Friday, June 19, 2020

What to do on a Rainy Day


I’ve been looking at some old photos that were sent to me from Canada, many years ago, by my mother’s cousin Violet Marsh who lived in Ottawa, Ontario.   Many of the photos are of the Stubbs family of Hose and Long Clawson in Leicestershire.    There were eight children, six girls and two boys born to William Stubbs and his wife Martha (nee Matthews.)  According to the 1891 census William was a farmer of 63 acres.   Violet’s mother Gertrude Ellen always known as Nell emigrated to Canada with her husband  and twin daughters about 1912, certainly before WWI.  One of the other sisters, the eldest, intrigued me.  My Mum often used to talk about her aunts and cousins and once said that her Aunt Edith used to work in a restaurant at the House of Commons.  I’ve often wondered about this and over the years have found little snippets about Mum’s Aunt, Edith Emma Stubbs. 
 
From five on-line documents I’ve found the following information:-

She was born in Hose, Leicestershire in 1875 and died on 1st January 1922 at Pembridge Square, Paddington.  At that time she was, according to her will, living at 20 Crowndale Road, in the St Pancras area of London.   She never married and her estate of £896. 6s 10d was left between her brother George Edward Stubbs and Edward Allen her brother-in-law.

I found her listed on the Electoral Register for 1921 living at 20 Crowndale Road with her brother George Edward Stubbs (always known as Ted), his wife Mary Ellen and two others, Thomas and Rose Valiant. 

I went back to the 1901 census and found Edith living in a boarding house at 73 Portland Road, Nottingham.  The head of the household Jane Sagebiel age 52 was the boarding house keeper and she has one other boarder Amelia Lydall who worked as a telephone operator.  Edith’s occupation is waitress.   This ties in with the restaurant work later in her life.  I wonder what kind of establishment she worked for in Nottingham?  Perhaps a tea shop, restaurant or hotel?  Portland Road in Nottingham is quite central and runs from the Arboretum behind what is now the Trent University building and past the Nottingham Cemetery.

At the time of the 1911 Census Edith is visiting her sister Catherine Anne, always known as Annie and her brother-in-law Edward Allen a farmer at Gibsmere, Bleasby in Nottinghamshire.  Also in the household are Edward and Annie’s four children, their 16 year old housemaid and another family visitor Harriet Allen.  Again Edith gives her occupation as waitress.  I wonder if she was still working in Nottingham then or if she had already moved to London.

I found another reference to Edith dated 1921   She had sailed to Canada to visit her sister Nell in August 1921 and she left a couple of months later to return to England.  She left  Montreal, Quebec on a Canadian Pacific Line ship called the Minnedosa and arrived in Liverpool on 5th November 1921. She had only a couple of months left to live.  Did she know she was ill when  she travelled all that way?  Had she intended to stay longer but came home because she was ill? Did she take a last chance to see her sister?  We will never know. 

Edith Emma Stubbs

Edith Emma Stubbs taken October 1921 in Canada.

George Edward Stubbs with his wife Mary Ellen and two children

Edward and Annie Allen at Bleasby, Nottinghamshire with their four children.

Gertrude Ellen (Nell) Marsh (nee Stubbs) with twins Violet and Olive.

Just as a matter of interest and to add flesh to the bones the Prime Ministers at the time Edith probably worked at the House of Commons were David Lloyd George and before him Herbert H Asquith.  I've no idea what years she worked at the House of Commons but she was certainly living in London in 1918 with her brother and sister-in-law.  She may have been there during the years of WW1, the Spanish flu epidemic which followed and been aware of the 1918 Act of Representation of the People which gave property owning women over the age of thirty the vote and also to all men over the age of twenty one.

I've found this little journey quite fascinating and a good way to pass the time on a very wet day.

20 comments:

  1. Annie Allen didn't waste much time between those children did she?
    I was thinking how hot they must have been in those clothes in the summer, whew!
    Briony
    x

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    1. Oh, yes those clothes must have been so warm. On the 1911 census the children's ages are given as nine, seven, five and three so one every other year! I bet she was glad those boys were too young to go to war but possibly they were not too old for duty in the second one:)

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  2. What a fascinating and interesting post. You've certainly found lots of information - it never ceases to amaze me how much you can find online these days. A wonderful post Rosie and a great way to spend a rainy day! I wish I had done something so positive yesterday - I just sat around feeling exceedingly bored! Have a good weekend :)

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    1. Thank you RR, lots of information on-line in various official papers, the only thing you have to watch and check yourself are other people's family trees, I found a few errors especially one about my great grandmother mentioned in the post. Martha Stubbs married again when William died. She became Mrs Roberts and is buried under that name at the same cemetary as many of my other ancestors including my father. This person had her emigrating to America!! Hope you too have a good weekend:)

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  3. How wonderful to make the photos come alive with stories about their lives. I wonder if our descendants will have to piece the jigsaw together to find out more about us? :)

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    1. I love the old photos, Simone and it's good that I was able to find so much out. We've moved so many times over the years I'd be hard to track down:)

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  4. What a wonderful little journey into the past. It's always so fascinating to me to discover bits of information about my own ancestors, and of the daily lives of people in history. A good pastime for a rainy day! Have a good weekend!

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    1. Once I get startedI have to keep delving and making connections between people, places and dates. I find it fascinating and it certainly passed a rainy day quite well:)

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  5. There's always a branch of a family that's interesting to research and you found out a lot more about one of them. I like the story of Edith who went to visit her sister in Canada. A lovely photo taken in Canada. She must have been happy to have made the journey and you'll have been pleased to take time on your family history research.

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    1. I would guess that it was a trip she had hoped to make for a long time, I'm glad she got to Canada and returned safely too. Nell and Violet did come back to England to visit too some time in the 1920s. It's often interesting to look at an ancestor who isn't in your direct line. I may try it with another branch of the family tree:)

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  6. It's fascinating to see old photographs like these.

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    1. I'm lucky that I was trusted with all the family photos. Some I have sent to other distant family members or sent them copies of the originals. I need to find a home for them, perhaps in the Leicester Archives or maybe Nottingham:)

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  7. Indeed what a wonderful way to spend the day. Fascinating.

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    1. Yes, it was a good way to pass a few hours on and off during the day:)

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  8. Loving the old photographs and fascinating to think of people's lives so long ago. The trip that Edith sounds like a trip of a life time. Let's hope she didn't feel ill and enjoyed herself immensely. ❤️

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    1. I'm sure she must have saved for ages to make the trip it's just a shame she was ill, with cancer I'm afraid. Perhaps more could have been done for her in today's world:)

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  9. Very interesting. You've researched and learnt a lot about your family.
    I can't imagine having to wash all those childrens fancy clothes and iron them too!

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    1. It's interesting sometimes to look at people away from your direct line and follow up what brothers and sisters of grandparents did in their lives:)

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  10. Aren't the photographs great, it's so fascinating to find out the history and piece it all together!

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    1. I love the old photos and the way they bring the names on the pages to life:)

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