I had originally planned to get
this post written and published yesterday for Mother’s Day (which always falls
on Mothering Sunday here in the UK), please excuse me for being a little late.
Today I want to remember a woman
who must have been very strong and adventurous in her life. She was fondly remembered by her
Grandchildren and even as her Great-great-grandchild, I still hear the occasional
story about her. Sadly, these stories
are few and far between – and none of them are about her youth or even from
when she was married. This is a record
of ‘Nain’ (Grandmother in the Welsh spoken in the part of Wales where she was
born) aka Elizabeth DAVIES.
Nain was born in a small terrace of
houses, which now, at least, have shop fronts with living accommodation
above. This row of houses was Mitre
Terrace, now part of New Street on modern maps, in Pwllhelli, Gwynedd, Wales.
The daughter of William and
Catherine DAVIES, Elizabeth was born 16 November 1871 as the sixth of their
eight children. William was a
Settsmaker, a hard job involving the splitting and dressing of granite to make
paving stones called sets. Elizabeth
grew up in this picturesque Welsh costal town with five brothers and two
sisters. Other than the information on
her birth certificate and the two censuses that followed, nothing is known of
her childhood.
In 1893 Elizabeth had found her was
down to Bargoed, Glamorgan, Wales and is wed at St Cattwg’s Parish Church,
Gelligear, Glamorgan, Wales on the 18 December 1893 to Richard John OSBORNE a
Coal Hewer.
Elizabeth bore 11 children for Richard,
three were lost in the first few weeks and months of life. The remaining eight
children would all survive to adulthood.
As a wife and mother in a mining town, Elizabeth’s life would have been governed
by the rhythm of the collieries. As soon
as her eldest son was old enough he would have left school and joined his
father down the coalmine learning the skills he would need to follow in his
father’s (also grandfather’s and uncles’) footsteps at the coal face. Both Richard and later the eldest son Herbert
would have brought home large amounts of coal dust caked on their clothes and
bodies. Elizabeth would have been
expected to have hot water ready in the tin tub for them to bathe and a meal on
the table when they arrived home. But alas, the mines ran shifts so while one
person was finishing his shift and getting his belongings together, the other
could be on his way to start work. We
should not forget that Elizabeth also had other children to take care of and to
ensure that they attended school. When
the 1911 census was taken, all 10 of Elizabeth’s children (the youngest not
born until 1912) were named, even the three sons that had died in infancy. The eldest son was just 16 years old and
recorded as a Hewer just like his father.
When Britain went to war in 1914,
Herbert joined the Army and became a Driver.
I have been told that he drove the horses on the front lines and had
gained this position as he had experience of working with the pit ponies down
the mines. The only photo I have ever
seen of Elizabeth was taken when Herbert came home on leave – if I estimate the
ages of the youngest four children, I would estimate that the photo was taken
circa 1915-1916.
In 1918, Elizabeth’s world must
have been shattered! The family were expecting to have a visit from Herbert
however when Richard returned from the Railway Station alone and carrying a
telegram the excitement and joy would have instantly have become grief and despair.
Another child lost, Herbert was just 23 years old. At that time, Richard had been unwell for
some time and it seems he never recovered. Early in 1920, Elizabeth was widowed
and had all of the still living children at home.
Elizabeth now had no husband and no
relatives of her own to help raise the children. She made a brave choice and took five of her
children back up north to the area she has grown up in as a girl. This split the family – the eldest daughter
married in 1921 and another daughter stayed behind.
Elizabeth’s youngest child Mary
gave an interview to a local newspaper in her old age describing how when they
first moved to Penrhyn (Gwynedd, Wales), there was no street lighting as there
had been back in Bargoed.
One of Elizabeth’s granddaughters
(my grandmother) recalled visiting Nain as a young girl. Nain would send her
down to a local farmhouse to buy buttermilk “to fatten me up” she would tell
me. I always had the impression that my
grandmother didn’t like the buttermilk as she would cringe as she told me his.
Another story I have been told many
a time as we passed Nain’s house in the car was that Nain us to work the level
crossing at Penrhyn. While I cannot
prove this, the line was definitely in use at the time Nain lived in the area. I
hope one day to be able to locate records to either prove or disprove this
story.
My heart bleeds for Elizabeth and I
wish I could have known her. She took
what life threw at her and raised her children the best she could. Elizabeth die in 1960, she is kept company in
her eternal slumber by her two spinster daughters Catherine Mildred (Milly) and
Mary, while other children and grandchildren sleep in the same cemetery. They all have a beautiful view of the sea,
the nearby town and the surrounding farmland.
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