This is the story of two families, the Dillons and the Brookes’, that came together and, in their conjunction, produced four remarkable children, one of which was my mother. The catalyst to researching them came about quite accidently as a result of an unexpected letter. Along the way leading up to these children we resolve the Dillon family Irish question and the Brookes family Huguenot connection. But also we find a colourful family history including the workhouse and an Upstairs/Downstairs marriage, emigration (or was it transportation?), several runaways, bigamy and a possible record of 2 James Dillons born in the same year to different mothers, and lots of military service in all 3 branches of the services. And there are two ancillary themes, the desecration of Poplar and much of the East End of London and the power of education.