Military Hospital, which is now Grade II listed and used as housing and Maidstone Medical Centre.
Elsie married Rex on 14^th Feb 1912
In 1921 Census Elsie and Rex were living a 31 Idmiston Road West Norwood with Rex’s parents and sisters Margaret and Lettie. The reason why they were living there will become apparent later in the narrative.
Her brother Montague was living in Hendon with his wife Lily and son Edward Brocklehurst.

In the 1921 census Elsie’s parents were living at 75 London Road which would have been Somerfield Terrace although in 1923 Elsie was with them as Rex was in mental hospital and she had no home.
In 1923, the year of her letters to Rex regarding his illness, she was living a 5 Somerfield Terrace Maidstone. From that date on she was writing from 5 Somerfield Terrace
In 1937 Elsie was living at 16 Bethia Road Boscombe near Bournemouth.
In 1939 she was in Bournemouth ARP
In 1949 Elsie travelled to Elsternwick Victoria Australia
She died Oct 1970 Bournemouth

 Chapter 4 Go to new page For details of Rex in World War 1

Chapter 5 Post War Activities

Little is known about Rex’s activities immediately after the war except that records indicate that he worked as a Gas Examiner and for his father with the slate bed sewage system.
They had registered a company together. William Joseph Dibdin had been working freelance in the field of sewage before the war and had working with him all three sons, Lionel, Joe and Rex.  After the war Lionel probably set up on his own as a Civil Engineer and later a property development company and Joe went to Louisiana to work in the drainage field.
Lionel was withdrawn from active serving in 1916 as a result of a gas attack but continued to work for the MOD on airfield drainage.
Joe stayed on in the war until the end and while he was recouping from a minor injury he wrote from an Officers Hospital, Sauvic in France, to Elsie and Rex in December 1916 at 40 Elm Grove Road Barnes. Joe Dibdin seems to have had a fun sense of humour.

Rex showed a serious interest in the issue of language and symbols, an interest probable triggered by the work of his great grandfather Agostino Aglio who produced the art work and etchings for a book, Mexican Antiquities, sponsored by Lord Kingsborough. Facimile of Mexican Antiquities.
In about 1922, Rex produced a booklet on the subject of Red Indian Picture Writing and had 500 copies printed.
He seems to have distributed copies to many libraries including the British Museum.
There are also, in draft form from 1922, two other related booklets, ‘Aztec Hieroglyphics’ and ‘The Great Symbolism – A Psychological View of the Sacred Diagrams of the Chinese Book of Changes’ a work that he returned to in 1924.

The question remains as to whether all this work precipitated what was to follow or a consequence of a state of mind that was already in a turmoil. I suspect that the war was the root to his illness and the tumultuous relationship with his wife and perhaps family. His marriage finally faded in 1924. The war seemed to have left Rex with terrible paranoia.

Rex was receiving a war pension and although there is a record that he did some Gas Examining work at Lewisham Road, he did not return to working for the London County Council until December 1923 after his time in Hospitals and after a medical examination by Sir John Collie.

In 1922 Rex was showing signs of a mental breakdown and from Elsie’s letters we get a deep insight into his struggle with paranoia and severe psychosis. He went to a strange institution in Salisbury called The Old Manor with the expectation of getting help.
Elsie accompanied him there on the 21^st March 1943 and returned to her parents’ home in Maidstone by train. Se wrote to him the next day. In 3^rd August 1923 Rex moved from Salisbury to the Maudsley Hospital where he stayed until 5^th September 1923.
By this time, it was clear that their life together was over and while Elsie stayed with her parents Rex returned to his. William, his father, died in 1925 as a result of breaking his Pelvis and his mother Marian died in 1928. While he was till at home.  It was then that he developed a relationship with Peggy, his mother’s maid or nurse, a relationship which lasted until the end of his life. The details of this are to follow.

Chapter 6   Mental Illness and Marriage Breakdown

There seems to be no indication of Rex being mentally ill before the first letter from Elsie in Mar 1923 when Elsie wrote to him at The Old Manor in Salisbury, although details in the letters suggest that Rex became seriously depressed by about November 1922 and showed uncontrolled signed of paranoia. His behaviour over Christmas 1922 completely alienated his in-laws and his own family were becoming aware of problems.

