Great x3 Aunt Mary 'Polly' Harris Greenslade (nee Edworthy)

My Great x3 Aunt Mary (also known as Polly) (1869 - 1938) was a domestic servant, housewife, mother of nine, and the youngest sister of my Great Great Grandfather William Edworthy (1852 - 1911).

Mary was born in Jan/Feb 1869 in East Worlington, Devon, to William Edworthy (about 48), a farm labourer, and Mary Edworthy (nee Harris) (about 45), a housewife.

On Valentine's Day 1869, Mary was baptised in East Worlington.

Mary was the youngest of eleven children (four daughters and seven sons):

• Ann  1841 - 1882  (41)
• John  1844 - 1910  (65)
• Elizabeth  1849 - 1917  (about 68)
• William  1852 - 1911  (about 59)
• George  1854 - 1876  (22)
• Samuel  1856 - 1920  (64)
• Ellen  1858 - 1934  (75)
• Lewis  1861 - 1943  (82)
• Frederick  1863 - 1943  (79)
• Frank  1866 - 1929  (63)
• Mary Harris  1869 - 1939  (69)

Mary and her siblings grew up at Edgelake/Oddislake Cottage, thatched cob cottage built in the early 1600s, in East Worlington.

(You can read more about the structure of the property here.) 

Edgelake/Oddislake Cottage

1871 Census:

1881 Census:

On 25th March 1886, Mary (just 17 - though she gives her age as 19), a servant, married John Greenslade (22), a labourer, in East Worlington.

Mary and John had 9 children:

• William Henry Hopper Stoneman (adopted) 1889 - 

• Lucy  1893
• Frederick 'Fred' John  1895
• Florence 'Flo' Mary 1898
• Ernest 'Ern' 1901
• Thomas 'Tom'  1903
• Alice  1906
• Charles 'Charlie'  1909
• Frank G 1911

Though she married so young, it wasn't because she was pregnant. In fact, Mary and John didn't have any children in the first 7 years of their marriage. Perhaps they had trouble conceiving.

Sometime before 1891, the young married couple took in baby William. William is listed as a border on the 1891 Census, but by the 1901 Census is listed as an adopted son, though he retains his birth name (not taking the surname of Greenslade). I wonder if William's mother was Charlotte Stoneman, an unmarried domestic servant living two doors down from the Greenslade family on the 1891 Census.

When William, twelve, attended Crediton Hayward School for one month in June 1902, his parent/guardian is listed as Mr W W Smith and his address is given as (Credition) Union (Work) House. He leaves to attend Shobrooke Board(ing?) School in July 1902, as he is sent to another Union (Workhouse). Could Mary and John no longer look after him? He had been with them seemingly since a baby, over a decade, until the age of about twelve. They may have been the only 'parents' he had known. Yet it did strike me that he never takes their name of Greenslade; and on the 1891 Census baby William is listed as a border, and it is specifically stated he is an adopted son on the 1901 Census. By the 1911 Census, William, a young man, is a patient at the Axbridge Union Workhouse and Infirmary, at Axbridge, near Weston Super Mare, Somerset. Interestingly he is there as a patient and not as an inmate. His infirmity or illness is not recorded. Did he suffer from a lifelong illness that required a degree of care that Mary and John could no longer provide? I can't find records of William after 1911.

1891 Census:

In the early 1890's, the young family moved to Shobrooke, where the children were born. 

The family lived at Westacott Cottage, a thatched cob cottage built in the late 1600s/early 1700s, in Shobrooke for many years. 

Westacott Cottage, Shobrooke

(You can read more about the building's structure here.)

1901 Census:

1911 Census:

Mary and John's son Fred (11042) enlisted on 7th September 1914 (war have been declared only just over one month earlier), aged nineteen, as a private, in the 9th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment. It seems he had tried to apply before, but was dismissed because of leg trouble. Again he was discharged on medical grounds - less than one month later - on 2nd October 1914, as he had 'a severe flat foot'. 

His service record gives a brief physical description of Fred as a young man: in addition to being flat-footed, he was 5'10'', had fair hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion.

1921 Census:

In 1921, Mary's eldest daughter Lucy (28) had an illegitimate daughter - Margaret Nina Greenslade. Lucy brought Gilbert Gutsham of Tiverton to court for child maintenance in July 1921. He was ordered to pay 10s a week, until the child reached sixteen. 

From the Western Times of 15th July 1921:

On 23rd August 1921, Mary and John's son Tom, aged 19, enlisted in the Royal Marines. He was away serving twelve years later when his father passed away.

In 1933, Mary's husband John passed away, whilst visiting Ide. 

From the Western Times of 7th April 1933:

In Oct/Nov 1938, Mary passed away, aged 69, in Smallbrooke, Newton St. Cyres.

From the Western Times of 18th November 1938:

Great Great Half Aunt Mabel Ellen Harris (nee Vernon)

My Great Great Half Aunt Mabel (1898 - 1993) was a housewife, mother of two, and the younger half sister of my Great Grandfather Walter Charles Vernon (1892 - 1965).

Mabel was born on 25th November 1898 in Tolleys, Crediton Devon, to Isaac 'Harry' Harwood Vernon (29), an agricultural labourer and farm carter, and Ellen Vernon (nee Tonkins) (22), a former domestic servant and now a housewife.

