Beatrice 'Beattie' Mary Victoria Yeo was born on 11th December 1885 in the union workhouse in Okehampton, Devon, the illegitimate daughter of teenaged orphan servant Annie Yeo (seventeen or eighteen years old). We don't know who Beattie's father was. Beattie was baptised on 15th January 1886 in Okehampton as 'Beatrice Mary Yeo', however her middle names vary on later documents.
In 1889, when Beattie was two, her mother Annie gave birth to another illegitimate daughter called Alberta 'Florrie' Florence W Yeo. Though Florrie was also born in Okehampton workhouse, Annie's residence was listed as Northlew, which is seven miles north of Okehampton.
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 these 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 Beattie and her little sister Florrie were born.
Whilst Beattie's father is unknown, Florrie's father was one John Worth, a labourer from Germansweek, who twenty-year-old Annie bravely summoned to court for child maintenance.
It seems Annie strove to support her young daughters and keep them together. The 1891 Census shows Annie continued to work as a servant on a farm, whilst Beattie, five, and her little sister Florrie, two, 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.
The 1891 Census gives Beattie's full name as 'Beatrice Florence Victoria Yeo'.
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 Beattie and Florrie 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 Beattie and Florrie 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."
After leaving school, teenage Beattie followed in her mother's footsteps and went to work as a domestic servant on a farm. The 1901 Census shows Beatrice, aged fifteen, working for the Morris family on Binneford Farm in Stockleigh English, which is about twenty miles north-east of her native Okehampton.
1901 Census
Later in 1901, Beattie's mother Annie married carter Mark Sandford, and settled in Bow.
Annie and Mark would have five children - Beattie'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 Beattie's little half siblings passed away young.
By the time of the 1911 Census, when my great grandfather Len was about nine, his older half sister Beattie was working as a domestic cook for farmer John Hing at Paschoe House near Bow. John Hing and his wife had five live-in servants, so they must have been quite well off. For Beattie, having been born in the workhouse, the illegitimate daughter of a teenage servant; then worked herself as a teenager as a general domestic servant on a small farm - notably the only servant in a household with four infant children - ; to become a cook in a large house, surrounded by other servants, would have been a big step up. Beattie must have been a good worker to have achieved this. As there seems to have been no butler or housekeeper, as the cook, Beattie, though only twenty-five, would have been considered the senior servant. Today Pashoe House is a hotel - I must make sure to visit it one day.
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| Modern Photograph of Paschoe House |
Though the name given on the census is 'Mary Yeo' we can be sure that it is our Beattie, for the age and place of birth, I have checked, only fit her - and her name often changes slightly on records anyway.
1911 Census:
By the time of the First World War, it seems Beattie had left Paschoe House behind. In January 1917, Beattie (30 or just 31), formerly a domestic cook, married Sidney James Easterbrook, who was in the army, in the district of Crediton. On their record of marriage, Beattie's full name is given as 'Beatrice Mary Victoria Yeo' - I told you it changes around a bit. The couple settled in Coleford.
A newspaper article says that Beattie and Sidney had two children; however, I can only find record of one:
- Pamela B 1919 -
Their marriage was seemingly a happy one for two years, until in early 1919 letters started to arrive at their home. The sight of the first, though addressed to Sidney, made a pregnant Beattie curious, for it was written in a woman's hand. When she spotted kisses on the back of the envelope, she had to open it. She found it was from a young woman asking Sidney what he intended to do about their child. When confronted by Beattie, Sidney denied being the father and she, it is reported, believed him. Yet at some point in 1919, Sidney moved out of the family home to Woolwich. Also in mid 1919, Beattie gave birth to their daughter Pamela. Later in 1919, further letters arrived from a second woman, with whom Sidney had at some point been living in Chiswick. After a brief correspondence with her, Beattie discovered this woman was under the impression that Sidney was a single man. Beattie had save £30 and put it into the bank in Sidney's name; he had then took out all these savings and reportedly spent them on this woman at Chiswick. From Woolwich, Sidney then wrote several times to Beattie that he would not live with her again as they could not agree. He was also failing to send child maintenance, thus why Beattie brought him to court and this case was reported upon.
Surprising, under oath, Sidney produced a very different story. He claimed he himself had written the letters so Beattie could divorce him.
From Exeter and Plymouth Gazette of 29th September 1919:
From then on it seems Beattie and Sidney lived separate lives. Come the 1939 Census, twenty years later, Beattie was back working a cook. Now she was cook and housekeeper to Mr and Mrs Studholme at Perridge House in Holcombe Burnell. Interestingly her status is listed as married, implying she and Sidney did not divorce.
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| An Old Sketch of Perridge House |
Whilst Beattie was a bride of the First World War, her daughter Pamela was a bride of the Second World War. In 1940, Beattie's daughter Pamela (21) married Corporal Charles C Haines (R.A.F).
Pamela and Charles had two sons (Beattie's grandsons):
- Antony Charles 1941 -
- Michael J 1944 -
Alas I know little of Beattie's later life, other than its close. In Jul/Aug/Sep 1973, Beattie passed away, aged eighty-seven, in the district of Plymouth.
Though her names changes around a little on records, it was her half nephew, my grandfather, George Leonard Sandford, who remembered her as always being known to himself and the family as 'Auntie Beattie'. Beattie, though not brought up with her mother's later legitimate children, was not hidden away as some illegitimate children were, but was considered a member of the family. A local newspaper article from the time shows she was a mourner at the funeral of her youngest half sister Barbara Sandford in 1927 - and most notably the newspaper lists her as her sister - ; and, as stated, she was always an aunt to her younger half brother Len's sons.
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