It is not clear how The Old Manor was selected for Rex for treatment, however it seems from Elsie’s letters that early in 1923, it was The Dibdin family’s will that he should not go to the Maudsley, contrary to Elsie’s wishes although by August, the Dibdin’s were suggesting it. Elsie’s letters in Appendix 2 give a clue as to the poor relationship between Elsie’s and Rex’s families and the difficulty of dealing with and helping Rex was exacerbated by his mother and sister’s attitude.

For some reason the Dibdin family, which seems to have acted as a clan at times, did not support Elsie and seemed to have been rather unkind to her. It is unclear what happened at The Old Manor but a doctor there gave the impression to Rex’s father that it was a “Lunatic Asylum”. It was the last straw that Rex and Elsie found it necessary to sell up their “home” at Barston Road early in 1923, before Rex went to the Old Manor because of the fees and so Elsie returned to her parents. This lose of home for Elsie was significant and the grief of this can be seen as an undercurrent in her letters to Rex.  In July is was clear that their money was about to run out and Elsie demanded that Rex’s father took on the costs of the hospital. In a letter to Rex, William made it clear the family could not afford the fees at Salisbury and so got Rex to accept the idea of going to the Maudsley Hospital which was fairly local, in Denmark Hill. This opened as a mental hospital under the London County Council in 1923, founded by the eminent psychiatrist Henry Maudsley, having been used as a hospital for war wounded.
Through contacts, Rex’s father, William, had managed to negotiate his stay there for about 10/- a week, a sum that the family could manage.  He entered The Maudsley at the beginning of August and discharged himself after one month.

During 1923 Elsie was seriously ill with a heart attack and general debilitation but seems to have kept up correspondence with Rex on a fortnightly basis against what appears to have been a barrage of paranoia and recriminations. I get the impression that during this period Rex was suing his father or the family business, over his share of the business and rights to the biological sewage invention. He seems to have seen this as a possible source of income.
In October 1923 Rex discharged himself from the Maudsley and returned to his father’s home 31 Idmiston Road. In late 1923 and early 1924 Elsie gave Rex ultimatums about terms for the re-instatement of their marriage, based on her doctor’s and family’s advice. During the time of Rex’s illness, Elsie became involved with the Christian Scientists, an occurrence which further added to Rex’s paranoia, and but it did seem that she was really only getting support from an particular individual.
By mid-1924 Elsie had really decided that each should manage on their own and her letter to Rex in 1925 was only as a curtesy note on the death of his father. There is a record that in 1928 she returned a cheque for 5 guineas to Rex as this was his first attempt at supporting her, with a view of them coming together again.

Letters from his wife Elsie seem to give considerable insight into Rex, his state on mind and within the family there is recognition of a genius like nature.
One letter from Elsie gives a brilliant insight into the mental state of Rex and as well the clannish nature of the Dibdin family. She describes a meeting with Marian Dibdin, his mother, and his sister Marian discussing Rex.

In a letter from Elsie dated 2^nd March 1924, two interesting issues come to the fore regarding Rex’s state of mind. The paranoia showed itself as concern over poison in the house, family against him and a strange card game in which the ace of space was predominant, and the need to contact Scotland Yard. Also, members of the family particularly Rex’s mother and Marian were well aware of the situation. “Rex is mad - but I will never tell the doctor so” from Marian and in dialogue with Rex’s mother “Well! Rex is difficult at times, I suppose all clever people are – she cut in with “I know I know”, and I continued but I’m am still hopeful for I feel sure genius gets recognition sooner or later”.

Meanwhile Rex was unsure as to whether his is physically or mentally ill and I think he used his intellect to confuse everyone.

He discharged himself from the Hospital 5^th September 1923, one month after entering.

Because we have the letters to Rex during his time of illness, it has been possible to develop some understanding off the whole episode, however the relevant letters, which are available in Appendices 2, 7 and 8, really only serve to show that Rex was living in a complex mental state and human dynamic, which he added to but was never really quite truthful with anyone.

The tone of Elsie’s letters is interesting. She continually expresses care for Rex and always starts with a loving introduction however this is a definite undercurrent of bitterness about the situation created, as she saw it, by Rex and a strong sense of personal survival supported by her family.  
It would be interesting to know what demands Elsie made on Rex  throughout their marriage and how Rex viewed his wife’s manner, bearing in mind how the narrative developed in the following years.

