0
0
b.1921-d.1948
A Disgarded Headstone
In the 1980s, before Horton Cemetery went up for sale, a notice was published in the local press. It was intended for the families of those who were buried in the cemetery, informing them that they could come, retrieve, and save their relatives’ headstones. Those stones that were left would be destroyed.
At that time, an electrical engineer was working on a project for the Epsom hospital cluster (Long Grove, Horton and West Park). One day, he saw a headstone in a skip (presumably marked for destruction) and rescued it. In later life, he told his family that he had been so appalled by this blatant disregard for someone’s final resting place that he felt compelled to rescue it.
Today her headstone is being kept safe in readiness for a time when it can be returned to the cemetery where it was intended to stand in perpetuity.
The headstone reads simply,
Marjorie Young
14th September 1948
Aged 27 years
R.I.P.
As researchers began to discover more about Marjorie, it became evident that there was a living relative, Jon, with whom they were able to contact. Jon has made a significant contribution to this research and had the following to say,
“Your message is a welcome bolt from the blue. I can’t believe that after all these years somebody is interested in Marjorie. I didn’t know her but my mother so often talked about her. All I can tell you is what my mother told me, but, knowing the effect that Marjorie’s life had on my mother, I have no doubt that it is essentially true. My mother died in 2015 but she still had nightmares about the life Marjorie led.
It is all too easy for people to be forgotten, especially when they are buried in a pauper’s grave in an asylum cemetery. This is even more true if their headstone is put in a skip. It has been the privilege of the Friends of Horton Cemetery to carry out this research. Today Marjorie, once forgotten, is now remembered, her story recorded for ever.
Finding Marjorie
Tragically, the Horton Cemetery register states that Marjorie was buried with a ‘stillborn female child’ in grave 2892b. There is no reason to believe the baby was Marjorie’s but more likely the daughter of another patient, which in itself is profoundly sad.
From Horton Cemetery records, we know that Marjorie died on 14th September 1948 aged 27 years. On her death certificate, her name is given as ‘Margaret Ethel also known as Marjorie Ethel’. Throughout our research both names, Margaret and Marjorie, are mentioned but mostly she is referred to as Marjorie.
Marjorie’s Paternal Grandparents
Marjorie’s paternal grandparents were Henry Young and his wife Ellen Fanny née Chesterman, both born in 1865. They had married in Hastings in May 1885, where Ellen, their first child was born in the same year.
By 1901, they were living in 25 Rumbolt St. in Fulham, with a growing family:
- Ellen Maud born in 1885,
- Minnie Susan 1887 who would young die in 1905,
- Leonard Harry 1888 who would die just a year later in 1889,
- Daisy born and died in 1890,
- Katie Florence born 1892,
- Charles (Marjorie’s father) born 1894,
- William born and died in 1895,,
- Lilian G born 1896.
- Harry born and died in 1899.
Henry, Charles’s father, was recorded as a journeyman/plasterer.
In 1905, tragedy hit the family when Minnie died from suffocation, following an epileptic fit.
Her sister, Kate gave evidence at the inquest because she slept in the same bed as Minnie.
It appears from the Coroner’s report that Minnie sometimes had no less than thirteen fits a day. Later, we discover that Marjorie was epileptic too.
In 1909, another child, Jack Albert, was born. There is a significant gap between his birth and sister’s in 1896. Marjorie’s living relative believes that there were many more children born to Ellen. He says,
“My mother thought that she had given birth to 23 children but only a few had survived. The 1911 Census states that they had 17 children of which 12 had died. Apparently the dead child was often half of a pair of twins. In fact the last born was Jack but his twin did not survive.”
In 1911, we find Marjorie’s father, Charles, a 17 year old shop assistant, living with his family at 35, Pownall Road, in Fulham, London, a home which would feature often over the coming decades.
Marjorie’s Parents Marry in 1920
Charles married Ethel Mary Davis at St. Augustine’s Church, in Fulham on the 4th of April 1920. Charles was now working as a commercial traveller in confectionery, employed by Lewis, Samuel and Co.
Ethel’s father, Thomas Davis, was a builder. At the time of their marriage both Charles and Ethel were aged 26. Charles was living in his family home, at 35, Pownall Road in Fulham and Ethel at 9, Quenington Mansions, Rostrevor Road in Fulham.
Marjorie is born and baptised
Marjorie was the only child of Charles and Ethel Young and was born on 10th June 1921. In the 1921 Census, we found Marjorie and her parents living at 10, Lilyville Road in Fulham. Marjorie Ethel Young was baptised at St Peter’s Church, Fulham on November 9th 1921.
In 1923, Charles Young was still living at 10, Lilyville Road but his wife was not there at that time. However, in 1924 Ethel (and Marjorie) was again resident there.
A challenging childhood
Jon was able to add the following details, his mother being a first cousin to Marjorie. Without this contribution from the family, we would have had no idea of the circumstances that Marjorie lived in.
“Marjorie’s father, Charles, was known as Buck.
Marjorie was 3 years younger than my mother but they spent a lot of time together. She told me that Marjorie was very clever and wanted to study. She was an only child so welcomed the company of my mother.
As time went on it became clear to my mother that Marjorie was terrified, the reason being that her parents went drinking every night and left her alone in the dark. Neighbours talked of Marjorie standing at the window looking out in the dark.
Eventually poor Marjorie had a breakdown and was admitted to hospital (Long Grove) and my mother never saw her again. Of course when the war came people and families naturally got separated and when my mother returned, she got married and started her own family.
