Mary Hunt 1869-1919

Shoe machinist.   Grocer working from home.  'She was a real lady – she never raised her voice.'

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Facts

Date   Event   Source
(1859-1867   Her parents, Mary Hunt and Joseph Ward, had 6 children, all of whom died in infancy.)   BMD index + death certificates
1 Oct 1869   Mary Hunt was born in Leicester: her birth certificate says at 4, X Court North [Northgate Street]. She was the seventh child of Mary Hunt (35), hose seamstress, and Joseph Ward (abt. 40), bricklayer's labourer. (His name does not appear on the certificate - see 9 Nov, below).   Birth certificate
2 Nov 1869   A month after she was born, her mother died, apparently of blood poisoning.   Death certificate
5 Nov 1869   Her mother was buried at Welford Road (as Mary Ward).   Welford Road burials register
9 Nov 1869   Her birth was registered (just within the 6 weeks allowed) not by her father, but by her grandmother, Susannah Greenwood, who identified herself as the occupier, X Court North.   Birth certificate
1869-1889   Mary was raised by her grandparents, Robert and Susannah Greenwood, under the name of Mary Hunt.   Censuses
1871   Her father was living alone at No 4, Court X, 1 Northgate Street. [From the Clock Tower, go down High Street (367 yards), turn R into Highcross Street, at the end of which (618 yards) it becomes Northgate Street, just before Frog Island.]   Census + Leicester Street Guide
3 Apr 1881   At 11, she was living with her grandparents at 109 Gresham St, Leicester. There is a line under the census entry to denote the end of this household, but it is then followed by another family with the same address, 109 Gresham St, headed by Benjamin Clarke, described as Lodger (Head). This household (above or below?) also contains Benjamin's wife Jane and their 4 children, aged 5-1.
This 'Jane' is probably Susannah Jane Greenwood, daughter of Robert and Susannah.		   Census




Speculative but reasonably secure
27 Aug 1884   When she was 14, her father, Joseph Ward, died aged 54 of 'chronic Bright's disease'. His address was Harding Terrace.   Death certificate
30 Aug 1884   Her father was buried at Welford Rd, in plot UO 1143.   Welford Road burials register
Oct-Dec 1889   Her grandfather Robert Greenwood died.   BMD + 1891 census
10 Aug 1889   At the age of 19, she married Edward Allen, a rivetter, of 18 Birstall St. (The marriage certificate shows her father as Joseph Ward, deceased.)   Marriage certificate
14 Oct 1889   Two months after the wedding, her first child was born, and named Hannah Elizabeth (after her husband's mother and grandmother). Address 63 Navigation Street, Leicester.   Leicester Education Department Register
4 Jun 1891   Her second child, Edward Timothy, was born. (Edward and Timothy were the names of her husband's father and grandfather.) The Register records her name as Polly and address as 63 Navigation Street.   Leicester Education Department Register
17 Jan 1894   When she was 24, her grandmother, Susannah Greenwood, died age 78.   Death certificate
16 Feb 1894   A month later, her third child, Florence Susannah Jane, was born. 'Jane' may have come from her aunt, who would have been about 10 years older and living in the same house during her childhood.   Birth certificate
Abt 1896   Her fourth child, John William (Jack), was born.   Census; Doreen Angrave
6 May 1899   Her fifth child, Raymond Archibald (Archie), was born. Her address was 72 Argyle Street.   1901 census (1yr 4m); Education dept register
1901   Her address was 63 Navigation Street, Leicester. No 63a was uninhabited 'for business purposes'. Her occupation was 'shopkeeping (grocer) working at home'. According to Doreen Angrave, a Thirties neighbour had a counter in her tiny front room for dispensing allotment produce, home-made toffee apples, etc, and this may have been something similar.   Census; Doreen Angrave
1903   Her eighth child, Harry, was born and died in infancy.   Doreen Angrave
1905   Her ninth child, Winifred Emma, was born.   Doreen Angrave
May 1908   Her tenth and last child, Silvia May, was born when she was 38.   Doreen Angrave
1910   Ernest died of typhoid fever aged 9.   Doreen Angrave
27 May 1918   Her son, Archie, was killed on the Western Front during the last major German advance of the Great War. He was buried at Soissons, NE of Paris.   Commonwealth War Graves C'mission
6 Nov 1919   Mary Hunt died when she was 50 at 10 Harrison Road, Leicester, of 'morbus cordis, dropsy, asthenia'.

'She was a real lady – she never raised her voice.'

   Death certificate

Florence Allen