A short posting this week about a Great Aunt who if I met I cannot remember because I would have been very young.
My Father, Bill Carver, had two aunts on his Mother’s side.
It was Mabel’s absence in the 1901 Census return when the Spillett’s came to Oxted that led me on a short hunt for her. Laura, my Father’s other aunt, was not born until 1906.
Just to recap, here is the family when they lived in 43 High Street, Oxted in 1901.
| Age | Occupation | Where Born | |
| Henry G Spillett | 43 | Coach Painter | Canterbury |
| Sarah E Spillett | 32 | Westcott, Surrey | |
| Ada Spillett (my Grandmother) | 10 | Scholar | Bersted, Sussex |
| Henry Spillett | 8 | Scholar | Bersted, Sussex |
| George Spillett | 4 | Bognor, Sussex | |
| William Spillett | 2 | Deptford, London |
Mabel was born in London Road, South Bersted, in 1883. Between then and 1891 she and her parents had moved to the White Horse public house in Chichester Road, South Bersted.
By 1901 the Spilletts had arrived in Oxted but Mabel was not included in the Census record for their address. Instead, she was living in Croydon, West Croydon to be precise. She was a Domestic Servant. She would have been 17 years old.
She was a Servant, aged 17, in a house at 6 Station Road, Croydon (close to West Croydon Station) headed by William Green aged 29. He was recorded as a Baker and Confectioner. Also in the house were William’s wife Louisa aged 30 and their two young daughters aged 6 and 2. Also in the house were two young single men described as brothers in law, aged 27 and 23. They were described as Bakers and Confectioners. All three men were working on their ‘own account’ which means they were partners in their own Bakery.
Between 1901 and the Census in 1911, Mabel had moved from Croydon and aged 27 was working as a Parlour Maid in a house called Red Roofs in Bluehouse Lane, Limpsfield, not far from Oxted. The head of the house was a London Stockbroker. Mabel worked with two other domestic staff, a Cook and a Domestic Servant.
A Parlour Maid differed from a Domestic Servant in that she assisted the Cook and waited at table. She was also responsible for Butler type duties, if there was no Butler.
In 1911 on 5 June, Mabel married Harry Winter, a Painter living in Limpsfield. She was 27 and he was 30. The witnesses at their wedding were Mabel’s father and her younger sister, Ada, my Great Grandfather and my Grandmother.
The 1939 England and Wales Register recorded Mabel and Harry Winter living at 1, Hookwood Cottages, Hookwood Park, close to Oxted. Mabel was described as doing Unpaid Domestic Duties and Harry was a self-employed plumber and decorator.
(The 1939 England and Wales Register was not a Census but was similar. It was undertaken by the Government at the outbreak of the Second World War. It records names, addresses, dates of birth (unlike the Census which records age only) and occupation and most importantly for the Government, where you were born. This information was used to enable conscription, wartime duties for childless women and internment for foreign nationals).
The Spilletts were no different to other families in the towns and villages of this part of England. Leave school by 15 and find work. Domestic servitude came with board and lodging and meant an early independence for many young women like my Great Aunt Mabel. For the men it was a bit different as we shall see in future posts.