Happy Days

Watching Wimbledon this week and anticipating the Olympics, I was struck by what a lucky little so-and-so I have been. I was trying to imagine what my “bucket” list might have looked like in my late teens/ early twenties and I reckon it would have looked a bit like this

A trip to Disney World
Watch tennis at Wimbledon
Meet my soul mate
See the Northern Lights
Dance at the Tower Ballroom
Have a successful career
Go to the Olympics
See New England in the fall

I don’t think, at that age, the one thing left on my bucket list – travel throughout Ireland (particularly Galway, Cavan and Tipperary) would have made the list; I probably didn’t understand my cultural and ancestral ties at that age.

Fair to say I have smashed the rest of it, the Northern Lights were dropped in my lap, a gift from nature that wasn’t lost on me. I have travelled North America extensively and enjoyed every second, Yosemite (three times), Disney World and Orlando (seven times) and the Canadian rockies (twice); would be my favourites, but I also loved Zion, New York, Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco, Washington, Vancouver and Shenandoah. I wish I had been brave enough to explore South America and the Indian Continent – I feel the colour and vibrancy of those places would have awakened my senses and lust for adventure in ways that could have changed my life; but my desire for comfort and safety has always been too strong. Reading has been my travel placebo. I’ve been to many a cup final at Wembley, have spectated at Wimbledon several times, was one of the many who experienced Super Saturday first hand, I danced at the Tower Ballroom with my soul mate and I think my career was reasonable.

I have had an incredible life, probably not by anyone else’s standards but, in my eyes, I have achieved so much. My life has been full of love – given and received. I know that I have saved lives through my compassion and understanding – what a gift that is. And I have influenced other lives of course, mostly positively, and certainly my intent has always been one of kindness. I have worked hard and had much enjoyment. There have been challenges, grief – as it is for most people my age – has been my companion many times in the last twenty years. My health has been, for the most part, excellent and I am full of admiration for my body’s ability to do all it does. My most recent challenge came on the 4^th March this year when I heard, for the second time, those fateful words “sorry, it’s cancer”. I was alone, I was shocked, I was afraid. My overwhelming thought was I am not ready to die. The system kicked into action quickly and efficiently – staging CT, bloods, scans, further histology and I was to come back on 21^st March for a fuller diagnosis and to agree a plan.

On that day I wrote in my journal “scared, hopeful, numb”. That about covers it!

The results were as good as they could be in the circumstances, and a plan was put in place for surgery the following Wednesday, yet again the system ramped up and I was pre-op’d and ready. On the Saturday before my operation, I decided to do the 100 Happy Days challenge. I am so glad I did. Firstly, to notice just how quickly 100 days passes; and perhaps more importantly to gain some evidence about what exactly makes me happy. The first thing I need to point out is that there are more happy things than there are days – because it wasn’t `the happiest thing’ but all that had made me happy that day. When I looked back this week to analyse the results, I was pleased to see that most of the things that make me happy represent the cornerstones of good mental health.

Thirty-eight times in the 100 days I noted some aspect of “noticing nature”, from the Northern Lights to a pretty flower, and there is such resonance here with my day to day. I am surprised it wasn’t 900/100 as that’s what my life feels like.

My beautiful pup Zahra, with all her challenges, was the next highest scoring; followed closely by friends and family. Love, as I have already said, and I am lucky to have the best people (and pup) in my corner. I appreciate every one of my relationships.

Next came food and more specifically cake, and anyone who knows me knows this to be true! I could do with cutting down a bit, but it’s never lost on me that nourishing myself is a great privilege. Enjoying tastes and textures; and using food to express my love for others is, and always will be, a huge and healthy part of my life.

