Edmund Fresson (1891-1963)

Airline executive

Ernest Fresson was born in London on 20 September 1891. He started his career as a trainee engineer in Shanghai and later joined the Royal Air Force. He founded Highland Airways in 1933 which developed into a regular passenger and freight service. It was based in Inverness with flights to Thurso, Wick, Aberdeen, Orkney and Shetland. His diaries record that in March 1940, while en route to the Orkney Islands, he guided his plane through what turned out to be 'friendly fire' and saved the life of his passenger, Clement Atlee, who was to become Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951.

Marriage in 1934

Ernest Edmund Fresson, 42, widower, commercial air pilot married Gwendoline Holloway or Simons on 5 April 1934. The entry in the statutory register for Inverness shows it was an irregular marriage by declaration before two witnesses at The Castle, Inverness and by warrant of the Sheriff Substitute of Inverness, Elgin and Nairn. The 'B' in the left-hand margin is for the burgh portion of the registration district.

Marriage entry for Edmund Fresson (45 KB jpeg)
National Records of Scotland, 1934/98/56

Death in 1963

Ernest Edmund Fresson, 72, commercial pilot (retired), died on 25 September 1963 at the Northern Infirmary in Inverness. The entry in the statutory register of deaths for Inverness includes the name of his first wife - Dorothy Cumming. (National Records of Scotland, 1963/98A/683)