Ethel Maude Archer: A Memoir

This is the beginning of a memoir written by Ethel Maude Archer, George/Pegleg's daughter, started shortly before her death in 2003 & obviously not completed. It is quite a sad little piece.
"THE BEGINNING" by Ethel Fincken

Ethel Maude Archer: A Memoir (2003)

Chapter 1: 

Although it was a Star Event, and I was the Star, I remember nothing of the occasion. I had to wait several years before my Mother thought that I was old enough to hear about it.

It was about midnight on March 3^rd 1925, when I made my entry, which was almost a surprise, as my Mother did not even know of my existence until two months before I arrived.

I was born in a small private Maternity home, where Mother worked as a cleaner. It was in the posher end of a street, in a very rough area. Our home was one room, a kitchen and a shared toilet. There were four in our family, Mother, Dad, my brother George and now of course, Me. There was very little money. Mother was a char lady, known nowadays as a cleaner. She earned about five shillings a week, that would be twenty five pence in present money. My Father was a night watchman (he looked after buildings or roads under repair). He had a little hut to sit in and shelter from the rain and wind and he kept warm during the night by having a fire burning outside his open hut, which looked a bit like a sentry box. The fire was in a bucket on four legs and holes in it helped the coke(which was fuel made from coal) burn well. He heated water on his fire and was able to make hot drinks during the night.

When he was a boy, he was a well-known character in the neighbourhood. He had had a bad accident when he was a boy and had to have a leg amputated. He had been riding on his father’s horse and cart. He fell off and the cart wheel went over his leg. And so he wore a peg leg (wooden leg).

He was an old man of 74 when I was born, and was known as “Peg Leg”. His age and his disability was why he could only manage the work that he did. My Mother told me when I questioned her years later about his age and why she had married him, she said he had nowhere to sleep or live and she was sorry for him so they married to give him a home. And I was the result, the only child in three marriages – his other wives had died.

My brother George was six years old when I came on the scene. He was our Mother’s son by a previous marriage. When I went to school, my teacher asked me about my brother and how much older than me was he and what was his name. On learning that he had a different surname, she said “Oh, I see, he is your half-brother!” He was my hero and he spoiled me rotten. I was heart-broken that he was not a whole brother, only half! However, I was soon assured that he was MY OWN brother, after all.

Chapter 2

When I was two years old, we moved out of our rooms, and moved to flat on the other side of Surbiton. It was a basement flat. We had much more room, a kitchen and a sitting room downstairs in the basement and one room on the ground floor and use of a bathroom and of the garden. (I had never known a garden before, it was great fun!).

As our downstairs rooms were very damp, George and I slept in the upstairs bedroom. Mother also shared the room with us. Dad was happier downstairs.

Mother and I used to meet George from school; Sometimes on the way, we would call in on an old lady. Her name was Miss Hall and she lived in one room in a house next to where I was born. She was a great friend of my Mother’s and I loved visiting her. Her room was upstairs. We went in the front door and started up the stairs. As we went, there was such an interesting smell as we climbed the stairs, a mix of all sorts of things and when she let us into her room and we were encased in that smell, I stood in wonder! I had never seen such a room. It was wonderful, so much furniture! She had an oil stove which made the room very hot. I think the smell was made up of something like Vick, which she used all the time, lavender, food and paraffin from the stove.. There was a pouffe for me to sit on while Mother and Miss Hall talked. She was a very fat lady and wore lots of clothes. Her hair was grey and very thick and she wore it in a bun at the back of her head. I had milk to drink while Mother and Miss Hall had tea. I wasn’t allowed to run about (I don’t think there would have been enough room to do so anyway). There were lots and lots of ornaments all around the room. It was a magic place and I loved going!