The next highest scoring happy factor was family history. I have been researching my family history for more than three decades and I love so much about this. I love the actual research, playing detective, analysing facts, seeing patterns – holding everything loosely, and then homing in and proving a piece of evidence. It has taught me so much about life and how to analyse information, also about being non-judgmental and keeping my heart and mind open. Then there are the stories, often not my own blood line but some delightful rabbit holes that I have tumbled down along the way – like the story of Catherine Ratcliffe-Duncan, a pit brow lass from Billinge; and Mary Ellen Foster, who left rural Rainford to enhance her nurse training and ended up being one of the first registered physiotherapists. But it’s the people I have met along the way who are the greatest treasure, not just the many cousins I have connected with but the genealogists who are so kind and generous with their time and expertise.

The next part of my analysis shows several things with equal weighting: art, reading, naps, self-care and self-improvement. Wonderful! House work and home improvements snuck onto the list – I don’t think we should live for “things” or keeping those things clean and tidy; but nor do I need to justify myself, I am working on being happy with “being” and I don’t see these features as a failure – just clarity that I have work to do and in the meantime I appreciate my surroundings and beautiful things as a form of art.

Finally celebrating the milestones of my cancer treatment was a small feature, ringing that `end of treatment’ bell is quite something. Who knows what the future holds; but I know that I will face it with the right attitude, excellent support and the experience of a life well lived.

If you want to read more about Zahra, Catherine or Mary Ellen see my previous blog posts on this site.

The Fallen

John Parr (my grandfather’s cousin) was born to Esther Parr the daughter of a Burscough Boat Man John and wife Grace. The 1891 census records him as an Agricultural Labourer in Aughton, not far from his mum and step-dad Richard Parr (Esther married a Parr and they lived in Parr’s Lane). In 1901 John is living with Esther and Richard in Aughton and still working as a farm labourer. He married Florence Gore, daughter of another Boat Man, Thomas on 11th February 1909; John’s occupation here is still farm labourer. The couple had four boys: John on 3^rd October 1909; Henry on 11 June 1912; William on 6 April 1915 and Thomas on 14^th November 1916.

On Thomas’s birth certificate John’s occupation is 5660, Private, 8^th Irish attached to 7^th King’s Liverpool a Railway Coalman. At some point John became attached to the 9^th Kings and fought with them at Ypres, losing his life in action on 31^st July 1917. We are so blessed to have the War Diary of his regiment and I have reproduced below the pages for his last day. How much we owe these amazing young men and all those before and since who have fought for their country and our freedom.

The King’s (Liverpool Regiment)

War Diary 31^st July 1917

Battalion objective – Black Line

Forming in Oxford Trench

Battalion HQ in Cart Dugout

All dispositions were completed by 23:00H

First wave composed of C Company on left D company on the on the right with B company in rear to mop up.

B company in support and A company in reserve.

3am ten was issued and the leading wave got out of Oxford trench and lay in front of it.

Zero hour was fixed for 3:50am when 5^th and 6^th Kings would leave to attack and capture the German front line system and consolidate the Blue Line.

The night was quiet and the battalion had got into position without casualties.

At 3:50am the barrage started and the 5^th/6^th left the trenches. Our leading waves left Oxford Trench to take their position in Warwick Trench.

At 4:20am the Battalions started – it was very dark and difficult to pick up landmarks.

No news had yet come in from 5^th/6^th Kings

4 minutes after Zero, the enemy put a heavy barrage of HE shells on Oxford Trench – several men were hit there, a Lewis Gun team was knocked out and the reserve Lewis gun ammunition blown up. The aid post in Pagoda Street had previously been blown up and the wounded had to be dressed in the open trenches. No news came in for a long time, but numbers of German prisoners were seen coming over to our lines. At 6:30am Captain Atkinson, Lieutenant G W Harrison, Second Lieutenant Lees and A/RSW Roberts went over to establish headquarters at Jasper Farm. No news was received from the 5^th, 6^th or 9^th until 9:30am when a runner returned from Captain Atkinson bringing messages from the front line companies and supports. Captain Richer reported that he had reached his objective but was in need of reinforcements – Captain Roberts reported that he had crossed the Steenbeke with from 6 to 10 men, another message following immediately said that he had reached Bank Farm, second lieutenant Gelderd reported that he had reached his final objective with seven men.

