Emily Mumford
As Nana never spoke about her childhood and upbringing, the little knowledge I did have about this came from my own recollections of the family and a little information given to me by Uncle Roy (Mum's elder brother) and Uncle Barrie, (Mum's younger brother). I was left with countless holes to fill and painstaking research into the family history was the only way I was going to glean any of the information I needed.
James Mumford and his Family
Emily was the younger of two surviving sisters, born to James and Mary Elizabeth Mumford (nee Holden) in 1905 at 14, Mill Street, Hulme, Manchester. James and Mary married 9th December 1899 at St Michael’s Church in Hulme, Manchester and a mere 5 months later, their first child, Doris was born.
In 1901, James, Mary and Doris lived with Mary's widowed mother, Jane (nee Drinkwater), and two of her younger sisters, Alice and Eliza, at 14, Riga Street, Hulme, Manchester. Mary's mother was a laundress and her two sisters were Braid Tenters (a Tenter being a person who stretched cloth on a machine whilst it was drying). James was a chair maker, and his status was ‘Journeyman’. This is the term used to describe a craftsman who had served an apprenticeship and was no longer bound to serve a master, yet he was not yet a master himself. After the 1st World War he changed trades and took over a coal yard and sold coal. Doris died of bronchopneumonia and convulsions at the age of 13 months. A year later, on 1oth August 1902, James and Mary had Elizabeth, my Auntie Betty, and then finally on 3rd August 1905, their youngest daughter Emily was born. I do not know if Betty and Emily were aware that they had had an elder sister, but it was certainly never mentioned to their families, and I only discovered her existence through searching the 1901 census returns.
The death of Emily’s mother
In 1908 at the age of 29, Mary died of acute appendicitis and cardiac failure. Emily was only 3 when her mother died, and she was subsequently brought up by her father, who never re-married. Added to this, when Emily was 10, her father James had to go to war for three and a half years and Emily and her sister Betty were brought up by their paternal grandfather, John Mumford and his second wife, Agnes Rebecca. Betty always looked after Emily, even though she was only three years older, and carried on taking care of her sister throughout her life, right up to her own death in 1970’s.
Although Emily had said that she did not particularly get along with her mother, but had a mutual adoration for her father, Emily was so young when her mother died, she could not have really known her mother and her scanty childhood memories may have been clouded by a sense of abandonment or similar. To be left without a mother at such an early age must have had a profound effect on Emily, and then to be subsequently brought up by her grandfather and step-grandmother as her father fought in the war, was yet another event in her upbringing that must have affected, in some way, her own ability to raise a family.
James Mumford and his Family
Emily was the younger of two surviving sisters, born to James and Mary Elizabeth Mumford (nee Holden) in 1905 at 14, Mill Street, Hulme, Manchester. James and Mary married 9th December 1899 at St Michael’s Church in Hulme, Manchester and a mere 5 months later, their first child, Doris was born.
In 1901, James, Mary and Doris lived with Mary's widowed mother, Jane (nee Drinkwater), and two of her younger sisters, Alice and Eliza, at 14, Riga Street, Hulme, Manchester. Mary's mother was a laundress and her two sisters were Braid Tenters (a Tenter being a person who stretched cloth on a machine whilst it was drying). James was a chair maker, and his status was ‘Journeyman’. This is the term used to describe a craftsman who had served an apprenticeship and was no longer bound to serve a master, yet he was not yet a master himself. After the 1st World War he changed trades and took over a coal yard and sold coal. Doris died of bronchopneumonia and convulsions at the age of 13 months. A year later, on 1oth August 1902, James and Mary had Elizabeth, my Auntie Betty, and then finally on 3rd August 1905, their youngest daughter Emily was born. I do not know if Betty and Emily were aware that they had had an elder sister, but it was certainly never mentioned to their families, and I only discovered her existence through searching the 1901 census returns.
The death of Emily’s mother
In 1908 at the age of 29, Mary died of acute appendicitis and cardiac failure. Emily was only 3 when her mother died, and she was subsequently brought up by her father, who never re-married. Added to this, when Emily was 10, her father James had to go to war for three and a half years and Emily and her sister Betty were brought up by their paternal grandfather, John Mumford and his second wife, Agnes Rebecca. Betty always looked after Emily, even though she was only three years older, and carried on taking care of her sister throughout her life, right up to her own death in 1970’s.
