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b.1902-d.1940
Descendants of Dorothy
This story has been written following an approach from a family member in Australia who is Dorothy’s great grandson. He had discovered that Dorothy had been resident in Long Grove at the time of her death and was buried in Horton Cemetery. The Friends of Horton Cemetery were pleased to be able to use the family oral history provided, coupled with research, to write the following.
It is with the permission of the family that this story is published. Some of the information below has come from Patricia, who was Dorothy’s daughter, and the oral accounts she passed on to the family.
The photograph shows Fanny as a child with her mother and her brother Joe.
Dorothy’s parents
On the 7th of February 1900, gardener Joseph Harry Young married Fanny Helen Honeybone at the Church of St. James, Clapham Park in Lambeth. At the time of his marriage Joseph was aged 22 and living at the Institute in Turnford, a village about two miles from Cheshunt in Hertfordshire. 21 year-old Fanny was living at 2, Triangle Place in Clapham.
From the 1939 register we know that Joseph Harry was born on the 17th of October 1878, the son of gardener Harry Young. However, although the 1901 and 1911 Censuses give his birthplace as Worthing in Sussex, the 1921 Census states that he was born in Croydon. Fanny was born on the 2nd of December 1878 in Oxford Street, London, the daughter of gardener Charles Honeybone and his wife Sophia (née Breeze).
Dorothy’s siblings
Joseph and Fanny had five children together:
- Joseph Sidney, born on the 4th of May 1901
- Dorothy Fanny, born on the 25th of December 1902
- Adelaide Edith Valentine, born on the 14th of February 1905
- William Harry, born on the 14th of August 1908
- Stanley Charles, born on the 17th of May, 1910
At the time of the 1901 Census Joseph and Fanny were living at 104, Turners Hill in Cheshunt and their first three children had all been born in the town. William Henry, however, had been born in Brighton, Sussex and Stanley Charles in Hailsham, a town in the Wealden district of East Sussex, about twenty miles from Brighton.
In the 1911 Census we find the family living at Caneheath (or Cane Heath) in Arlington, a village about four miles from Hailsham. Joseph’s occupation is given as gardener.
Joseph in WW1
When Joseph Harry enlisted in the army on the 18th of August 1915 at the age of 38 he was described as a labourer and the family’s address was given as 196, Haverstock Hill in Hampstead. However, when he was honourably discharged from the service as ‘permanently unfit’, on the 31st of December 1917, he gave his address as 111, Acre Lane in Brixton.
He was awarded various medals, including a silver war badge.
The 1921 Census
We next find the Young family in the 1921 Census living at 34, Penwortham Road in Streatham. Joseph Harry is no longer working as a gardener, but is employed as a war material examiner at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich.
Examiners worked in the Inspectorate of Armaments Department and as such they would have been part of the team charged with the inspection and auditing of all facets of armaments, weapons and ammunition/explosives, to ensure that they complied with the specifications laid down by the War Office.
All five children are still living at home: 20 year-old Joseph Sidney is a ‘furrier’s traveller’, employed by Paiba and Sons (Furriers) of 10, Milk Street in Cheapside; our subject, Dorothy, now aged 18, works as a bookbinder at Straker (Strake?) Printers in Clapham Park; and 16 year-old Adelaide is a post-office probationer at the GPO in Newgate Street. The two youngest boys are still at school.
Marriage to Oliver Stanley Williams Cook
On Christmas Day 1923, Dorothy married Oliver Stanley Williams Cook, a clerk, at St Alban’s Church, Pretoria Road, Streatham Park.
Oliver was the son of carman Oliver Herbert Percy Cook and his wife Jessie Adelaide (née Williams). At the time of his marriage, he was living in the family home at 38, Besley Street in Streatham.
Oliver’s birth had been registered in Croydon in the 3rd quarter of 1902 and he was baptised on the 2nd of November 1902 at Christ Church in Penge, Surrey.
In the 1911 Census 8 year-old Oliver was living with his parents and younger siblings Leslie Edison Ernest (born 4th quarter of 1904), Ivy Alberta (born 2nd quarter of 1907) and Maurice Samuel Herbert (born 3rd quarter 1909) at 76, Besley Street in Streatham. In the census his place of birth is given as Penge.
However, in Oliver’s army enlistment papers and in the 1921 Census he claims to have been born in Norfolk, in Waybury and Weybread (sic) respectively. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a Waybury (or similar sounding place name) in Norfolk, so it has not been possible to confirm Oliver’s place of birth conclusively.
His mother, Jessie, would later give birth to two more sons, Wilfred Vincent in the 4th quarter of 1912 and Herbert Wright Jellicoe in the 4th quarter of 1915.)