Headquarters then proceeded first to Uhlan Farm and then to a dugout near Jasper Farm . A message was then received that second lieutenant Ellam had reinforced second lieutenant Gelderd with fifty men and that all were consolidated. A runner reported that D company had been held up by machine guns on both flanks but the men who had been temporarily held up were reforming their company in small parties. At this time the enemy was shelling his old front line system, no mans land and as far back as Potijze very heavily with 77mm, 4.2, 5.9 and 8 inch shells in addition to high bursting shrapnel.

In the vicinity of Jasper Farm there were five tanks most of which appeared to be derelicts.

A message was received at 9:30am from second lieutenant Ebbels who, with his platoon was at Apple Villa saying that the enemy was massing on Hill 35 – at the same time the 164 brigade who were to attack the Green Line began to pass Jasper farm. A verbal message was received saying that Lieutenant Fausset had been killed and second lieutenant Barker wounded, second Lieutenant Rawcliffe was slightly wounded.

At 11:45 orders arrived from the Brigade that all available men were to be sent into the Black Line and that we were to be reinforced by two companies from the 6^th Kings.

Major Hoare then went forward by Plum Farm to Bank Farm and the Pommern Redoubt to see what the situation was. At Plum Farm there were several wounded and Lieutenant Harrison established an aid post there in a concrete dugout. Bank Farm had been captured by this battalion, although it was really in the sector allotted to the 166^th brigade. A German machine gunner on the roof of a concrete dugout had caused us many casualties, in carrying out the attack on the gun Lieutenant Fausset who led the party was shot through the heart.

A tank arrived at the critical moment and shot the machine gunner who had been firing his gun up to the last minute and was now lying dead on the roof of the dugout – surrounded by hundreds of empty cases. Captain Roberts had also come up against Bank Farm whereupon Second Lieutenant Gelderd seeing that the leading companies were going too far to the left attacked the Pommern Redoubt with six men, one of them being a signaller armed with a shutter. Unaided they captured around forty prisoners. Then second Lieutenant Ellam arrived with B Company and the number of prisoners was increased to about ninety – the enemy was quite demoralised and running in crowds over the crestline of Hill 35. Second Lieutenant Randall had led an attack on a party of Germans who started bombing our men on their left flank as they were digging. At Bank Farm Captain Roberts saw a party of Germans lying in a trench – he immediately rushed toward them shouting as his raised his arms above his head “hoch, hoch, hoch” – the enemy at once stood up and also putting up their hands replied “hoch, hoch, hoch” and surrendered.

During the attack on the Pommern Redoubt, Corporal James Clark discovered an enemy machine gun team trying to take their gun out of action – he immediately shot one of the gunners, put the remainder to flight and caused them to abandon their gun. At the same place Lance Corporal J Marchbank organised a bombing squad and worked his way down an enemy trench – this squad, although only seven strong took twenty prisoners. Private F Fowler also displayed great gallantry in bombing the enemy and when his supply of bombs was finished he used German bombs. Through his efforts at least a dozen prisoners were taken.

The companies were reorganised and were consolidating a line from Bank Farm to the Pommern Redoubt – this was being heavily shelled from 11am to 4pm. Company HQ were established in a dugout at Bank Farm on the roof of which was the machine gun which had caused so much trouble. This dugout had been the Headquarters of an artillery officer believed to be a Colonel who was taken prisoner by Sergeant Williams.

A number of maps and papers were taken here and sent down to the Brigade. Battalion HQ were now established at Plum Farm. About 4pm reports began to come in that things were not going well with the 164 Brigade in front of us and that it was falling back but for some time no confirmation of this was forthcoming.

