Ethel Maude Mary Wilcox was born in July 1873 – 150 years ago.
She was the first born of John and Lena Wilcox, my Great Grandparents.
Aunt Ethel was my Great Aunt. I never met her but my cousin Sue remembers that she occasionally visited and stayed in her parents house in Palmers Green.
One of my research frustrations is the lack of photos and images of my ancestors. There is a strange sensation when you come across a photo of an ancestor that you might not have seen before or which you have studied hard to find out who they were.
At a celebratory reception to honour the life of my cousin Elsa, I spotted a table with photo albums of many people that I did not recognise. Elsa’s brother sent me a bunch of these a short while after. In one of these photos there was a woman dressed in Edwardian style. She stands next to a small child who is sitting in an elegant and well built high chair. Both look to the camera, she looking quietly proud and the child looking a bit unsure of what is going on or being asked of him.
On the reverse it simply says ‘Clifton, 6 months old in 1908’. This was all I needed to show me that this was Clifton Harry Hodkin, the fourth child and son of Ethel and Arthur Hodkin who were married in Sheffield in 1899.
This is the first time that I have set eyes on Aunt Ethel, and then now as a young woman of 35 years. She had six boys in all and then finally, had a girl, Barbara. I can see the likeness of her Wilcox brothers in her picture.
The 1881 Census return shows Ethel, aged 7, living with her parents in Spenser Road, Acton. She was the eldest of the then family of four children. There was Herbert, 6, Lilian, 3 and Sydney aged 9 months.
Ten years later, in the 1891 Census return, Ethel and Herbert had left home. I have discovered Herbert working as a Page Boy (Domestic Servant) in the household of Walter Underhill and his sister in Warwick Road, Paddington. (This might now be Warwick Avenue, or may have been demolished as a result of future wars.).
I cannot find a Census entry for Ethel in the 1891 Census return. She may have been missed out for some reason. However she was not living at home with her parents. She would have been 17 years old that year. Then in 1901 she appears as the wife of Arthur Hodkin, a Stone Mason in Firbeck. In this year she would have been 27 years old. What, I wonder, happened to her in the intervening years ? Did she leave home to go into Domestic Service, as many young women did? The other question for me is how did she meet Arthur, a Stone Mason in Firbeck ?
Ethel and Arthur Hodkin had a family of seven. Apart from Barbara who was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, they lived most of their lives near Rotherham.
My Great Aunt Ethel died in 1955.
I have no idea what happened to Clifton. With a family of seven children during the twentieth century, it would be interesting to find out the dynasty of the Hodkin family.