Mabel was baptised on 19th February 1899 in Thorverton.

Mabel had four older half siblings (one half sister, and three half brothers) - the children of her father Harry and his first wife Lucy James - :

• Edith Ellen  1891 - 1971  (79)
• Walter Charles  1892 - 1965  (73)
• William John 1894 - 1895 (1)
• Frank 1896 - 1897 (6 months)

And nine full siblings (eight brothers and one sister):

• Frederick 'Fred' (born Tonkins, later Vernon)  1897 - 1915  (18)
• Mabel Ellen  1898 - 1993  (94)
• George  1900 - 1900  (0 - 3 months old)
• George Henry  1901 - 1973  (71)
• Ernest Isaac  1904 - 1997  (93)
• Isaac Harry (went by Harry like his father)  1906 - 1964  (58)
• William Harwood  1908 - 1972  (64)
• Florence Emily  1911 - 1993  (82)
• Sidney 'Sid'  1913 - 2004  (91)
• Percy  1915 - 2002  (86)

The fact that the family moved around mid-Devon a lot, likely as Harry sought farm work, is revealed in the children's different places of birth and their attending different schools...

Mabel's birth certificate shows that though she was born in Crediton, her mother Ellen's residence was Shobrooke, which is two miles west of Crediton. At some point, around this time, Mabel's elder half siblings Edith and Walter attended school in Thorverton, which is four and a bit miles east of Shobrooke. Mabel herself was baptised in Thorverton in February 1899.

1899 saw baby Mabel and the family move, about four and a bit miles, this time from the Thorverton area to East Coombe. Whilst the family resided there, Edith and Walter attended nearby Stockleigh Pomeroy Church of England School from the October. 1900 saw them move again: that year from East Coombe, about three miles east, to West Bowley, Cadbury. Edith and Walter attended Cadbury School from the 12th March to the 7th September, when the family left the area.

In Jul/Aug/Sep 1900, when Mabel was only twenty to twenty-two months old, her younger brother George passed away as a very young baby - only zero to three months old. Their parents would name their next son George also, likely after their lost child.

The 1901 Census shows the family had moved back to Thorverton:

At some point between 1901 and 1904, the family moved three and a half miles south to Upton Pyne, for there Edith and Walter attended school for a time, before returning to Crediton in 1904.

Did Mabel's older half siblings like apart from their father and step family for a time? Notably, whilst Edith and Walter attended Crediton Hayward School and their address is listed as Chapel Down in Crediton in October 1904; their younger half siblings Fred, Mabel and George began attending Sandford School from 25th June 1904, and their address is given as Priorton Mill (a mile north of Sandford, and three and a bit miles north of Crediton). These three stayed at Sandford School for three years, till the family left the area in July 1907. Also Walter appeared to be staying, neither in Crediton nor Sandford, but with his grandfather in Chawleigh in the summer of 1905, when, aged twelve, he made attempt to steal a silver water and chain. He was soon discovered and sent to an industrial school. This and the army were said to have reformed his character.

The family moved next back to Crediton, where Mabel and George attended Crediton Hayward School, like their older half siblings had done before them. Then from February 1908, they and Fred began attending Dunsford County Primary School, which is about nine miles south of Crediton where they last lived. They left the school only five months later, in July 1908, when the family moved again - this time, five miles east, to Holombe Burnell, where they again attended the local school.

Around 1909, Mabel, George, Ernest and Harry attended school in Longdown (only a mile west of Holcombe Burnell where they previously attended), before the family moved about ten miles to Hittisleigh - the children attended the school there from September 1910. At the time they lived at Beer or Beara Cottage, which was seemingly about half way between Hittisleigh and Cheriton Bishop.

The family were still there a year later at the time of the 1911 Census:

In January 1812, Mabel joined her younger brothers George, Ernest and Harry at Drewsteignton Primary School (Drewsteignton is only about four miles from their previous home in Cheriton Bishop). Whilst the three brothers had begun attending the school in November 1911 and their previous school is listed as Hittisleigh, Mabel for a short time attended school in Whiddon Down, a hamlet to the west of Drewsteignton. Whilst the siblings attended Drewsteignton School, the family lived at Tenants Piece (or Tenantspiece) Cottage in Drewsteignton. They left the school in May 1912, with a return to Whiddon Down.

Mabel was fifteen when the First World War began. Her older half brother Walter and older brother Fred both served in the war. Whilst Walter, an experienced soldier, survived; teenage Fred was not so lucky. He was killed on Thursday 30th September 1915, during (or just after) the Battle of Loos, aged only eighteen. His name appears on the Men of Dunsford war memorial.

On 16th August 1920, Mabel (21) married John 'Jack' Harris (20), a labourer, in Monkton. The young couple married in the presence of Mabel's father Harry and brother Ernest.

Mabel and John had two children:

• Richard H J  1923 -  
• Nancy (adopted)  19?? -

Richard's birth shows the small family in the district of St Thomas in the early 1920's.

Alas I know little of Mabel's long life beyond this point, other than its close.

In Jul/Aug/Sep 1993, Mabel passed away, aged ninety-four, in the district of Teignbridge.