Company Commanders were warned to be ready to meet a counter attack – at this time the situation was very obscure – the day had been dark and misty and it was impossible to see anything clearly. Some distance away on the left, parties of Germans could be seen some of them apparently advancing with their hands up – what had happened on the right flank we did not know. Trenzenberg we believed to be in our hands as the enemy appeared to be shelling it. Further reports came in that the 164 brigade was falling back – small groups of men appeared to be coming back over Hill 35 but there was still no sign of general withdrawal. The battalion however was “standing to” ready to meet a counter attack. An artillery officer came in during the evening and reported that the 164 brigade had retired and the enemy were holding Hill 35 in force. An operation order arrived from the brigade indicating a general closing up on the Black Line but this involved no change in our own dispositions – it ended by saying that the Black Line was to be held at all costs – it was followed later by another order directing that the 164 brigade was to be relieved that night. All efforts were now being directed to bringing up supplies and every man at battalion HQ who could be spared was put on this job. The killing was now very violent all around Plum Farm a party of twenty had been sent up from the front line to carry up water etc in less than half an hour all but three were casualties, eight of them having been killed.

During the night the 164 brigade retired over the black line and rain fell heavily.

1^st August – at day break sorties of men could be seen round two derelict tanks on the crest of Hill 35 but it was uncertain whether these were enemy or men belonging to the 164 brigade. Rain fell heavily throughout the day and the ground was in very bad condition, especially in the valley of the Steenbeke – the trenches were full of water and the sides beginning to crumble in. The men had had no rest and no shelter but they were holding on to the position cheerfully. They were however being heavily shelled.

In the afternoon most welcome supplies arrived from the transport. Headquarters rations had been lost in coming across no mans land and HQ had so far subsisted on one tin of lobster and half a loaf of mouldy German bread, discovered in Plum Farm. Shelling was very heavy in the evening and during the night. During the day Sergeant Griffiths and 15 men dug a strong point about 200 yards in advance of our front trench with a view to pushing our line toward the crest of Hill 35.

John’s sacrifice is commemorated at Vlamertinghe Cemetery and on the Aughton War Memorial

Featured

Miss Foster went to Gloucester

Mary Ellen Foster was born on 24 July 1893 to Joseph, a coal miner and his wife Margaret. They lived in Rainford – a small village in the North West of England; and Mary Ellen was the sixth born of fourteen children. On the 1911 census we find 17 year old Mary Ellen in service at a farm. Five years later she enters nurse training at the Prescot Union Infirmary, the hospital associated with Prescot workhouse and the forerunner of Whiston Hospital. I imagine she had seen an advert something like the one below.

In 1920 she moved to Gloucester to commence midwifery training and later moved to London. We have the privilege of seeing her nursing register entries, reporting Mary Ellen as a hard-working nurse, popular with staff and patients. My favourite entry though is from September 1922 that reports her as “lacking in courtesy towards the honorary secretary and committee”. I am going to assume that this identifies her as being brave enough to question her superiors; a bold move for a woman from such humble beginnings.

At the end of 1924 Mary Ellen leaves nursing to enter a course of massage training. This indicates her move to the Chartered Society of Massage and Medical Gymnastics, the organisation that twenty years later will become the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.

On 3^rd May 1930 Mary Ellen, 36, married John Henry Philo, her occupation detailed as Masseuse at the Orthopaedic Hospital. They marry in Stanmore so I assume the Orthopaedic Hospital is the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.

Over the next six years Mary Ellen and John David have three children together, all boys, David John, Harold Joseph and Paul. Sadly, in what must have been particularly difficult for Mary Ellen to bear with all her training, Harold dies at just five years of age having contracted septicaemia from a bone infection.

On 19^th July 1949 John Henry died from a cerebral haemorrhage.

As far as I can tell Mary Ellen continued to work until at least 1937, maintaining her registrations for nursing and the Chartered Society of Massage and Medical Gymnastics. She died in 1988, aged 95 from a stroke.

