MARY ELIZABETH HORNETT : 1850 - 1946
Mary Elizabeth Hornett was born at the family's home, 20 Wych Street, Strand, on 28th August 1850 and was recorded in the 1851 census as a 7 month-old, living with her family at the same address. Ten years later, she was still living with her parents and 5 surviving brothers, although they had moved the short distance to 87 Drury Lane, from where her father was working as a plasterer. Sadly for Mary,
her father died in a street accident in 1867 and, by 1871, she was left as the youngest member of the family to look after her mother. They were then living together at 17 Houghton Street, still close to the Strand, and Mary had found employment as a needlewoman, probably working at home. One of Mary's brothers, William, was also living at the same address with his wife and 3 children, although they were probably living in a
separate apartment.
With the passage of another ten years, little changed. Mary remained living with her mother at the same address, and William and his family, now with 6 children, were still 'next door'. They had been joined by another of Mary's brothers, Francis, together with his 2 surviving children, George and my great grandfather, Charles, though they also formed a separate household. Recorded with Mary and her mother was
a visitor, Charles Dickinson, described as being a grocer, aged 27 and born in Mayfair. Charles' connection became clear a few months later when he and Mary married at St Clement Dane's church shortly before Christmas 1881. It seems that Mary probably told a few fibs about her age, quite probably not wanting to admit that she was not only older than her new husband but also already over 30, an age at which young women of the time
were generally considered to be 'old maids' and largely unmarriageable.
Mary and Charles subsequently made their home in north Wales where their first child, Maude, was born in August 1884. They were then living in Prestatyn, Denbighshire, where Charles was then working as a railway porter. Another daughter, Rose, arrived in November 1886 and a third, Ada, in October 1888. A fourth daughter, Florence, was born in June 1890 by when the family seems to have moved to Rhyl. The 1891 census recorded the
family still living in Rhyl, at 34 Ernest Street. Charles was still employed as a railway porter and the 2 older children were both at school. Mary had continued to be less than frank about her age and was recorded as being only 36, one year younger than her husband and perpetuating the falsehood which first became apparent at the time of the 1881 census. By 1901, Charles, Mary and 3 of their daughters had moved again, this time
to Cleifiog Terrace in Llanynghenedl on the island of Anglesey. Mary's age was again recorded as being a year less than her husband's and both had also managed to 'lose' a few years since the previous census, presumably a result of an error by Charles being copied by his wife. Charles was still working as a railway porter while the 3 girls, Rose, Ada and Florence, seemed to have benefited from their schooling as they were now noted
as being speakers of both English and Welsh. The oldest daughter, Maude, had already left home and was working as a nursemaid with a family in LlanfairPG; she was also a dual language speaker.
Charles continued to work on the railways although he and Mary had moved again by the time of the 1911 census, when they were living at Roberts Street, Holyhead; of the 4 children, only Florence remained, working as a milliner. Maude was now working at a large house in Halsall, near Ormskirk, where she was employed as a housemaid, although the census return appears to have stated that the family were actually abroad. Ada was
similarly employed, she being a housemaid in the home of the 7th Earl Bathurst at Cirencester House in Gloucestershire. Rose had found employment as a general servant with a rather less exalted family in Dwygyfylchi, a village in Conwy, north Wales.
At some point between 1911 and 1917, the family experienced as number of changes. Firstly, it appears that Charles had died by 1915 although no record of his death has been found; where and when is, therefore, unknown. Florence married in Holyhead in March 1915, to Robert Williams another railway worker, and she remained in Anglesey
with her husband while the rest of the family moved back to London. Maude married Albert Henry Mugford at St Martin in the Fields in January 1917 though their activities over the succeeding 4 or 5 years are a little vague. Where they lived after the marriage is unclear although the evidence suggests that Albert may have been employed as a valet in Brixton while Maude was living in Fulham at the time of the birth of their only child,
Joan, in April 1922. The first definite location for them is from the electoral rolls from 1923 onwards when they were living in Callow Street, Chelsea, and where they remained until 1932. By 1930, they had been joined by Maude's mother, Mary Dickinson, though the whereabouts of Rose and Ada at this time are unknown.
Florence appears to have been estranged from the rest of her family, a nephew having said that as far as he knew she died unmarried. In fact, she not only married but also had a son, Charles, who was born in Holyhead in 1916. Sadly, Florence died of tuberculosis in hospital in Llangefni in November 1926, aged only 36 and whether her London family knew anything about this is not known. Her son probably married in 1946 but he does
not seem to have had any children of his own and this 'twig' of the tree appears to have ended with his death in 1968.
Mary and Rose Dickinson and Maude Mugford all attended the funeral of Amelia Hornett, widow of Mary's brother William, in August 1931. Maude, Albert and Mary moved to Mirabel Road, Fulham, around 1933 where Maude died in April 1934, aged 49, leaving Albert with their 12 year old daughter. He soon resolved the difficulty of raising a child on his own by marrying his sister-in-law, Ada Dickinson, in August 1935, and he, Ada and Mary Dickinson remained living
in Mirabel Road. Albert's daughter served in the Land Army during World War 2 and married Eric Prew in Chalvington, Sussex, in September 1944; Eric was then a lance bomdadier in the Royal Artillery. Joan appears to have moved in with her father after the marriage and was recorded living in Mirabel Road in the 1945 electoral roll, although her son, Robert, was born in Somerset in June of that year. Mary Dickinson, who had maintained a
falsehood about her age since the 1880s, died on New Year's Day 1946, reportedly aged 93 though actually 95. Albert and Ada stayed living in Mirabel Road until 1963, when they moved to live with the family of Albert's daughter, Joan Prew, in Milton-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire. Albert subsequently died there in November 1963 and Ada in 1984, aged 85; the last Dickinson, Rose, also moved to the same village and died in 1977, aged 90.
In the end, only the Prew family was left.