Ancestors and Descendants of Adams and Mann and Others

  6 January 2023 Written by John Worrall Herring’s French Connection For three decades, the East Anglian herring fishery’s highest accolade was the award of the Prunier Trophy.   It was a mix of marketing ploy and revival strategy. Madame Simone Prunier was the daughter and granddaughter of restaurateurs who, in turn, ran their famous Paris establishment and, in turn, died young, so that in 1935, at the tender age of 22, she found herself running the show. But she and her husband more than rose to the challenge. They branched out by opening in London’s St James’ Street. There she heard of the parlous state of the East Anglian herring industry. Catches, though still substantial, had been in steady decline since the pre-First World War peak, as the increased efficiency of steam and then diesel power ate into stocks. More particularly, tastes had changed. The ‘king of fish’ – oily, nutritious and much rated by gourmands for its versatility and, on the Continent,...