Although Emily had said that she did not particularly get along with her mother, but had a mutual adoration for her father, Emily was so young when her mother died, she could not have really known her mother and her scanty childhood memories may have been clouded by a sense of abandonment or similar. To be left without a mother at such an early age must have had a profound effect on Emily, and then to be subsequently brought up by her grandfather and step-grandmother as her father fought in the war, was yet another event in her upbringing that must have affected, in some way, her own ability to raise a family.
Life during the Inter-War Years
Emigrants boarding ship for Australia
During Emily's teenage years, Britain's industrial industry was in decline and at the beginning of the 1920s,there was widespread suffering and deprivation, with over two million people unemployed and the situation continued to worsen throughout the inter-war years. In an attempt to alleviate the serious economic and social difficulties Britain was experiencing, the Government promoted migration within the empire and in 1922 the 'Empire Settlement Scheme' was introduced. This was one of the largest planned migration schemes of the 20th century and saw Britain and its colonies agreeing to share the cost of settling migrants. As Australia was suffering a low birth rate and needed to expand its labour force, they made a big push for immigrants. Thousands of working-class families, many from Britain's industrial belt, arrived in Australia and New Zealand in the early 1920s to look for a prosperous new life. They were not always greeted warmly by the natives and were scathingly dubbed as 'Ten Pound Poms', referring to the price they paid for their journey. Emily and her sweetheart, Harry Lund, were amongst the half a million 'Ten Pound Poms' that uprooted themselves to seek work within one of the New World Countries and in 1923, Harry, hoping to set up a new life for himself and Emily, packed up and emigrated to New Zealand. It wasn't until two years later that Emily followed and on Christmas Eve 1925, they were married at Ederdale Presbyterian Church, Balmoral Road, Mt Albert, Aukland, New Zealand.
Part of the Government settlement scheme was that migrants would be given 12 months training in agricultural experience, usually on a farm. But in reality, this did not happen because the labour just wasn't needed on the existing farms and the settlers with little or no experience were made to leave the farms a few days after their arrival. This made it very hard for many of the migrants coming in from Britain as most of them had come from cities and were not accustomed to the hard manual work or the harsh climate of Australia and New Zealand. They all experienced cultural shock as well as mental and physical shock and often they became withdrawn and very quiet. This may explain why neither Emily nor Harry ever really spoke about their experiences in New Zealand or their subsequent move to Australia at the end of 1927, when they just kept on moving in search of work - Aukland, Hamilton, Wanganui and Sydney, Australia.
Emily and Harry start a family
Whilst Emily and Harry were in New Zealand, they had their first child, Roy, in 1926 but continued to travel around New Zealand in a desperate attempt to find work. After they extended their search to Australia, they had their second child, Mavis, my mother, on 29th February, 1928, in Annadale, New South Wales. At the time, Harry was reported to be a Motor Driver, but like thousands of similar British migrants, prosperity never materialised and their frantic search for work was fruitless and in 1931, with no work and no money, a return to England was the only option that was left to them. In order to secure a return passage home, they had to borrow the money to pay for the voyage from Emily's grandfather, John Mumford. Emily and Harry had to lie about the age of Mavis, their youngest daughter, in order to guarantee free passage for her, thus keeping the return fare as low as possible and finally, on 31st March 1931, they left Australia defeated and deflated to return to England.
The Affects of their Migration
This experience must have had a profound effect on Emily and Harry, and like many of their contemporaries, the mental effects resulting from a combination of having family ties severed, severe culture shock and the trauma of broken dreams must have left them scarred for many years to come. Added to this, Emily had lost her mother at the age of 3, her father had left her to go to war during her teenage years and 2 years of her courtship had been spent with her sweetheart on the other side of the world.
