Florrie was born in the first half (school record says 6th April) of 1888, in the workhouse in Okehampton, Devon, the illegitimate daughter of John Worth, a labourer, and Annie Yeo (19 or 20), a domestic servant on a farm.
Florrie was baptised on 23rd July 1888 in Okehampton.
Florrie had one older half sister - another illegitimate daughter of Annie - :
- Beatrice 'Beattie' Mary Victoria 1885 - 1973 (87 years)
And one younger half brother - another illegitimate child of Annie - :
- Archibald John Weedon 1893 - 1899 (6 years)
A report in the British Medical Journal on the conditions of Okehampton workhouse in the 1890s noted the female ward, which held "fourteen beds", where Annie herself likely gave birth to Beattie in 1885 and Florrie in 1888, and its adjoining dayroom appeared "comfortless and bare". The dayroom "was warmed by an oven stove which smoked persistently". The report continued:
"the walls are whitewashed, and without any attempt at decoration, unless the dado of matchboarding in the dayroom may be considered such; the roofs are pitched, with transverse beams, and from there are suspended some temporary bed-pulls made with cords and a bit of wood. We were struck by the absence of armchairs; there might have been one or two, but many of the patients were seated on a bench against the wall. There were no pictures, no plants, nothing to relieve the weary monotony.
The bedsteads are narrow (33 inches) and low; the bedding is chaff, changed twice a year, or oftener if necessary. It was sufficient, and quite clean.
The ward is heated by an open fireplace at one end. The ventilation is by means of the windows, which are swung sashes, and there are some apertures in the roof, but we suspected that these were blocked by an accumulation of dust and dirt"
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| Photograph of Okehampton Workhouse |
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| Another Photograph of Okehampton Workhouse |
It was into these surroundings that Florrie and her older sister Beattie were born.
Whilst Beattie's father is unknown, we know Florrie's father was one John Worth, a labourer from Germansweek, who twenty-year-old Annie bravely summoned to court for child maintenance.
From the Western Times of 10th August 1888:
It seems Annie stove to support her daughters and keep them together. The 1891 Census shows Annie continued to work as a servant on a farm, whilst Florrie, two, and her older sister Beattie, five, stayed with widow Elizabeth Stratford and her two daughters in East Street, Okehampton. Elizabeth's maiden name was Yeo, so she may have been related somehow to Annie.
1891 Census:
In 1893, Beattie's mother Annie gave birth to a third illegitimate child, a son called Archibald John Weedon Yeo, in Okehampton. Archibald was baptised on 15th September 1893 in Okehampton. Annie is once more described as living in Okehampton. Sadly in 1899, Archibald passed away, aged only six, in North Tawton. Archibald was buried on 14th December 1899, in North Tawton.
In the late 1890s, Florrie and Beattie attended Okehampton County Primary School. Under the column 'name and address of parent or guardian', no parent's name is given, and their address is sadly given as the workhouse in Okehampton.
Though we have evidence she stayed for some time at East Street with the Stratford family, did Florrie and Beattie otherwise live at the workhouse? If so it would have been under these conditions (again from the above mentioned report):
"The nursery is... a small room with [a] fireplace and two windows, a boarded floor, and some most antiquated wooden boxes on rockers, the remains of the ancient cradles which in the old days were placed on a frame against the walls... Here, as elsewhere, we noted with regret the absence of toys or picture books for the little ones, nor did we see any children's chairs or low seats for their use...
The children in this workhouse seem badly housed; they are sent to the village school, but have no satisfactory playroom when in the house."
In 1901, when Florrie was thirteen, her mother Annie married carter Mark Sandford.
Annie and Mark would have five children - Florrie's younger half siblings - :
- George 'Len' Leonard Yeo 1902 - 1976 (74 years)
- Archibald Arthur Yeo 1903 - 1904 (15 - 21 months)
- Archibald Arthur Yeo 1906 - 1906 (0 - 3 months)
- Pearl May Yeo 1909 - 1909 (0 - 3 months)
- Barbara May Yeo 1912 - 1927 (15 years)
Sadly four out of five of Florrie's little half siblings passed away young.
At some point, as a teenager or very young woman, Florrie moved from her native Devon up to south Wales.
The 1911 Census shows Florrie, at twenty-two years old, working as a domestic cook and housemaid for widowed landlady Sarah Johnson and her two lodgers - schoolmaster George Riding and motor engineer George Phillips - at 10 Clive Place, in the town of Penarth, which is about four miles southwest of the city of Cardiff.
1911 Census:
In Mar/Apr/May 1912, Florrie (23 or just 24), a domestic cook and housemaid, married William G Matthews, in the district of Cardiff, Wales. Florrie was either heavily pregnant when she married, or had just had a baby, for Florrie and William's only son Donald Yeo Matthews was also born in Mar/Apr/May 1912, in the district of Cardiff. Did Florrie and William only marry because she was pregnant? Certainly it seems they didn't have any other children.
My grandfather, George Leonard Sandford, Florrie's half nephew, remembers his older half cousin Donald as always remaining friendly and childlike. It appears he may have been in some way mentally disabled. It was my grandfather who also remembered that his half aunt was known to the family as Florrie.
Unfortunately I don't know much about Florrie's later life. I only know she attended the funeral of her half niece Barbara Sandford in 1927, in Zeal Monachorum, along with her son Donald.
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