Oliver enlists again
On the 6th of April 1921 Oliver enlisted in the army in Streatham, re-enlisting on the 4th of July. In the 1921 Census we find him based in Hampton Wick, Surrey, a private in the 5th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, which was, at that time, a part-time volunteer defence force.
Army enlistment papers show that Oliver re-enlisted in the 5th Battalion on the 22nd of November 1935 at the age of 32. Dorothy’s family have long believed that Oliver was too old to fight in the Second World War but, when war was declared in 1939, the initial age liability for UK conscription was 18-41 and by 1942 this had been increased from 18-51 for males.
In 1938 the 5th Battalion was converted into an Anti-Tank regiment, Royal Artillery, their new title being 57th (East Surrey) Anti-Tank Regiment RA (TA) with headquarters in Wimbledon. (The 57th in the Middle East fought from Alamein to Tripoli via Tobruk before landing in Salerno and fighting throughout the Italian campaign to reach Trieste by the end of the war.)
Oliver would have been of an age to serve in the battalion during the war but there is no evidence that he did so. This may be explained, however, by Oliver’s entry in the 1939 Register where his occupation is given as ‘armaments fitter’ at the Royal Ordnance factory in Woolwich. Armament fitters were responsible for inspecting, servicing and repairing firearms, artillery weaponry and weaponry equipment and, as theirs was a reserved occupation, they were exempted from conscription.
Children born to Dorothy and Oliver
Dorothy and Oliver had two children: Patricia Gwendoline Theolinda (born 1st of March 1925) and Oliver Joseph (born 1st quarter 1927). We are advised by family oral history that Oliver Joseph would later go by the name of Joe, not wanting association with his father.
It may be assumed that Dorothy and Oliver moved in with Oliver’s parents after their marriage, as his name appears in the Electoral Registers of 1927 and 1928 at that address, along with Oliver senior and Jessie (who qualified for the vote through her husband’s occupation).
In the 1929 and1930 registers Dorothy’s name also appears on the Electoral Registers for that address, a property she and Oliver share with one other family. Oliver’s parents and brother Herbert have moved out.
Oliver’s desertion of Dorothy
We next find Oliver in the1934 Electoral Register where he is living with his then ‘wife’ Rose at 12a, Cricklewood Broadway in West Hampstead. By the time of the 1938 Electoral Register, the couple had moved to 15, Broomgrove Road in Hastings, Sussex.
Family oral history records that Oliver wanted to be free of his responsibilities and that he had abandoned his wife and his children, Patricia and Joe. When their mother went to Long Grove, the children were placed into the care of their paternal grandmother Jessie Adelaide Cook and Oliver’s brother, Herbert (Bert) Cook.
Patricia’s account of her father is not favourable, describing him as having a narcissistic personality of self-grandeur. She recalls that he only came home on Christmas Day and her account suggests that the experience for the children was negative on such occasions.
Admission to Long Grove
Unfortunately, we only have access to the Lunacy Patients Admission Register up to 1921 so we cannot ascertain the exact date of Dorothy’s admission to Long Grove.
Dorothy’s descendants believe that she had been placed in Long Grove by Oliver when Patricia was about 13 or 14 years of age, that is, in 1938 or 1939.
There is a prevailing myth that family members with difficulties could, at that time, be placed in an asylum against their will. However, the 1930 Mental Treatment Act (MTA) ensured that a patient’s admission to a mental hospital was dependent on an assessment by the patient’s ‘usual medical attendant’ or a medical practitioner approved by the mental hospital’s regulator. The Act also brought mental illness treatment more into line with that for physical illness, allowing admission to be regulated by patient and doctor. A person could not be admitted to a mental hospital on the arbitrary or unauthorised assertion or instruction of a family member simply for their convenience.
Whatever the nature and severity of Dorothy’s mental health problems it may be assumed that her condition can only have been made worse by what appears to have been her desertion by Oliver and being left to look after their two children on her own. Patricia would tell later generations that her mother had ‘sadness and depression’ which she suggests was likely caused by Oliver’s neglect of her.
1939 Register- who was where?
When the 1939 Register was taken on the 29th of September 1939, we find Dorothy registered as a patient in Long Grove – described as ‘lunatic’.
At this time, Patricia was living with her paternal grandparents, Oliver and Jessie, and her uncle Herbert at 21, Woodmansterne Road in Wandsworth. 14 year-old Patricia’s occupation is given as ‘shop assistant (confection)’. (Patricia’s grandfather, Oliver died in the 1st quarter of 1940 aged 65. I have not been able to find out when Jessie died.)