By comparison, before Gran (my paternal grandmother) was married, she was also separated from her sweetheart, but for a much shorter length of time, during the war. Whilst apart, the letters they wrote to each other gave a dramatic insight into the absolute loneliness, the anxious pining and the intense insecurities and jealousies they experienced whilst they were apart. Photographs of each other were treasured as they yearned to be together again. They each kissed the same part of the letter so their lips would touch via the paper and all the letters were riddled with displays of affection such as 'my darling,' 'my sweetheart' and 'my own'. How had Emily coped with being apart from her sweetheart for 2 whole long years is difficult to imagine. It is also difficult to understand why there were no photographs or letters kept as precious memories of these times?
Emily and Harry start a family
Whilst Emily and Harry were in New Zealand, they had their first child, Roy, in 1926 but continued to travel around New Zealand in a desperate attempt to find work. After they extended their search to Australia, they had their second child, Mavis, my mother, on 29th February, 1928, in Annadale, New South Wales. At the time, Harry was reported to be a Motor Driver, but like thousands of similar British migrants, prosperity never materialised and their frantic search for work was fruitless and in 1931, with no work and no money, a return to England was the only option that was left to them. In order to secure a return passage home, they had to borrow the money to pay for the voyage from Emily's grandfather, John Mumford. Emily and Harry had to lie about the age of Mavis, their youngest daughter, in order to guarantee free passage for her, thus keeping the return fare as low as possible and finally, on 31st March 1931, they left Australia defeated and deflated to return to England.
The Affects of their Migration
This experience must have had a profound effect on Emily and Harry, and like many of their contemporaries, the mental effects resulting from a combination of having family ties severed, severe culture shock and the trauma of broken dreams must have left them scarred for many years to come. Added to this, Emily had lost her mother at the age of 3, her father had left her to go to war during her teenage years and 2 years of her courtship had been spent with her sweetheart on the other side of the world.
By comparison, before Gran (my paternal grandmother) was married, she was also separated from her sweetheart, but for a much shorter length of time, during the war. Whilst apart, the letters they wrote to each other gave a dramatic insight into the absolute loneliness, the anxious pining and the intense insecurities and jealousies they experienced whilst they were apart. Photographs of each other were treasured as they yearned to be together again. They each kissed the same part of the letter so their lips would touch via the paper and all the letters were riddled with displays of affection such as 'my darling,' 'my sweetheart' and 'my own'. How had Emily coped with being apart from her sweetheart for 2 whole long years is difficult to imagine. It is also difficult to understand why there were no photographs or letters kept as precious memories of these times?
Back in Manchester
Princess Road, Moss Side, Manchester
Upon their return to England with their new young family in tow, Emily and Harry were heavily in debt to Emily's grandfather who had sent them the money for their return home from Australia. So in 1931, with their hopes and dreams in tatters, they setttled to live with Emily's grandfather, father and sister Betty at Chester Street in Hulme, Manchester. With seven individuals from three generations living under one roof, conditions must have felt cramped with little privacy for Emily and her family. As a guest in her grandfather's house, Emily will have been unable to build a home for herself and her family and it wasn't until the following year that they managed to scrape enough money together to rent a house at the top end of Princess Road, Moss Side, Manchester.
During their first few years back in England, Harry had secured work by working for Ribble Buses in Manchester and in 1934 they moved again to 5, Nearmaker Road, in Wythenshawe. By this time Harry was working for Lloyds Storage and Wharfage, which was a storage holding for cargo, probably on the Manchester Ship Canal. This canal had been built in the 1890s and was large enough to enable ships capable of travelling anywhere in the world to reach Manchester. The locks were about 600 feet long and there was a railway system paralleling the canal serving all the main wharfs and docks, enabling goods to be transported to every factory in the area at a fairly low cost.
During this time Emily worked at a Brooke Bond Tea Factory, until 6th April 1940, when they bought a greengrocers shop in Timperley. They lived in Timperley during the war years, until they finally sold the shop on 6th April, 1946. It was during this time, when Harry was in the Home Guard during the war, that their youngest son, Barrie was born, on 28th March 1944. There were 16 and 18 years difference in age between Barrie and his elder brother and sister, resulting in Mavis helping to bring up Barrie, whilst their mother worked. She used to take her brother to the clinic when he was a baby, but she hated it because everyone looked down on her, thinking that Barrie was her own child. Indignantly, she tried to tell them that the baby was her brother, but she could tell no-one seemed to believe her. When she worked at Tootals, sewing buttons on shirts, she took Barrie with her once, but according to Barrie, it must have been a disaster, as she never took him again.