Pit Brow Lass

My grandfather was a quiet and dignified man. He was principled and loyal, hard-working, intelligent and with a passion for laughter. His whole body would shake when he laughed and if he was trying to suppress a laugh his belly would wobble, an endearing memory that can bring him back to me in an instant. Grandfather, Paddy, had been a prisoner of war (PoW) in the second World War. Like many of those sent to serve he did not share stories of those days, until, one day in the late 1980s when I was telling him about a visiting dignitary to our Civil Service office. This sparked in him a memory from working in the fields of an Italian Count in a PoW detail; he recalled the Count coming to inspect the troops as they worked. There followed a selection of funny stories of his time in the camps or on the run in Italy. In me, it kindled a need to understand more about this incredible man and my family history in general. It’s a hobby I have stopped and started many times over the thirty plus years that followed. Digitisation of records, community online forums, DNA testing and matching have transformed the process; an enduring pass-time and I love it! I have no desire to have the highest count of people in my tree, or to reach back the furthest in history, or to find fame and notoriety. For me, family history is about the stories. For that reason, I have come to accept and treasure the `rabbit holes’ of discovery that I frequently tumble into. This story, of Catherine Ratcliffe-Duncan, a pit brow lass from Billinge in Lancashire, is one such rabbit hole.

But let us start on the main path, with my three times great grandparents James and Ellen Duncan. James and Ellen married on 18th November 1839, the marriage registered at All Saints Church in Wigan. I know that their daughter Jane, my great great grandmother was baptised Catholic, which makes me think it probable that James and Ellen were Catholic. At that time a marriage in a Catholic Church would not be recognised as legal and therefore couples had to marry in Church of England. I have much more research to do on James and Ellen so I will leave this thread, tantalising as it is, here to be picked at later! The registration of the marriage tells us that James was 26 years of age, a bachelor and a Collier. Ellen was 23, a spinster and weaver. Both were from Winstanley. Due to the timing of their marriage and their likely Catholicism, I cannot be certain about how many children they had. The first record of a child is on the 1841 census, a son Richard, born on 15th January 1841 at Gustavus Hillock, Ashton in Makerfield. Other children were Peter (registered as Harry in Wirral in August 1842), Hugh (also registered in Wirral, born on 8th November 1844), Mary (born 18th December 1846, in Billinge), James (born 28th February 1849, and baptised at the local Church of England, St Aidan’s) and finally (my great great grandmother) Jane (born 14th January 1852, as I mentioned earlier baptised Catholic, at Birchley St Mary’s in Billinge).

On 13th June 1854, Ellen died from Phthisis, probably tuberculosis lung, at just 44 years old. The death certificate notes that she had been suffering with the wasting lung condition for nine months. James (43) was left with Jane, 2, James, 5 , Mary, 7, Hugh, 9, Peter, 12 and Richard, 13. Later that same year, 30th October 1854, James married local girl Sarah Lea at Wigan All Saints. Sarah also had a child, James, born 18th October 1844, so just ten years old when she married James Duncan. It’s difficult not to disappear down another rabbit hole here and hard to prove or disprove the details, as there are a few Sarah/Sally Leas, I have so little information to go off, and having children out of wedlock seems a commonality. But, I think our Sarah may have had, and lost in infancy, some five children.

On 29th January 1859 (four years and three months after they married) James dies, aged 48. His death certificate states “dropsy” which I understand to be the term applied to oedema, a fluid retention/ swelling of the body, perhaps due to heart or some other organ failure. There’s no way for me to know where the children go at this point but by the fact that they are mostly with Sarah on the 1861 census, I would say she takes care of them. My heart is so grateful.

I say mostly because I do know that Peter died at just 17 years old on 21st May 1860, his cause of death is stated as consumption, again this is almost certainly tuberculosis lung. His occupation is collier, which may have caused or exacerbated any lung condition. Peter’s burial takes place at St Aidan’s, the Church of England chapel where Sarah has attended. It makes me wonder how difficult it would have been for her to observe the Catholic faith that the children had perhaps been raised in? But how sad for Sarah and scary for the children that Peter should die, so young and so soon after their father died?

