Great Grandmother Violet Grace Sandford (nee Mutters)

My Great Grandmother Violet (1894 - 1953) was a dressmaker, housewife and mother of three.

Violet Grace Mutters was born on 11th March 1894 in Woodbury, Devon, to George Mutters (about 28), a mason and bricklayer, and Emma Mutters (nee Brealey) (about 39), a dressmaker.

Violet was baptised on 15th April 1894 in Woodbury.

Violet was the fifth of seven children:

• Charlotte Irene  1888 - 1890 (1 year)
• Henry George  1889 - 1889 (0 - 3 months)
• Lily Emmeline  1890 - 1970 (79 years)
• Charles 'Charlie' George  1892 - 1970 (77/78 years)
• Violet Grace  1894 - 1953 (58 years)
• Anna/Anne  1896 - 1896 (0 - 3 months)
• William 'Willie' George  1898 - 1910 (11 years)

Alas four of Violet's siblings passed away in childhood. Violet's older siblings, Charlotte and Henry, passed away before Violet was born.

When Violet was two years old, her younger sister Anna or Anne passed away somewhere between zero and three months old.

On 20th June 1898, when Violet was 4 years old, she began attending Woodbury Church of England Primary School.

Photograph of Woodbury School, c 1900

Violet and her siblings attended the school in the 1890s and early 1900s.

May they be amongst this group of Woodbury school children?

1901 Census:

From 1907 to 1909, teenaged Violet attended Woodbury Evening School. At the time, Violet was in home service.

Photograph of Globe Hill, Woodbury, 1904

Violet and her family lived on Globe Hill in the early 1900s.

On 12th March 1910, when Violet was sixteen, her younger brother Willie passed away aged only eleven years old.

1911 Census:

As a teenager, Violet worked as a dressmaker, like her mother Emma had done when younger. Did mother train daughter?

Photograph of Globe Hill, Woodbury, 1914

When Violet was twenty-four, her father George passed away, aged fifty-two, on 20th April 1918 in the district of Neath, Glamorganshire, Wales. Though he died in Wales, George was buried in Woodbury.

When Violet was thirty, her mother Emma passed away aged sixty-nine on 9th May 1924 in Woodbury. Violets parents are buried together.

In the summer of 1931, Violet (37) married widower George 'Len' Leonard Yeo Sandford (29), a farm carter, in the Exeter district. Violet was between three and six months pregnant at the time

Violet and Len had three sons:

• Ronald 'Ron' G  1931 -
• George Leonard  1933 -
• Bertram 'Bert' Charles  1934 -

Photograph of Violet's young sons, c 1935

After her marriage, Violet and Len moved to Len's native Bow.

20th Century Photograph of Bow

In 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War, Violet and her family lived at Kymett Cottage in Bow.

Christmas 1939/1940, Violet's sons attended Bow Church Sunday School's annual party, and won second prize. The event was reported in the local newspaper.

From the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette on 19th January 1940:

In 1953, Violet passed away aged 58. Her middle son, George, was serving in the army at the time and so unable to make it to her sickbed or attend the funeral, which he would long lament.