Great Grandmother Ivy Jane Wright (nee Boobier)

My Great Grandmother Ivy (1905 - 1978) was a housewife and mother of seven.

Ivy Jane Boobier was born on 17th May 1905 in Exeter, to Walter Boobier (34), a municipal labourer, and Mary Ann 'Polly' Boobier (nee Manning) (35), a former laundress.

Ivy was one of two daughters:

• Ellen Emma  1903 - 1977 (74)
• Ivy Jane  1905 - 1978 (73)

Very young Ivy and Ellen, c 1906

Ivy and Ellen grew up in 4 Colleton Grove, Exeter, just around the corner from the Quay.

On 17th June 1908, Ivy, aged three, like Ellen before her, began attending Holloway Street Infant School in Exeter. She left the school on 1st August 1912, aged seven, to start at the upper school. After a month-long summer holiday, on 2nd September 1912, Ivy began attending Holloway Street Girl's School. On 11th July 1919, Ivy finished her schooling, aged fourteen.

1911 Census:

Early in 1916, when Ivy was ten, her mother Polly passed away, aged forty-six.

In the summer of 1919, when Ivy was fourteen, her Aunt Kate also passed away, aged forty-eight.

Ivy, her father Walter, and sister Ellen in the early 1920s

Unfortunately, it is difficult to tell the sisters apart, though at a guess, by looking at her wedding photographs, I'd say Ivy may be on the right. 

In the summer of 1924, when Ivy was nineteen, her father Walter passed away, aged fifty-three. Ivy (19) and Ellen (21) were left orphans, as their father and his brothers had been at a similar age. One hopes kind relations took them in.

By the mid 1920s, Ivy had moved a few street away from 4 Colleton Grove to 26 Melbourne Street, Exeter.

Ivy as a young woman in the early 1920s

On 22nd July 1925, Ivy (20) married Ernest 'Len' Leonard Wright (20), a refreshment attendant for the Southern Railway in Exeter. Ivy was about four months pregnant with twins at the time.

Ivy and Len's wedding in the summer of 1925

Ivy and Len are stood centre. Ivy's older sister, Ellen, is stood second from left. Len's parents, Frank and Emma are together on the far left. Len's oldest brother, Will, is stood third from right.

Ivy and Len had seven children (three daughters and four sons):

• Delma Margaret Emma  1925 - 1992 (66)
• Mercia 'Merce' Eileen May  1925 - 2017 (91)
• Barbara Kathleen Ellen  1927 - 1990 (63)
• Cyril Walter G  1929 - 1997 (68)
• Gordon C  1930 - ?
• Desmond Clifford E  1932 - 1998 (66)
• Phillip L J  1940 - ?

By the start of the Second World War, Ivy and her family had moved to Burnthouse Lane, Exeter. Most of the residents of the newly built Burnthouse Lane estate, including Ivy's husband Len, were former residents of Exeter's West Quarter, an old slum area of the city, which was cleared in the 1920s and 1930s.

Alas I know little of Ivy's later life, as my father was not close to the Wright side of the family. He remembers her only as a little old lady.

Ivy (59) and Len (59) summer holidaying in Woolacombe, 1964

In 1973, Ivy passed away, aged seventy-three, in Exeter.