Person:Norah Meekins (1)

Norah Meekins was born on 1st June 1908 at Woolwich in south-east London, daughter of a field hand and laundry woman called Alice Meekins, formerly Keating, and her husband Henry Meekins (known as Harry), a coal porter, dock labourer and general dealer. Norah was baptised later that month at St Peter’s Catholic Church in Woolwich, with her date of birth clearly recorded as 1st June. However, it is worth noting that in later life she gave her date of birth as 7th June.

Norah was the youngest of nine children that her parents had together, and she also had one surviving half-brother from her father’s first marriage. However, four of her older sisters had been taken into care by the authorities in 1904, after being found destitute wandering the streets of Woolwich, having already spent time in the workhouse on multiple occasions. These four sisters were therefore brought up at an industrial school run by the Sisters of Mercy in Croydon rather than with their parents. Norah and her older sister Margaret were both born after the older children were taken into care, and these two girls were brought up by their parents.

The 1911 census finds Norah living with her parents and Margaret at 75 High Street in Woolwich.

In October 1913 Norah and her sister Margaret were admitted to the Woolwich Union Workhouse. After about a month in the workhouse, the girls were both sent to a Catholic children’s home and school at Orpington. On this occasion they spent ten days at Orpington before returning to Woolwich to be discharged from the workhouse with their parents. However, just a week later they were back in the workhouse. Just over three weeks later, in early January 1914, the two girls were sent again to Orpington, this time staying there for over four months, before being returned to the workhouse in May and discharged. It would appear that Norah was unwell at this time, as the day after being discharged with her parents she was brought back to the workhouse and then transferred to the adjoining infirmary.

Norah presumably recovered, and the family appears to have then stayed out of the workhouse for the next two and a half years.

On 26th January 1917, Norah, Margaret and their mother were admitted to the Woolwich Road Workhouse in Greenwich, apparently whilst their father was ill in the infirmary. The two girls were sent the next day to Norwood, likely to a children’s home there, whilst their mother stayed in the workhouse. The girls stayed at Norwood for just over three months, being sent back from Norwood to the workhouse on 30th April and discharged later that day.

The family then moved to Swanley in Kent, but Norah’s father died there just a few weeks later, on 28th May 1917, just before Norah’s ninth birthday.

In early 1918 Norah was admitted with her mother and sister Norah to the Woolwich Union Workhouse again, and a few weeks later the girls were sent to Orpington. They stayed at Orpington for two weeks before being returned to the workhouse and discharged with their mother on 16th February 1918. That appears to have been Norah’s last stay in the workhouse.

In 1931, aged about 23, Norah married Thomas Aaron Springett in the Maidstone area of Kent. They appear in the electoral register later that year living with Thomas’s parents at 11 George Street in Maidstone.

After their marriage, Norah and Thomas went on to have five children between 1934 and 1946, born at various locations across Kent.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Norah and Thomas were living at Combourne Farm in Goudhurst, where they appear to have been one of several households of field workers, who were presumably only temporarily staying on the farm for seasonal work. Norah was described as a field worker, whilst Thomas was a builder’s labourer. Norah’s mother was in one of the other households listed at Combourne Farm. Norah’s mother died on 26th January 1945 at Gildenhill Farm near Swanley, where Norah's sister Margaret lived.

In September 1951 Norah was prosecuted with two other women for stealing apples from a farm where they were working as apple pickers. They maintained that they were normally allowed to take a few “drops” away with them, but they were each fined, with Norah having to pay 7s 6d plus costs. Her address at this time was given as 13 Cumberland Avenue in Maidstone.

Thomas died in 1967 in Hertfordshire, aged 55. Norah survived him by 22 years. She died in 1990, aged 81.

1. ↑ Births index, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   b. Norah MEEKINS, September Quarter 1908, Woolwich Registration District, Volume 1d, page 1220, mother's maiden name Keating

2. ↑ Baptisms register, in Woolwich, London: Roman Catholic Parish Registers of St Peter the Apostle (Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark, London).

   Meakins 13 Collingwood Street
   Die 1a Junii 1908 nata est et die 28a Junii 1908 baptizata est Norah Meakins filia Henrici et Aliciae Meakins (olim Keating) conjugum
   a me Frederico Augustino Hoare
   Patrinus fuit Jacobus Williams Matrina fuit Julia Keefe
   Approximate translation:
   Meakins 13 Collingwood Street
   Born 1st June 1908 and baptised 28th June 1908 Norah Meakins daughter of Henry and Alice Meakins (formerly Keating) his wife
   By me Frederick Augustine Hoare
   Godfather James William Godmother Julia Keefe

3. ↑ England. 1911 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom: The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), (formerly the UK General Register Office.))
   Class RG14; Piece 2877; Schedule 79, 2 Apr 1911.