Chapter 1 (again)

I was about five years old when I had my first dog. She was a small brown terrier. I can’t remember a lot about her except the fun and excitement she caused one day. Mother was getting dinner ready, the sausages lay on a plate on the table. This was when sausages were sold joined together, and hung from hooks in the butchers. Well, there they were on the plate, all joined together. Suddenly, Brownie dashed in, jumped, grabbed the sausages and ran with one in her mouth and the rest of the sausages following behind. Behind her went Mum with my Brother and I cheering them on. We lived on a very busy road with trams and horse and carts. One day, Brownie got out on her own and was knocked down and unfortunately, she had to be put to sleep.

As at that time we were living in a very cramped basement flat, Mother didn’t think we should have another dog until we had better accommodation.. In 1934, when I was 9 years old, my father died and my Mother bought me a dear little ginger kitten called Sandy. I loved him dearly. He let me dress him up in a bonnet, put him in my dolls pram and walk around the garden with him. He was a marvellous hunter and kept us free of mice etc..

The following year, when I was ten, we had to leave our flat as the house was very old and in a very bad condition and not fit to be lived in. We went to stay with friends on their small-holding. They kept pigs and chickens, a horse and a goat and lots of cats. I loved it, but Sandy, who we had taken with us, was not a bit happy and was bullied by the cats. Of course, although I didn’t realise it, I expect he was jealous of the attention I gave to the other animals. One day, he didn’t appear at dinnertime or bedtime. We searched and searched, but didn’t find him.. We had been back to our old address to see if he was back there but with no luck. Several weeks later we went back again to see if he was there. No one had seen him. A main line railway went past the bottom of the garden and the railway station was nearby and the track to the bridge.. We went for a walk along the road to where we could see down the railway embankment to the train rails and we saw a little ginger body down near the track.. We went to the station and spoke to a porter and he went along and found her. He must have walked back to where he had been happy. It was a sad ending for a much loved pet .

After being on the small holding for about a year, Mother was offered a council house to rent. It was new, on a new estate. It had three bedrooms, so for the first time in my life, I had a bedroom of my own. There was a nice-sized garden……………….

Longcase Clock by Donisthorpe of Loughborough

Longcase Clock by
Donisthorpe of Loughborough.

The Donisthorpe family of Leicestershire have a long history of making many fine clock. Most clocks, including this one, are by Joseph (b.26 Mar 1734 d.1810), my 4^th Great-grandfather, who originally worked in Normanton-le-Heath where he trained the very famous clock maker Samuel Deacon. Joseph was later obliged to move to Loughborough because of his non-conformist beliefs.

Brass dial

This all oak clock, c.1780 in very fine condition with nice honey colour; with flat top and long trunk.

The 12in brass dial is well made as is the typical designed Donisthorpe movement that is 30 hour running and rope winding.

This is a lovely clock by a very fine country maker.

Source: www.antiquesatlas.com

Muggy Measures: Photo of a Leicestershire Street Vendor

"Muggy Measures" is the son of John's father's great grand uncle. Despite the headline this is NOT actually 1895 but must have been earlier because "Muggy" is documented to have died in 1891 of heart disease. (John says he must have eaten too many of his own pies! We're also wondering why the gentleman to the right of Muggy in the picture appears to be talking on a cell phone!)

1066, Gilbert Le Grand Veneur, Hugh Lupus & the Cheshire Cat

Elizabeth’s Great-grandfather (Ben’s maternal grandfather) was Edward Grosvenor (b abt 1828 in Tenbury, Worcestershire). As I started to investigate Edward on family trees on Ancestry & other websites, I began to feel I had followed the White Rabbit down the rabbit-hole, like Alice.

I had to eliminate a number of unlikely connections adopted by over-optimistic genealogists, Many genealogists, particularly our American friends, take a liberal view of family links, particularly if they lead to titled families. So I had to eliminate instances of extreme longevity (an ancestor born in 1122 who died in 1292); time-travel (children born before their parents); & spiritual procreation (children born after their parents had died). Once that was done I was left with a line that went back to the times of Duke William of Normandy that passed the test of reasonableness, if not actual documentation.

