This is just a brief outline of the lives of the children and grandchildren of Mabel Setters.
Mabel (nee Stetters) and Fred Bowerman . They met when Fred was stationed in Guernsey with his regiment. He was a bandsman with the 7th Royal Fusiliers. - they had six children together but also brought up Percy Setters and Frank Hardy. Their children were:
Frederick Charles, born 1895 Guernsey. - I am sure that Uncle Fred served in WW1 but so far I have not taken my research down that road. He married Ellen Mussen and they lived in Woolwich. I remember visiting them when I was a child but not when I was in my teens, so I think they both died sometime in the 1950s. They had one son Frederick (Freddie). Freddie was a tall, dark, handsome man, who became a Police Officer based in Woolwich. Sometime in the mid 1960s he was set upon and badly beaten in the course of his duties, the injuries he sustained lead to his death which occurred some months later. He was married to Violet and they had three children, 2 daughters and a son who lives in Perth Australia.
Mabel born 1897 Guernsey - Auntie Mabel married Fred Macey. He was a successful businessman whose family owned the Fort Lodge Hotel in Margate. He also had his own grocery business. They had 2 children Joyce and Jack who are both still alive. Mabel lived to be 92.
Amelia Ethel born Edmonton 1901 - Auntie Mill married Jack Tash. They were married in Edmonton in 1924. He was from a strict Jewish family and they disowned him when he took up with Mill. At the time they were living in Woolwich, but I believe they went to Auntie Till or Percy, and were married from there (quite possibly it was the same address you discovered them on the electoral roll in 1924). Mill and Jack were always (to me) the head of the family. Nan lived with them. We all used to visit for Sunday tea every week. I remember we used to watch TV (they were the only ones in the family who had one at that time). The whole family would be there. They had a very successful life, running their own dry cleaning and tailoring alterations business in Lee Green and New Eltham (J.Tash and Son). Their family worked with them Ron & Iris (their son & daughter) and Auntie Doll, all very cleaver machinists, doing the tailoring alterations & repairs. Jack was a freemason and they lived the good life - ladies nights, cruises, plenty to drink and always smoking. Mill lived to be 97 but the last years were not good. She had to have a leg amputated and at that time she went into a home. The staff called her Amelia, which she thought grand (like your mother being called Millicent). She died (mercifully) following surgery when it was necessary to amputate the second leg.
Dorothy born Edmonton 1903. Auntie Doll married a man whose name I do not know. He died of cancer when they had only been married a short time. Later she married Reynold Gygax and they had one son Ray (still living). Auntie Doll was really tiny (5' or even less). She was a brilliant dressmaker, Mum told me that she was able to see a dress that she liked in a shop, go home and make it (without a pattern), and then wear it that same evening. She was always the life and soul of the party, she loved to dance and was very energetic to the very end of her life at 93.
Cecil Stanley born Hendon 1906. This is the uncle that I never met. I know very little about him except that he was known as Titch. He married Mary and they had two daughters (I believe Pam & Jean). I do not know when he died.
Ivy Winifred b. Erith 1912. This was my Mum. She married Harry Burton in 1934 and they had Shirley in 1935 and me in 1946. She was ambitious and they bought their own home early in their marriage. In the 1950s they bought a grocery business and although they worked very hard, this was a time when they enjoyed themselves most. They socialised at lot, ladies nights etc. and had a good time. Dad died in 1986 of stomach cancer. Mum lived on for another 18 years as a widow. They had bought a flat in sheltered accommodation a year before Dad died, but when Mum was 84 she decided that she didn't want to live with all these old people so she moved out and bought a flat elsewhere. Like auntie Doll she loved dancing all her life and did yoga and keep fit until well into her 80s. She died last June (2004) age 92.
Percy Setters, born in Guernsey when Mabel Setters was 18, was the oldest brother. There does not seem to be a record of who his father was. I know that he served in WW1 and I have a photo of him with his regimental band. I do remember him, but not well. He married Kitty but she and their daughter (also Kitty) were killed when a bomb fell on their house during WW2. The story is that Kitty jnr. was heavily pregnant and following a few nights bombing could not face going to the air raid shelter that night. The men were working nights and returned to the devastation in the morning. My cousin Iris tells me that Auntie Till sent a postcard to let Nan know and Iris remembers reading it out to the family. She also remembers the following Sunday when Uncle Percy and his son-in-law came to see Nan and everyone was crying. Uncle Percy did remarry some years later but there were no children.
Finally there was Uncle Frank. He was a small man, very friendly, always laughing and joking. According to my Mum and Iris (who is now 80), he was always very grateful for Nan bringing him up and he loved her very much. He married Florrie and they had 2 daughters Joan and Patricia. He was in the navy during the war. His ship suffered a direct hit and he was in the water for a long time but survived. During his life there must have been some contact with his family because Iris tells me that they saw auntie Till and Uncle Bill quite often and Iris knew that Uncle Bill was Frank's brother. My sister (Shirley) also remembers Uncle Bill very well, she says he was a very good looking man.
Mabel Setters (your aunt) died in 1961 age 87. Incidentally, she was not a big woman - she was very small (her great-grandchildren called her 'little Nan'). She was never without a cigarette and she loved her bottle of stout. I have no idea when Fred Bowerman died but I think my mum was quite young at the time (she never really remembered him).
There are a great many questions in my mind now that I have studied the relevant bits of your family tree. With regard to the report of the trial, it is clear that Frank was given into the care of the NSPCC, but he was then handed to my Nan. Did she adopt him? My cousins think not. Are there likely to be any records existing that would show just how it was decided that she would be allowed to bring him up? She obviously had contact with her sister Till all their lives so why did Frank's sisters not know where he was. Were they a close family or did the fact that some of them grew up in a orphanage mean that they lost contact and that you have only just put the pieces together again? I know that Bill and Frank were brought up by their Aunts, and that Florence was old enough to fend for herself. Mildred, Elsie and Grace went to Chase Farm, but what happened to Gertrude when the other girls went into the home?
Fred Bowerman had been in an industrial school with his 2 brothers. They are there on the 1881 census following his fathers death. I don't know how many years they were there but no doubt I shall be able to track down the records.
I would like to know more about how you traced the records of the home. My husband's grandmother grew up in an orphanage (Ealing House, Marchmont Street London) and I have been unable to find out very much about her at all. I would appreciate the opportunity to 'pick your brains' on this, since your research has been most successful.
One last thought to pass on - Mum always told me that her grandfather (John Setters) was a drayman.
