Great x3 Half Aunt Florence 'Florrie' Mabel Slack (nee Clapperton) (1889 - 1975)

My Great x3 Half Aunt Florrie (1889 - 1975) was a servant, housewife, mother of twelve, and the youngest half sister of my Great Great Grandmother Emma Wright (nee Bennett) (1871 - 1944).

Florrie was born on 30th May 1889, in Exeter, Devon, to James Clapperton (about 53), a Scottish veteran of the Crimean War and a draper's porter, and Sarah Ann Clapperton (formerly Bennett, nee Andrews) (about 45), a housewife.

I cannot find a record of marriage between Sarah Ann and James Clapperton, though they would live for years as husband and wife. 

Florence was baptised on 3rd July 1889, in St Sidwell's, Exeter.

Florrie had two old half siblings from her mother's first marriage to railway labourer James Bennett, who died after an accident at work:

• William  1868 - 1942  (73)
• Emma  1871 - 1944  (73)

Florrie was the youngest eight full siblings (four boys, four girls):

• James 1874 - 1936  (61)
• George Henry  1876 - 1952  (75)
• Albert 1878 - 1878 (2 months)
• Walter John  1880 - 1913  (32)
• Lily/Lilian Maude  1882 - 1958 (75)
• Minnie  1884 - 1956 (71)
• Ada  1886 - 1888  (1 year and 9 months)
• Florence 'Florrie' Mabel  1889 - 1975 (85)

1891 Census:

Florrie attended Holloway Street School. Then from 15th January 1899, she attended Rack Street Central School. Her address is given as 3 Prospect Place. Her older half sister Emma had married Frank Wright, whose family were living at 3 Prospect Place earlier on the 1891 Census. 

Before Florrie was even a teenager, her parents' relationship fell apart. They had been living apart for fifteen months, when James was charged with assaulting Sarah in 1899. By then, Sarah was living with her future husband, stone mason William Luscombe.

I cannot presently find Florrie (twelve) or her older sisters Lily (nineteen) or Minnie (seventeen) on the 1901 Census. They are with neither parent. 

On the evening of Sunday 8th April 1906, sixteen-year-old (though in the newspaper, said to be seventeen) Florrie, along with two friends, was arrested for using obscene language and jostling people on the High Street.

From the Western Times of 12th April 1906:

Three years earlier in 1903, Florrie's future husband Frank had also been arrested for jostling and annoying people in the high street of a Sunday night!

From the Western Times of 13th May 1903:

On 18th January 1907, when Florrie was seventeen, her father James passed away, aged seventy-one, in Exeter. His death was reported in the Western Times on 23rd January 1907:

His funeral took place on 24th January 1907 at Exeter's Higher Cemetery. Owing to his military service, his funeral was highly attended and reported in the Western Times on 25th January 1907:

Florrie's older sister Minnie (left) and Florrie (right)

At the time of Florrie's wedding in 1910, Florrie was living with her older half sister Emma. Emma's husband Frank acted as witness at Florrie's wedding

On Christmas Day 1910, Florrie (21), a servant, married Frank Slack (26), a tanyard labourer, in Exeter.

Florrie and Frank had twelve children (including two sets of twins!?) (ten boys and two girls)

• Florence May  1911
• Frank  1912
• Louisa 'Lucy' Ivy I  1915 - 1922  (7 years old)
• Walter 'George' George  1918
• Frederick 'Jack' John  1921
• Albert  1922 - 1922 (2 weeks)
• William  1922 - 1922 (1 day)
• Leonard James  1924
• Cyril Leslie  1926
• Raymond Clifford  1927
• David  1930
• Peter A S  1930

At the time of the 1911, the young couple resided at 8 Prospect Place, Exeter.

In 1913, Florrie's older brother Walter passed away. In the Royal Marines for thirteen years, Walter had served on many ships, before being invalided out on 16th November 1911. Eighteen months later, he passed away, aged thirty-two, in April 1913. At the time of his death, Walter was living with their older brother George in Barnstaple.

His death was reported in the North Devon Herald of 10th April 1913:

Florrie's husband Frank (service number 7274) had enlisted as a private in the Devonshire Regiment, aged eighteen, on 12th January 1903. But he was discharged only three months later, on 15th April 1903, having paid £10.

Her service records give a brief physical description of Frank as a young man: he was 5'6'', with a fresh complexion, brown hair and grey eyes.

Frank (service number 457368) reenlisted in the First World War. He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Frank was a prisoner of war. He was captured on 21st Mar 1918 at St Quentin. Thankfully Frank survived the war and returned home to his family in Exeter.

Florrie and Frank, most likely with their eldest children:
Florence (right), Frank (middle) and baby Lucy, c 1916

By the time of 1921 Census, the Slack family were living at 24 Prospect Place, Rack Street, Exeter. Frank worked at the Tremlett Paper Mills - now the pub and restaurant The Mill on the Exe, which I have dinned at without realising I had a distant familial connection.

1921 Census:

On 20th Sep 1922, Florrie's daughter Louisa passed away, aged seven, of tuberculosis. She was buried on 3rd October 1922, in Exwick Cemetery.

Sadly two weeks later, Florrie would also see her baby twin sons - Albert and William - buried in the same cemetery.

On 18th October 1922, William (one day old) and Albert (two weeks old) were buried, in Exwick Cemetery.

Florrie would have a second set of twins - David and Peter - in 1930. 

Florrie and Frank

Two days after the start of the Second World War, on 3rd September 1939, Florrie and Frank's son Jack (service number 7356200), eighteen, enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps (in which his father had served in the last world war). He served until 1946 and reached the rank of Corporal. After the war, he worked as a nurse.

1939 Census:

Florence (left) and her older sister Minnie (right), later in life, outside 'Sidwell'

Frank and Florrie, outside their home 'Sidwell', c 1939

As seen on the 1939 Census, the Slack family lived in 'Sidwell' - a semi-detached house on King Street, Exeter. The other half of the semi was called 'Regalia', but known locally as 'Reglia'.

On 25th April 1942, the houses were sadly destroyed in a bombing raid. But amazingly, they were steadily rebuilt "very much as they were" after the war. Around 1955, the Slack family moved back in. However, they chose to move into - not their former home of 'Sidwell', but 'Reglia'.

On 7th January 1956, Florrie's husband Frank passed away, aged seventy-one, at the family home of Regalia.

Frank was buried on 11th January 1956, in Exwick Cemetery.

In 1966, Florrie and Frank's son Cyril and his family emigrated to Australia.

Florrie outlived all of her older siblings.

On 13th April 1975, Florrie passed away, aged eighty-five, in Exeter. 

She was buried on 17th April 1975, in Exwick Cemetery

Frank and Florrie share a final resting place.

Florrie and Flank's grave