After they sold the Greengrocers shop in Timperley, they bought a paint shop on Lloyd Street South, Moss Side, Manchester. Some time later they also bought a Greengrocers shop 3 or 4 doors away from the paint shop. They eventually sold the paint shop and Emily's sister Betty used to work in the Greengrocers along with another lady. Harry now worked as a joiner and had a woodworking site called 'Joseph Cooper & Son Ltd' on Milton Street, Hulme.
Whilst at the Greengrocers shop, different members of the family used to help Emily and take her to the market very early in the morning to buy the fruit and vegetables for the shop. She was also known to drive a van there herself with Auntie Betty, even though she had not passed her driving test - she used to take a chance as it was the only way she could get to the market. She did eventually pass her driving test after a few attempts but on one of her attempts she was asked to turn right at a roundabout, so she did, literally, going round the roundabout the wrong way!
Harry died of lung cancer in 1956 at the age of 55 and Emily was left to bring up her young son on her own as both her elder children now had families of their own. She carried on working in the Greengrocers shop in Moss side for a number of years, until eventually she retired, sold the shop and moved to 44, Whalley Close, Timperley. Barrie moved with her and lived with her until he eventually married Angela. At one stage, Auntie Betty also moved in with Emily and lived with her until she eventually died in the 1970’s.
During their first few years back in England, Harry had secured work by working for Ribble Buses in Manchester and in 1934 they moved again to 5, Nearmaker Road, in Wythenshawe. By this time Harry was working for Lloyds Storage and Wharfage, which was a storage holding for cargo, probably on the Manchester Ship Canal. This canal had been built in the 1890s and was large enough to enable ships capable of travelling anywhere in the world to reach Manchester. The locks were about 600 feet long and there was a railway system paralleling the canal serving all the main wharfs and docks, enabling goods to be transported to every factory in the area at a fairly low cost.
During this time Emily worked at a Brooke Bond Tea Factory, until 6th April 1940, when they bought a greengrocers shop in Timperley. They lived in Timperley during the war years, until they finally sold the shop on 6th April, 1946. It was during this time, when Harry was in the Home Guard during the war, that their youngest son, Barrie was born, on 28th March 1944. There were 16 and 18 years difference in age between Barrie and his elder brother and sister, resulting in Mavis helping to bring up Barrie, whilst their mother worked. She used to take her brother to the clinic when he was a baby, but she hated it because everyone looked down on her, thinking that Barrie was her own child. Indignantly, she tried to tell them that the baby was her brother, but she could tell no-one seemed to believe her. When she worked at Tootals, sewing buttons on shirts, she took Barrie with her once, but according to Barrie, it must have been a disaster, as she never took him again.
After they sold the Greengrocers shop in Timperley, they bought a paint shop on Lloyd Street South, Moss Side, Manchester. Some time later they also bought a Greengrocers shop 3 or 4 doors away from the paint shop. They eventually sold the paint shop and Emily's sister Betty used to work in the Greengrocers along with another lady. Harry now worked as a joiner and had a woodworking site called 'Joseph Cooper & Son Ltd' on Milton Street, Hulme.
Whilst at the Greengrocers shop, different members of the family used to help Emily and take her to the market very early in the morning to buy the fruit and vegetables for the shop. She was also known to drive a van there herself with Auntie Betty, even though she had not passed her driving test - she used to take a chance as it was the only way she could get to the market. She did eventually pass her driving test after a few attempts but on one of her attempts she was asked to turn right at a roundabout, so she did, literally, going round the roundabout the wrong way!
Harry died of lung cancer in 1956 at the age of 55 and Emily was left to bring up her young son on her own as both her elder children now had families of their own. She carried on working in the Greengrocers shop in Moss side for a number of years, until eventually she retired, sold the shop and moved to 44, Whalley Close, Timperley. Barrie moved with her and lived with her until he eventually married Angela. At one stage, Auntie Betty also moved in with Emily and lived with her until she eventually died in the 1970’s.