I have, for the sake of clarity endeavoured, to unpick the tangle with a few simple questions and statements but in no way do I presume to have found an adequate explanation.

Understanding Rex’s Mental Illness

Once again, I find during my life that I am struggling to interpret the situation that exists around mental illness.  There is no doubt that Rex had some form of breakdown and became paranoid.  I have seen this before and fortunately in those circumstances, nowadays, the quality of the relationships and available resources are such that healing can often be achieved and life returned to as it was.
In Rex’s case the situation is far more complicated.  The grasp and management of mental illness was far more limited in the 1920s, any treatment was going to cost money and for any Doctor dealing with Rex they were up against a very intelligent person who seems to have been expert at manipulating within his mental illness.

In retrospect I now feel grateful and for that matter honoured to have known and shared life with so many people that have experienced the depths of despair associated with mental illness.

Collection of observations

I think that of the 3 Dibdin brothers Rex was the most sensitive and hence the most likely to come a cropper at a time of war.
Rex was injured in action in 1916 although he was in the Service Corp.
It was clear that Rex was mentally ill by the beginning of 1923. How long before we have no idea.
He was suffering with serious paranoia believing himself to being threatened with poison and demanding help from Scotland Yard. He expected others to go along with his delusions and support him.
The letters from Elsie always opened with loving sentiments but her manner to him was always very firm.
She was quite clear that she wanted a competent, productive husband who could support her. He was proving to be otherwise and his illness whether physical or mental had caused them to loose their home.
While in hospital he was pleased to have resources around him like a tennis racket and a flute.
During 1923 Else had heart attacks and was being support by her family and her doctor. Bearing in mind she was only 38 years old, the definition of heart attack is questionable as suggested by Rex’s father.
But then, the Dibdin family did not seem to like Elsie.
Whatever Rex’s true mental state, he had the skill to manage the impression he gave others.  This was not surprising considering his intelligence and he was encouraged in the use of this skill by his parents. His father encouraged him to “tow the line” at Old Manor and demonstrate that he was well enough to be released.
The way the family closed ranks is a measure of the era and is well demonstrated by the remarks made to Elsie by Marian, Rex’s mother. “Rex is mad - but I will never tell the doctor so”.
Rex’s father and brother-in-law were both clear about the significance of Rex’s paranoia.
From WJ Dibdin
“Don’t imagine you are there in connection with any “authorities”.  They don’t care a bean about you or anyone else and you may safely dismiss those mysterious entities from your mind.”
Quote from Gerard
 “ Loneliness -- This must throw you open to these insidious temptations of brooding over the past.  The “ruthless ploughing of the waste sands of time” which never produces any crop but Jason’s Dragon’s Teeth; a host of mutually destructive devils, who sleigh and work and wreck to no purpose but the multiplication of misery.”
Handling mental illness and probable depression was not a well-developed skill in those days; for the ill person freedom was the prime objective.
Gerard, his brother-in-law, and a High Church Anglican Priest was very outspoken with Rex as to how he should stay longer in the Maudsley until the Doctors felt that he well enough to discharge. Rex discharged himself after 1 month and went on to convince Sir John Collie, in a medical examination, that he was well enough to work for the London County Council.
Was it the nature of Rex to drift and be supported by caring and loving people around him while he existed in the world of thought?
If Elsie had been more up to the challenge and understood how to handle depressive illness could the marriage have been saved with the help of sound treatment?
Did Elsie realise that after the war Rex was never going to be a suitable husband?
Were Elsie’s possible demands of him after the war enough to precipitate his “illness”?
Was Rex so “loved” and respected by the family as a “genius” that he could only survive with an “easy life”?
Throughout his life Rex was seen by many of the family as the source of wisdom although he always referred to himself as the black sheep of the family.
Whatever is the truth about Rex and his illness, his mother’s nurse or maid Peggy decided to follow the instructions given by Rex’s mother. Her dying words were “Look after Mr. Rex for me”! This she willingly and lovingly did for the next 30 years until he died.

Chapter 7 On the Death of his Mother

It should be noted that Rex's Father and Mother died in 1925 and 1928 respectively and that Rex was probably coming out of the worst of his illness thanks in part probably to the support of his mother’s nurse, Peggy who was to later be his housekeeper.