I understand that most people in the family had nothing further to do with her parents but it was all too late for Marjorie.“
The 1939 Register
In 1939, Marjorie was living in what appears to have been a rooming house at 64, Angell Road in Lambeth and was working as a civil servant for His Majesty’s Office of Works, which dealt with government buildings etc. There is another lady, with the same role, living there, Babelle B Watkins. Perhaps they were friends.
Marjorie’s father, ‘Charlie H’ was living with his parents, Harry (Henry) and Ellen at 35, Pownall Road in Fulham. He was a shop assistant and is shown as married, although his wife Ethel is not there.
Ethel was in fact living at 27, Colehill Lane, Fulham. She was also shown as married. This was the home of her mother, Carey Charlotte Davis (née Vension) who had died in the first quarter of 1939. Ethel was also living with her mother at this address in 1937 and 1938, suggesting that she had separated from her husband. Ethel remained living iat this address for many years, as shown in various electoral registers up until at least 1972.
In 1939, Jack Young, Marjorie’s uncle, his wife Ivene and a daughter, Ivene H, were also living in Fulham
Marjory died in 1948
We have been unable to locate Marjorie between 1939 and 1948, when she died in Long Grove Asylum, Epsom. We do not know when she was admitted to Long Grove, there being very few records available for that asylum. Jon believed that his mother might have said that Marjorie had died in 1942 but perhaps this is when Marjorie entered Long Grove.
Marjorie died on 14th September 1948 from broncho-pneumonia and exhaustion from epilepsy, aged 27 years. Was her epilepsy apparent prior to her admission? If so, her arrival at Long Grove, might have been several years before her death. Typically researchers might expect to find epileptic patients at the Ewell Epileptic Colony on Hook Road, not Long Grove. Perhaps she was transferred to Long Grove when she became ill.
The address given for her at the time of her death was 27, Colehill Lane, Fulham, where her mother was living. However, we have not found Marjorie in electoral registers at this address at any point. Marjorie’s previous occupation was a clerk for a Rubber Company. We know that in 1939 she was working for the government, so she must have had a job in between that and her admission to the asylum.
It is important to note that Marjorie’s cousin believed that she had had a breakdown which led to her admission. This is an important first-hand account by someone who was there at the time.
Marjorie’s grandparents moved to the Epsom area prior to her death
It seems that Harry Young was interested in horse racing and that is why the family moved to Epsom.
By 1938, Harry and Ellen’s daughter Katie and her husband Alfred Barnes were to be found living nearby in Stoneleigh. It is likely that Harry and Ellen were already living in the area at this time.
In 1945, Henry and Ellen were living with their son Jack and his wife Iveen, at 7, Eastway Epsom. It could have been that Marjorie was already in Long Grove by this time. Perhaps Marjorie had visitors from the family – her grandmother or siblings living in the area.
Buried with a Stillborn Child
On September 21st 1948, we see in the burial records that Marjorie had a funeral and we know that she was buried in grave 2892b with a stillborn child.
Often still born babies were put in other people’s graves. It was only in the mid-1980s that parents of stillborn babies (and babies who died shortly after birth) began to be consulted about funeral arrangements for their baby. Before then, hospitals often took care of funeral arrangements, without the involvement of parents. Many parents were not told what happened to their baby’s body.
The measurements shown in the image would be for the coffin.
Marjorie’s Parents after her death
Not long after Marjorie’s death, on 17th May 1949, her father Charles died. The article references both his daughter Marjorie dying and his mother, Ellen.
That was a very tragic twelve months for the family. Charles was buried in Old Fulham Cemetery.
Marjorie’s mother, Ethel, continued to live at 27, Colehill Lane. She died on 11th December 1977, in the Hammersmith area. She left an estate of £10,500.
Marjorie’s grandparents
Ellen Fanny Young was buried in Epsom Cemetery in 1949. In 1963, Marjorie’s grandfather, Henry Young died and was buried in the same plot as his wife. There was a large wake held for him at the Spread Eagle Pub in central Epsom.
Ellen’s husband Harry, her son Jack and daughter-in-law, Iveen, were still in the same house at 7, Eastway Epsom between 1954 and 1960. By 1961 they had moved to Carshalton. Then in 1962 we found them back in the area of Horton Cemetery, at Alway Avenue, Ewell, with a second child, John L Young.
Marjorie’s Headstone
There is one last thing to remember about Marjorie’s story and it matters. Marjorie had a headstone, one of the very few at Horton Cemetery.
This means someone cared enough to mark where she lay. Someone filled out the forms, paid the fee, and waited for the stone to be set into the ground. It also seems possible that family members attended her funeral.
Jon, Marjorie’s cousin says,
“It is wonderful to hear that her gravestone survives and that has led to her being your 500th story. If only I could tell my mother! I am surprised to learn that she had a gravestone as somebody would have had to have paid for it, I assume. I can’t imagine her parents or paternal grandparents being in a position to pay for it.”
Long after Marjorie’s name had stopped being spoken – someone found her again. She is remembered; a woman who was once loved enough to have her name carved in stone.
Perhaps one day Marjorie’s headstone will stand again in Horton Cemetery, proudly representing the 9000 forgotten souls who are also buried there.Jon, Marjorie’s cousin, says,
“My mother would have been so pleased to know that somebody still cares about Marjorie.”
Family Oral History
Oral history in any family is invaluable. What is passed on from the generations that went before us is so important in terms of remembering our relatives, and in this case, one of the 9000 buried in Horton Cemetery. It has been an honour to bring Marjorie’s story to the public domain. As the 500th Horton story published so far, it is research like this that inspires the Horton researchers to strive to do more.
“I think you’ve done a wonderful job and somehow righted some of the wrongs. I have learned a lot from reading the story and thank you for that.” Jon, Marjorie’s cousin.
