Tom Putt - a biography

Born to a London stevedore in 1912, he became a window-cleaner and established a very successful business in Hackney in the 1930s.  He is credited with being the first to use sponges rather than rags or cloths to clean windows, one reason for his success, no doubt. He volunteered and served with distinction in the 57th (London) Infantry Division in WW2 and earned a Military Medal during the Italian campaign, where his familiarity with ladders was particularly useful during the final assault on Monte Cassino. He resurrected his business after the war but decided to move to Cornwall with his wife Gwendolyn when the Clean Air Act of 1956 threatened to suppress demand for his services. Together with Gwen, he ran a popular B&B near Looe for many years, whilst also working as a delivery driver for a local maker of clotted cream. Active to the last, he died in September 2012, a few days after his 100th birthday, happy and contented … but a little disappointed that the London Olympics declined his offer to be a “Games-Maker". Despite spending more than half his life in Cornwall he never lost his Cockney accent.