Lancashire

Alice Owen's Final Days

In 1939, Alice Owen was 82 years of age, suffering from dementia and myocarditis. She was a widow, her husband, Daniel Owen, having died in St. Helens, Lancashire in 1928. For some time after her husband’s death, although I’m not certain for how long, Alice lived with her single daughter, Mary Owen, and Mary’s son, Joseph Owen, at 57 Cooper Street in St. Helens.

 At 32, Alice’s grandson Joseph earned his living as a general labourer at a local glass bottle manufacturing plant. His mother, Mary, kept house. So it seems that Joe was the sole source of income for the small household, and Mary would have been responsible for caring for her infirm and senile mother.

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A Fractious Soldier

South Lancashire Regiment with borderWhen Britain entered World War I in August 1914, William Henton was a young man of 23, newly married and with an infant son, living in St. Helens, Lancashire, England. With newspapers publishing appeals to join the armed services, hundreds of thousands of men joined within just a few months, and William was one of them. On 4 September 1914, William joined the ranks of the South Lancashire Regiment, 7th Battalion.

As I read through William’s service record, I was surprised to read that within 5 months of his attestation, having never left the country, he was discharged as medically unfit.… Continue reading

A Little Girl's Death from Measles

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My mother’s middle name was Agnes, and for most of her life she disliked the name. She disliked it so much that she said she could not imagine why her parents had given her such a name. I think I know why she was given the name, and I think that the answer is measles.

In 1891, my great-grandparents, Daniel and Alice Owen, were living at 13 Halefield Street, St. Helens, in what was then Lancashire, in England. Daniel was working as a chemical labourer, possibly at the glass works nearby. The couple had a young family: 5 daughters ranging in age from 4 to 12 years, and one son, my grandfather George, who was just 1 year old.… Continue reading

A Village Built by Glass: Windle Village, Thorold

Note: This post first appeared on my old blog site “Who’s your auntie?” on 9 January 2014.

Glass flattener. That was the occupation given by my maternal grandfather, George Owen, on his marriage certificate in 1912 in St. Helens, Lancashire, England. I discovered that in the manufacture of plate glass, large cylinders of glass were created, then slit open and smoothed to form flat sheets of glass. It was the latter part of this process that George was employed in. Further research revealed that George was an employee of Pilkington Brothers in St. Helens, Lancashire, England, a leading manufacturer of window glass.… Continue reading