Peggy was a young girl or nurse employing by the family to care for Marian Dibdin during her failing health. The story is that Marian in her dying moments asked Peggy look after Mr Rex.

Chapter 8 Life After 1928

It would seem that by 1930, Peggy had settled in to become Rex's housekeeper at 31 Idmiston Road. Her loyalty was immense and she was a wonderfully cheery lady who stayed with him until he died in 1957.
She subsequently married a widower with a family.

They seemed to have stayed in the family home until about 1933.
It is unclear from the current records as to Rex’s fully employment details but it appears that he worked as a gas examiner most of his working life as well as doing freelance work for the family businesses.

As has been indicated, Peggy was a loyal housekeeper and companion to Rex for over 25 years and Joan Dibdin, his niece, always expressed a great concern and care for her for many years.

It is impossible to understand what sort of person Rex was like when he was younger and how he was in the early 1930s but by that time he would have been a steady and mature 50 year old and I am sure that for young Joan and Peter who have acting in a supportive way and as a guiding light.
The respect and care that Joan showed for Peggy was immense and Joan gave her hospitality on occasions in the North of England after Rex had died.

I assume that his interest in symbolism stemmed from the work of his great grandfather Agostino Algio, who produced the art work and lithographs for a book, Mexican Antiquities, sponsored by Lord Kingsborough. These were a collection of drawings and symbols that had been taken from Mexico by the Conquistadores, and which Aglio copied over a four year period from the Libraries of Europe. He then produced 7 volumes of Facsimiles of Mexican Antiquities

In about 1922, Rex produced a booklet on the subject of Red Indian Picture Writing and had 500 copies printed.

He seems to have distributed copies to many libraries including the British Museum.

There are also, in draft form, two other related booklets, ‘Aztec Hieroglyphics’ and ‘The Great Symbolism – A Psychological View of the Sacred Diagrams of the Chinese Book of Changes’.

Rex had already also written a series of articles for a Civil Service journal 1906 on what was, in effect, much of the life work of his father William Joseph Dibdin, on The Evolution of Sewage Treatment.

Records show that at a later time in his life, he invented a circular knitting process in 1935 and for a period in 1938 bought and sold tea.
He was a painter and obviously musical as reference is made to his flutes. Also documented is a hymn that he wrote.
During the Second World War, Rex seemed to have been sending inventive suggestions to the War Ministry as there are courteous replies to a number of his ideas sometimes pointing out that the MOD was already working on it

Rex always referred to himself as the black sheep or wicked uncle, but of course as is so often the case he was being harsh on himself, a man of considerable insight and talent who had been beaten by the traumas of war and criticism from some of his family.

A brilliantly clever man, bordering on genius, but maybe hopelessly impractical on day to day living. Like many others in the family he did not seem to reach his full academic or working potential and it is noteworthy that he pulled out from entering medical training.

My mother, Joan considered him to be a very special person to whom she could turn to for advice either of a philosophical or practical nature. There is a letter from Rex to her in response to a request for advice in January 1944 while her husband was in the process of going to India on active service.
The questions and fears that must has arisen in her young mind at such a time with her new baby and a husband about to go abroad to fight and with England being threatened by heavy bombing raids in London must have been immense.
In 1933 Rex played a quiet but key role in dealing with the tragic
death of his brother Lionel and Cecily, in a plane crash.
He, of cause, was the only adult male sibling available and Peter, Lionel’s son, was still just under 21 years old. It was Rex who dealt with the official correspondence and, informed his other siblings and supported Peter and Joan. This full details of this event are related elsewhere.
He must have looked on in dismay as the system of public trustees and older aunts took over control of Joan and Peter’s lives.

Where he could and where it was relevant, Rex did offer his advice as he did to Peter in about 1935 regarding possible opportunities in Civil Engineering.

After the Second World war, Joan would make considerable effort to visit Rex and Peggy in South London and probably was one of the few members of the family that were supportive of them both against the criticisms, particularly from his sister Margaret who being married to a vicar was “rather holier than thou”.

Letter of Advice to Peter and Joan Dibdin are included in Appendix 5

Chapter 12 Last Visit

On, I think, my last visit to him, he was in bed being cared for by Peggy and he showed me a simple knitting device with enabled one to knit circular tubes. Amongst his documents there is a letter from Weldon’s Progressive Publications for Women thanking him for his new system for knitting and expressing further interest.