Jane’s story I will tell another time and in detail, part of a series that will focus on my great great grandmothers and how I relate to their stories; for now, let’s go down that rabbit hole which starts with her brother James.

To recap the story so far, James lost his mum when he was five years old, his dad when he was nine and his older brother Peter when he was just eleven. He marries at nineteen years old, no doubt wanting to pack as much into his life as soon as he can, who could blame him? So, on the 28th October 1868 he marries Mary Teresa Blackster, she is also nineteen and from Liverpool; at least that’s what the wedding certificate says, again so little to go off and I cannot trace Mary Teresa. Blackster is the name recorded on the marriage certificate but I wonder if her name was Baxter? Mary has listed no father’s details on the marriage certificate. The witnesses at the wedding are James Lea (Sarah’s son) and Elizabeth Hurst, the woman James Lea will marry. On 22nd August 1869 the happy couple are blessed with a daughter who they name Ellen. On the 13th July 1871 they have another daughter, Catherine. On 29th June 1873 they are blessed with a boy who they name James, sadly he dies at just five years old. Another boy is born on 29th November 1878 and they also name him James.

On the 1881 census, the family: James; Mary Teresa; Ellen, 11; Catherine, 9: and James, 2, is living at Holy Fold in Billinge. Living next door to the Duncan’s is the Taylor family, Thomas, Rachel and their children: Margaret, 23; Ann, 18; John, 14; Thomas, 12; and Alice, 8.

On 12th October 1882 James and Mary Teresa have another daughter Theresa. Then tragedy strikes in the following July when Mary Teresa dies at just 34 years old. The death certificate states the cause of death as “Debility 7 days”.

The next step in James’s journey is his marriage to Margaret Taylor, remember her, the 23 year old daughter of his neighbour in 1881? Before we come to their marriage in 1884, let’s fill in a bit of back story on Margaret. She was born on 27th January 1857 to Rachel and Thomas Taylor, a coal miner from Billinge. Margaret was the eldest of their eight children, six girls and two boys, her oldest brother John James is ten years her junior – but we will come back to him! Margaret had a baby boy, Peter, on the 1st May 1882 when she was 25 years old, an illegitimate child. Her second child Rachel was born just sixteen days after her marriage to James. On the 1891 census we find both Peter and Rachel living with Margaret’s parents next door to James and Margaret, who perhaps have enough on their hands at that point with another two children, Thomas born 12 September 1886 and Francis Henry born 16th April 1889.

The next ten years were eventful for our family with the two eldest girls, Ellen and Catherine, making their progress to adulthood. On the 1891 census eldest daughter Ellen is in service and Catherine, at this point 19 years of age, a Pit Brow Woman.

I get the opportunity to wander off into a little social history at this point. Until 1842’s Coal Mines Act, women and children could, and did, work underground at collieries. Apparently, families of the time were none too happy about the regulation of work and loss of earnings to the household, as there were no inspectors until the early 1850s, many ignored the ban. The regulations did not prevent women from working above ground and in Lancashire the women who did so were know as Pit Brow Lasses. They would unload coal from the trolleys, sort it and load it on to wagons. No doubt a tough job, made harder by the emotional pay load of their proximity to the mines when any accident happened.

On 22nd September 1891, Ellen marries James John Taylor, you’ll remember him from next door – he is Margaret’s brother. At this point I guess Ellen can call Margaret her step-mum and her sister-in-law! James and Margaret have a son William born 19 December 1891; and, on 31st December,Ellen and James John have a daughter, Ethel. Catherine is the next to have a child, with Margaret Ann born out of wedlock on 5th March 1893; sadly, Catherine’s baby dies on the 3rdAugust the same year, cause of death being diarrhoea for 7 days. The death certificate for Margaret Ann notes Catherine’s occupation as “labourer at colliery”, her death is reported by James Duncan.

