With only a shilling to spare for food and clothes- what does a mother do?

At the turn of the century, a widow had to scrape a meagre existence doing washing or ironing and then resort to charity. When all else failed women and children were accepted into institutions and homes or workhouses.  No such thing as Centrelink for widows’ pensions or superannuation to live off. 

This is the fate of Emily Hudson and her children.

After trying to puzzle out the mystery of Emily Hudson for several years we suddenly find that mysterious Emily’s early history was not so dire but that her children were not so lucky.

Information comes from the least expected places can be quite out of the blue and after a long wait for records to become available a brick wall came crashing down after the Barnardos 100-year-old records for Amelia Doris and Mabel Hudson were transcribed to revealed secrets of the past.

 

This record provided us with so much information

 I’ve said before these old records often told all the secrets, legitimacy, religion, rogue fathers etc.  These records even contained a step grandparent, uncles and aunt.  Their mother Emily Hudson was a young widow with three children and one born after the death of their father Joseph Hudson.  Christening records show him as the father of at least two more children after his death.  Emily’s story will be told in another blog.

This is the story of 3 of Emily’s girls and their sad beginnings. Emily's children by a much older widower husband Joseph were a son Joseph and two daughters Ethel and Amelia. Jessie and was on the way when Joseph died suddenly while working as a gardener at the Cheadle Asylum.   

The records tell us that as a widow with four children she later cohabited with a man called Patrick Mullen for four years (In the 1901 census a man called Patrick Quatters is shown as a “visitor”). Two girls Doris and Mabel were the result of that liaison.

In 1902 Mullins deserted Emily leaving her and the children to live in constant poverty. She had moved away from Joseph’s first family back to her birthplace of Birkenhead. To survive she did occasionally work in her old profession as a Laundress and did a bit of charring but the incoming money of six shillings barely covered for rent of five shillings, food and clothing. She lived off charity.

After an application by the branch of the Liverpool Barnardos in 1904 the girls were admitted to the Girls Village House and the girls entered the care of Barnardos Homes. At the time of admission Amelia was suffering from rickets and nervous debility and Mabel the baby was delicate and unable to walk. It was also noted that young Joseph aged 10 was in a Church of England Waifs and Strays Home. Ethel, 11 and Jesse shown as 8 but really younger remained with their mother.

 

The Hudson Girls enter care

Barnado’s Homes were established by Dr Thomas Barnado 1845 to 1905.  Originally for orphan babies and young children in the course of time Barnardos expanded to help 350,000 children who spent time in homes in either the UK Australia or Canada. It’s noted that Emily had given full agreement to the “Canada Clauses” for Amelia‘s admission. Barnado’s had a scheme to relocate English poor to work for pioneer families in Canada and the Canada Clause gave Barnardos the right to send Amelia and possibly the other girls to Canada and place them with Canadian family who required the assistance of the offered child labour. This photo with their sad little faces was taken at the time of admission. The records show Emily frequently asked after the girls and requested photos of the girls. From time to time Emily was informed of their progress and their location in the countryside possibly Stroud and surrounds or other of the Barnado institutions. Initially, Mabel is still delicate but later in March 1905 Mabel is doing well in Gloucester and walking and Amelia is doing well in the Babies Castle.

Amelia's story


Amelia was admitted to Barnardos aged 8 years 10 months on 2/3/1904.  After a short stint at the Girls Village Home she has boarded out to Stroud and then to Stratham in 1905. Later she went to the Babies Castle and then back to the Girls Village Home. Amelia's is the only complete record and her description on her admission form was brown hair, fresh complexion, grey eyes, 3 foot 4 inches 20 inches chest measurement, 28 1/4 pounds. The condition of her body was described as poorly developed.