   Address: 75 High Street, Woolwich, London
   Two rooms occupied
   Henry Meekins, head, male, 49 [1861/2], married, Dock Labourer - Shipowners, worker, b. Southwark (London)
   Alice Meekins, wife, female, 42 [1868/9], married 24 years, 10 children born, 7 still living, Laundry hand, working at home, own account, b. Woolwich
   Margaret Meekins, daughter, female, 6 [1904/5]
   Norah Meekins, daughter, female, 3 [1907/8]

4.   London: Workhouse Admission and Discharge Records (London Metropolitan Archives, London).
   Summary table of information drawn from Admission, Discharge and Creed registers.
   

   Admitted	Discharged	Workhouse	Notes
   23 Oct 1913	21 Nov 1913	Woolwich Union Workhouse	Admitted with sister Margaret. Date of birth given as 7 Jun 1907. Father Henry admitted two days earlier with note saying “Wife Alice, Castle Street, Swanley Junction”. Mother Alice joined them in workhouse 28 Oct. Discharged “To R.C. Homes, Orpington” with sister Margaret.
   1 Dec 1913	2 Dec 1913	Woolwich Union Workhouse	Admitted “Master’s order, from R.C. Homes, Orpington” with sister Margaret. Discharged with parents.
   9 Dec 1913	3 Jan 1914	Woolwich Union Workhouse	Admitted with parents and sister Margaret. Discharged “To R.C. Homes, Orpington” with sister Margaret.
   19 May 1914	20 May 1914	Woolwich Union Workhouse	Admitted “Master’s order, from R.C. Schools, Orpington” with sister Margaret. Discharged to parents.
   20 May 1914	21 May 1914	Woolwich Union Workhouse	Admitted with sister Margaret. Discharged to infirmary.
   26 Jan 1917	27 Jan 1917	Greenwich (Woolwich Road) Workhouse	Admitted with sister Margaret and mother Alice: “Married Fieldhand 17 Crossfield Street Husband Harry in Infirmary / Children of above”. Discharged with sister Margaret to Calvert Road Homes at 12.00, readmitted to workhouse at 1.00, discharged to Norwood at 2.25.
   30 Apr 1917	30 Apr 1917	Greenwich (Woolwich Road) Workhouse	Of “17 Crossfield Street, Mother Alice in House”. Admitted “from Norwood” with sister Margaret. Discharged with mother and sister Margaret, “c/o Mother”.
   4 Jan 1918	1 Feb 1918	Woolwich Union Workhouse	Admitted with mother and sister Margaret. Date of birth given as 7 Jun 1907. Discharged “To Orpington”.
   14 Feb 1918	16 Feb 1918	Woolwich Union Workhouse	Admitted from Orpington with sister Margaret. Discharged with mother.

5.   Electoral Registers (The British Library).

   Published 15 Oct 1931
   Parish of Maidstone, Kent
   Address: 11 George Street
   Springett, Thomas
   Springett, Beatrice
   Springett, Thomas, jun[ior]
   Springett, Norah
   Head, Edward, jun[ior]

6. ↑ General Register Office. 1939 Register
   Cranbrook Rural District, 29 Sep 1939.

   Address: c/o E. Wickham & Son, Combourne Farm, Goudhurst, Kent
   Springett, Thomas / male / b. 27 May 1911 / married / Builders Labourer
   Springett, Norah / female / b. 7 Jun 1908 / married / Field worker
   [two records closed]

   There are several households listed with the address given as c/o E. Wickham & Son, Combourne Farm – quite likely they were temporarily living on the farm as seasonal field workers.

7. ↑ Deaths index, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   d. Norah SPRINGETT, May 1990, Gravesend Registration District, Volume 16, page 987, born 7 Jun 1908

8.   Sevenoaks Chronicle, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   Page 9, Friday 2 Nov 1951.

   MAGISTRATES’ COURTS IN BRIEF
   Tonbridge…
   Apple Pickers Fined. – Mrs. Norah Walters, 47, Kent Avenue, Maidstone, Mrs. Doris M. Harrison, 16, Surrey Road, Maidstone, and Mrs. Norah Springett, 13, Cumberland Avenue, Maidstone, summoned for stealing apples from Goblins Farm, Hadlow, where they had been apple picking on September 24 were told by the Chairman that it would have been better to get permission to take “drops.” They maintained farmers usually allowed them to take a few apples away from the farms, but admitted they had no permission to take those found in their bags. Mrs. Walter, whose apples were valued at 1s. 3d., was fined 5s., and the others, who had apples worth 7s. 6d. were each fined 7s. 6d. They were ordered to pay the costs of 11s. between them.

9. ↑ 1921 Census of England and Wales.

   Address: Homefield Farm, Sutton at Hone, Kent
   Alice Meekins / head / 53 [1867/8] / female / widow / b. Woolwich, Kent / Farm Labourer / J. Langlands, Farmer, Homefield Farm, Sutton at Hone
   Norah Meekins / daughter / 13 [1907/8] / female / b. Woolwich, Kent / Whole Time [school]