The next year, 1894, Ellen gives birth to a son, Thomas, on 24th March and Margaret has a baby boy, John on August 24th. Sadly, just two days after giving birth to her son, Margaret dies from a pulmonary embolism, and there is further heartbreak when William, aged 2 years and 9 months, dies in October 1894.

Happier news follows the next year (1895) with Catherine marrying Thomas Ratcliffe on 12 Jun and the arrival of their baby girl, Alice on 17th September. Ellen has a baby girl, Margaret Alice, on the 15th July in the following year (1896). Catherine and Thomas have a son, James, born on 11th March 1897, sadly the baby dies on 1st July the same year, the cause of death Tabes Mesenterica, this a form of tuberculosis that destroys the gut and causes wasting.

1898 gets off to a better start with Catherine and Thomas having a baby boy, James, on 19th April but it does not prove any better a year when her father James dies on 30 October 1898. At this point the couple has four children under sixteen:Rachel, 14; Thomas, 12; Frank, 9; and John, 4. I hope to fill the gap of 1899 and 1900 but for now we know that James has made provision for his death and probate is granted to Catherine on 14th November 1898 “to Catherine Ratcliffe (wife of Thomas Ratcliffe) Effects £100” (that’s around £15,000 in today’s money).

Ellen has a son, whom she names James, on 27th June 1899;sadly he dies in January 1901.

Catherine has a daughter, Margaret, on 20th March 1900.

The next record I have (so far) is the 1901 census. Margaret’s parents are living in Dorothy Street, Thatto Heath – they are 69 and 68 years old. Ellen and James John live nearby but collectively they live, what then at least, must have been some distance from Catherine and her family in Billinge. On the 1901 census, Margaret’s son Peter and her daughter (with James?) Rachel, live with her parents. Rachel is something of a riddle as she is listed here with her grandparents, also living with Catherine and Thomas, and at the same time in Pemberton with the family of her future husband Willie under his surname, Ashall.

Also with Catherine and Thomas, are their surviving children Alice, 5, James, 2 and Margaret, 1; as well as her siblings James, 22, Teresa, 19, Thomas, 14, Frank, 11 and John, 6. All in a small stone cottage with a total of three rooms! I am guessing there were some interesting sleeping arrangements.

There follows what seems, from this perspective of free health care, health visitors, immunisations, antibiotics, social careand clean air, a devastating period of loss. I cannot weave a story without unnecessary melancholy, so I will let the bare facts speak for themselves. For Thomas and Catherine it goes like this:

– 2 October 1901 daughter Teresa born;

– 14 April 1903 son William born;

– 16 January 1904 William dies, cause measles;

– 18 March 1905 son Thomas born;

– 24 April 1905 Thomas dies, cause enteritis and convulsions;

– 18 September 1906 son Harold born;

– 16 December 1906 Harold dies, cause debility since birth;

– 13 June 1907, Teresa dies, five years old, cause meningitis;

– 15 August 1908, daughter Lizzie born.

On the 1911, Catherine (39) is living with Thomas (40), her brother John, son James, 12, daughters Margaret, 11 and Lizzie, 2.

In those intervening years her siblings have married, James to Margaret Corday, in 1901; Teresa to James Rimmer in 1901; Rachel to Willie Ashurst in 1905, Thomas to Sarah Ann Nelson in 1906; and Frank to Rachel Roby in 1906.

Catherine has wages coming into the house from Thomas and John, life was surely becoming more settled. On the 11th June 1913 she has another son, Thomas.

On 25th October 1914 Catherine dies from pneumococcal peritonitis, a primary bacterial infection of the peritoneum (abdominal membrane). Typically associated with use of IUD coils in adult females today. Cleared up by antibiotics which are some way off (Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928) and, of course, would come at a cost until our free health care through the National Health Service began in 1948. So a very sad end for Catherine, my little rabbit hole, my pit brow lass; rest well Cath, your kindness and love shines through all these years later and I hope that your story is heard.