In 2023 a client asked me to produce a framed list of residents as a Christmas present for her parents. The house is not especially old or grand, but is much loved by her mum and dad, who had been told a number of stories about the former residents and had always wondered if they were true. The previous occupants turned out be an eclectic mix, all interesting in their own right, but one name stood out – Henry George Follenfant.

Known by his middle name, George Follenfant turned out to be really quite a guy. A railway engineer by training, George is one a highly select group of people to have been awarded the ‘golden triumvirate’ of orders of chivalry – the MBE, OBE and CBE. The MBE was remarkable enough on its own – awarded for rebuilding railway lines during the North Africa Campaign in World War II to allow supplies of men, goods and armaments to reach the front; the OBE deepens his achievements, awarded to George for performing the same feats in Northern France, Holland and Belgium in the months after D-Day; but the CBE lifts George Follenfant’s achievements into the breathtaking, for as the Chief Engineer for London Underground, George is the man who is responsible for the building of the Victoria Line.

George Follenfant’s life was inspirational in a number of ways, but if you are thinking about investigating the history of your own house, his story helps to remind us that incredible people don’t always live in very old, very grand properties….could the story of someone equally amazing be hidden away in your home?