Official record for Amelia

Amelia upon admission to Barnardos

On 15 October 1908 at the age 13, she was removed to Rumford Union Work House.  It is likely she was in the St Edmunds Convent in 1911 Census. This was an institution for the education and protection of distressed women of good character and was used for training girls for service. Despite the heresay that her mother had lost her around the time when Ethel left for Australia in 1914, (and that she was killed by a bull) the  Death Certificate accessed appears to match.

It looks like her poor health sees her admitted to an asylum suffering from phthisis for some months. Phthisis is a common disease in the child its symptoms are thinness, boniness, scrawniness, skinniness, scragginess, starvation, underfeeding, undernourishment, cadaverousness, gauntness, haggardness and attenuation. Her death occurred on 5/12/1918 and the certificate also notes she was from Barnardos.

Doris’s story

Doris who was illegitimate was 1 when she was admitted to Barnardos with her two siblings.  After being initially at the Girls Village Home she went to live in the country in Stroud. In 1911 she shown as a boarder with Fanny Smith of Stroud and then in 1915 Barnardos notes show her moving to Cambridge and later in 1917 the Girls Village Home again. Later that year aged 17 she was sent into service at the Chaplin’s quarters Royal Military Academy Woolwich.

Doris upon admission to Barnados

Doris in Service 

She married Leslie James Saxton an electrician in 1939 and lived with him in Wandsworth and then Lincoln and Gloucestershire. They were sadly childless and perhaps this is enabled her to keep up the correspondence with her sisters Ethel living in Australia, Mabel and brother Joseph. A remarkable result despite the dysfunctional upbringing she had.  She died in 1986 the last of the Hudson children. We have a cheery letter she wrote to her Sister’s son after hearing that her sister had passed away.  

Mabel Alexandra’s story

Mabel, also illegitimate was admitted with her sisters as a one-year-old baby. She too was boarded out at Stroud. Initial reports to her mother were that she was still delicate but later that she was doing well and walking. Shown in the 1911 census as being ”adopted” along with four other children she was living in Stroud. The "adoptive" mother was Annie Munt. In 1917 she’s was going into service at Campden Hill Kensington.  

Mabel upon admission to Barnados

It is believed she become a nurse. Electoral records show her as living at various addresses around London with a probably married man Bertram Annison even in the 1939 register she is was living as Mabel Annison while working as a braille dispatch supervisor and part time St John’s Ambulance Attendant  Bertram  must’ve been free to marry in 1940 as they ‘tied the knot’ in Islington where she lived until she died in 1959.  She left effects of £324 to her sister Doris.

What happened to the other siblings?


Jessie who was close to Emily until her death had her own tough life bringing up seven children. Tony, her grandson is the sleuth who pursued the Barnardos records after “lining up for 18 months”. She died in 1971.

Jessie Hudson

After going into service older sister Ethel married Sidney Ford a merchant sailor. She left in 1914 to settle in Australia. She had three children who have been part of the pursuit of siblings’ story. They bought a double block at their Gladesville home- space to cater for mother Emily should she choose to move to Australia.  

Joseph pictured with Doris escaped the Waifs and Strays Home to live with his mother as shown in the 1911 census. He worked as a labourer on the dockyards. His wife Annie and he had three children and he still lived in Birkenhead when he died in 1968. I suspect he maintained contact with Ethel in Australia and he certainly knew Doris as shown in the photo.  Tony knew of members of the immediate family so he also had a relationship with Jessie.

 

Doris and Joseph Hudson

So much of our story is buried in the past. Some information is waiting to be found (or transcribed) and some is to be just uncovered by process of elimination.  What is striking is the sad fate of the fatherless children and widows in this nineteenth and twentieth century period. Thankfully modern economies such as Australia now take some responsibility for widows and children’s welfare through regular welfare payments and housing assistance.  Charitable organisations which provide emergency aid, food banks and charity shops help restore dignity and children are rarely separated from their parents for reasons of poverty.

This is a story of a family that survived and regrouped amongst the adversity, hardship and all without the help of social media and the internet to maintain communication!!

Emily with Grandson Jack