On that occasion, he specifically drew my attention to a painting he had done recently on the mantelpiece. It looked like a fogged piece of paper, very relevant to me at the time as London was often foggy or rather “smoggy”. He suggested that on careful examination I would see the crosses on the horizon. I do not remember his actual comments but this seemed to reflect how he felt about life and death. He had painted it in 1955, at the age of 72, a very frail 72-year-old. It may well have been Easter time and he said that that was how he saw the Crucifixion.

On his death, from my mother’s reports, his funeral was a nightmare scene, as his youngest sister felt it important to draw everyone’s attention to his failed marriage, his living “in sin” with his housekeeper and his impending entry into hell fire. I suspect that much of his life was a living hell as it was for so many that lived through the First World War. I can only judge from photographs but he seemed to have been a creative, sensitive young man who later suffered considerable degrees of depression.
I was honoured and delighted that he left to me a small metal box of bits and pieces which although many may seem insignificant to me were like treasures to be used and nurtured.

History repeats itself.

Yet again, we have a story of a high intelligent and sensitive individual, traumatised and suffering depression, creating turmoil in family relationships. Bearing in mind the date, the war, the ignorance of mental health and the post Victorian stiff upper lip attitude, the situation is excusable. The lack of understanding and demonstrable support within the families concerned, resulted in a sad breakdown of marriage despite there probably being considerable love.
Nearly 100 years on we still see demonstrated the same ineptitude regarding, war, its consequences and lack of human understanding.

After Rex died in 1957, Joan related to me, with horror, details of the funeral when Margaret Cowham, Rex’s youngest sister took it on herself to bring down hell fire on Rex for have lived in sin. A re-enactment of her performance some 29 years before at Idmiston Road.

The general view was, within the discerning members of the family, that he was a kind, sensitive genius whose mind was such that ambition and everyday pressures of living were of little interest. The experience of war could have done nothing but harm.

 Comment regarding Family Relationships

Earlier in the book is a list of the ten children of William Joseph Dibdin. The relationship between the various members of that generation which also included a young girl who acted as a companion to the family and later was known as Mrs Midd is one that my mother would explain as “although we are not often in touch, we know we are always there for each other”.
In Volumes I & II of the book “William Joseph Dibdin and Three Generations” there is an effort to relate a little of the lives of each and portray a some of the deep respect that family had for William and the Ancestors with an almost clannish perception of the special nature of the Dibdin family.
 Two Girls, Christine and Lettie married and settled in England. two married and emigrated one, Ethel to America and Marian to Australia although she returned just before WW2. Margaret the youngest and the dramatic girl moved in her early days back and forth to India with her priestly Husband. Sadly, Sophie died at birth and Gus died as a young man after a period of serious illness. The three boys Rex, Lionel and Joe must have had a special relationship, having all joined up in the WW1 and all had a deep respect for their father. This respect for Father and Family is expressed time and again in letters at the time of deaths. There is a built-in pride of family and a demand of each member to demonstrate a strength to carry on in life and make the ancestors proud of them. This attitude was funnelled on to the next generation and there are numerous examples of letters of support at times of grief linked to an exaltation to carry on and do one’s best in life. From where I see it, Rex was the odd one out. Philosophically, he would have agreed with this attitude but because of his nature and experiences in WW1 he could not live out the stoic, “struggle on” demands of the other members of the family. He referred to himself as the “Black Sheep” of the family and although I have no first-hand knowledge of how his siblings felt about him, except of course Margaret, I feel that there was a sort of distance support although his relationship with Peggy may well have been frowned upon. Joan Dibdin, his niece, who herself was a bit of a fledgling outcast, having been orphaned at 13 years old and not willingly drawn in under the wing of any other family, behaved like a loose canon and this may explain as to why she had an immense respect for Rex and Peggy and saw their worth as loving human beings.
To complete the picture of this family one needs to refer again to Mrs Midd. She was the wise, observant working class member of the group. She married a sailor who travelled the world and settled in a basement flat in Victoria St very close to the station. There is evidence that she was hub for two generations of the family who knew there was always a welcome at Victoria St coupled with whatever wisdom was necessary. She had a sound understanding of the family and how it functioned.