In 1939 Oliver and Rose were living at 2, Portland Terrace, Hastings in Sussex. Oliver was employed as an armaments fitter at the Royal Ordnance Factory in Woolwich.
Dorothy’s parents Joseph and Fanny were living at 1, Church View in Woking, Surrey. Joseph’s occupation is given as ‘market gardener and glass house fruit and vegetable grower – heavy work’. Joseph would live to the age of 81, dying in the 1st quarter of 1960 in Wandsworth. I have been unable to find out when Fanny died.
Patricia’s brother Oliver Joseph does not appear on the 1939 Register at this address and I have not been able to find him elsewhere in the Register. As he preferred to be known as Joe rather than by his father’s name, Oliver, it has not been possible to trace Patricia’s brother with any degree of certainty after this date.
Dorothy’s death
Sadly, Dorothy died in Long Grove on the 16th of March 1940, her cause of death being given as ‘exhaustion of dementia praecox.’ Her death certificate was signed by her mother, Fanny Young, so soon after the outbreak of war.
Dorothy’s Legacy – her children and grandchildren
Dorothy’s children, Patricia and Joe, continued to live with their grandmother during WW2. They had been due to be evacuated along with the other one million children at the time. However, their grandmother had heard, through the grapevine, stories about evacuees which disturbed her, some never seeing their families again. So, she rushed to the docks to retrieve them. This involved Jessie (at just 5 feet tall) firmly challenging a priest at the dockside, an argument she won and she took the children back home. Certainly, if she had not done so, we would not have this story today.
Patricia and Joe spent much of their lives believing that Oliver was dead. Patricia joined the WRNs and witnessed the D-day invasion from the Isle of Wight; memories of the war would haunt her for the rest of her life.
Patricia went on to marry Norman in 1948 and they had five children. Norman had been a British Army Commando during WW2, suffering a 40% leg injury. Family oral history records that he had extensive Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) due to his military life. It also records that Patricia herself struggled, potentially due to her life experiences.
Norman died at just 42 years of age in 1967, leaving Patricia widowed with five children.
Patricia died in 2001. She would never learn the full truth about her long lost mother.
Oliver’s remarriage
In the 4th quarter of 1946 in Hastings, Sussex, Oliver married Rose Norman (presumably this is the Rose who had been living with him as his wife since at least 1934). I have not been able to determine if Norman was Rose’s maiden name or her name from an earlier marriage). The couple remained at 2, Portland Terrace until 1950 but during the 1950s they moved several times. These are the addresses I have been able to confirm from the available electoral registers:
- 1952 – Living at 73/77, Castle Hill Road, Hastings, Sussex
- 1954 – Living at 39, Upperton Gardens, Eastbourne, Sussex and 55, Willowfield Road, Eastbourne, Sussex
- 1955 -1959 – Living at 31, Marine Parade, Kemptown, Brighton, Sussex
Ronald S. Cook – Oliver and Rose’s son?
In 1957, a new name appears on the Electoral Register, Ronald S. Cook. As the voting age at the time was 21 it may be assumed – if Ronald was voting for the first time – that he had been born around 1936.
I have found the birth of a Ronald S Cook registered in the 3rd quarter of 1935 in the Surrey Mid-Eastern Registration District (made up of Croydon, Epsom, Reigate, Godstone, Kingston and Dorking), and the mother’s maiden name given as Norman. From this, I think it is safe to assume that Ronald S was Oliver and Rose’s child, born while Oliver was still married to our subject, Dorothy. Unfortunately, I have not been able to trace Ronald with any degree of certainty after the 1959 Electoral Register.
Another marriage – and Oliver’s death
We meet Oliver and Rose for the last time in the 1962 Electoral Register where they are living in the ground floor flat of 28 Montpelier Crescent in Brighton. I have not been able to find a death date for Rose, or evidence of a divorce.
In the 2nd quarter of 1977 Oliver married again, this time in Westminster, to Henrietta M. Hodge. According to Ancestry.com, Henrietta was born Henrietta Mary Fenn. The name Henrietta M. Hodge was from her former marriage name – Thomas Edward Hodge. They were married on 28 January Hove, Sussex. They had one son Peter Trevor John Hodge 1950-1969. Research suggests that Henrietta was married a total of six times, Oliver being the last. The family hold a photo of Henrietta with Oliver.
Joe, son of Dorothy and Oliver, tracked down his father in 1983 and Oliver claimed that he had been married to Henrietta for 25 years, which we know is not true.
Oliver died in Westminster in the 1st quarter of 1990 aged 87.
This story demonstrates the importance of family history being passed from generation to generation. Moreover, it shows how important it is for history to be written down.
