The family that flew
The thrill and danger of aviation in the Edwardian era, the horrors of the First World War, and Victorian Catholic spirituality are all interwoven in a new history of a prominent Catholic recusant family.

The collection of stories and pictures about the lives of the Tor Bryan Petres were collated by 90-year-old Ann Hales-Tooke (née Petre), who charted the lives of her family using material that included old editions of The Tablet.

The Family That Flew follows her family’s history from the Victorian era through to the early twentieth century and includes the tragic deaths of her two uncles, Edward Petre, on Christmas Eve 1912, and Jack, in April 1917, in air crashes.

Edward, who was killed in an accident in North Yorkshire, is commemorated in The Aviators’ Window at St Mark’s Church in Marske-by-the-Sea.

The Family That Flew is also the story of their home, Tor Bryan, in Ingatestone, Essex, built by Ann’s grandfather, Sebastian, in 1880. The Arts and Crafts House was destroyed by developers in the 1950s.