William was accompanied on his invasion in 1066 by his uncle, Hugh Lupus, & his cousin, Gilbert Le Grand Veneur. Hugh was of the d`Avrache family, but could not use the name because his father was still alive, so went as Hugh Lupus (Hugh the Wolf). Gilbert was probably of the de Venables family, but had risen to the rank of Grand Veneur in William`s court. The meaning of Veneur is extremely precise in courtly French. Although in common use it meant hunter, at court it meant huntsman, a subtle difference. A hunter is one who hunts. A huntsman is one skilled in the arts of hunting. The Grand Veneur was the Master Huntsman, one of the most important men at court.

For his services during the Conquest, Hugh was made Earl of Chester, controlling all of what today is Cheshire, parts of North Wales & parts of Lancashire. It was a strategically important area, defending Norman lands from the North & West. In his realm Hugh effectively had the authority of a king. He allocated land to sub-tenants, including Gilbert.

Hugh was not only famous for his ferocity in battle, hence Wolf, but also for his size & was also known as Hugh Le Gros, or as the conquered Saxons would say Fat Hugh. At his death, he did not leave an heir & his lands in Cheshire passed to his nephew, Gilbert. Gilbert inherited not just the lands, but also the family tendency to weight. He had by this time become known as Le Gros Veneur (the fat huntsman), a title he seemed quite happy with as it became the family name. Later on, around the time of Henry III, the name was modified to Le Grosvenor, de Grosvenor & finally Grosvenor. Gilbert is potentially Elizabeth`s 28^th Great-Grandfather.

Saxon peasants called Hugh's crest
"Fat Hugh's Cat". 

On a lighter note, Hugh`s crest was as might be expected, a wolf, depicted on his arms with a gaping mouth, fangs showing. Unfortunately the standard of graphic art for heraldry was not great at that time (most coats of arms were simple geometric patterns), and the depiction of the wolf became almost a caricature, resembling a grinning cat, Saxon peasants referred to it as Fat Hugh`s Cat. The Grosvenors had a simple coat of arms, a diagonal gold stripe on a blue background. These simple designs were often duplicated in other parts of the country, but provided the 2 families with the duplicated design never came into contact, there was seldom a dispute. However by the 13^th C the Court of Chivalry was in full swing. One of the cases heard was Scrope vs Grosvenor for the gold stripe on blue background design. The Grosvenors lost the dispute & were forced to adopt a new coat of arms. However instead of adopting Hugh`s wolf, they elected to adopt the gold wheatsheaf of Chester. So Fat Hugh`s (Cheshire) cat disappeared…

According to at least one historian, Lewis Carroll was aware of this story & it served as the inspiration for Alice`s Cheshire Cat. 

William Gervais/Jervis d.1597

William Gervais

.....On a totally different & somewhat humorous note I have also attached a picture of some engravings from the tomb of one of my multi-great grand uncles, William Gerveis/Jervis (d. 1597) in Peatling Magna, Leics. It seems the stone-mason was given to a little caricaturing!

George Archer (Pegleg Archer)

George Archer and his daughter
Ethel Maude Archer

Hi Michael,

I was adding the Dean/Branch info from your wonderful book to my software so our kids could see both sides of the family & got side-tracked by a half-brother of Buffy's grandfather, Joseph Archer. George Archer appeared to have been married three times & only had one child, Ethel Maude Archer, when he was 79 (& his third wife was 34)! 

I was somewhat sceptical & did a little research. It turns out to be true!! I have attached a pic from 1923-ish of Great-Uncle George with an infant Ethel on his knee & with his step-son George Hewitt Blake, the son of his third wife Ethel Maud Blake & an unknown father (presumably a Hewitt...)

George was an interesting character. He was in an accident as a boy, when he fell off his father William's horse & cart and his leg was crushed under a wheel. The leg was amputated (quite the operation for the 1850's) & he had a wooden artificial leg. He was known thereafter (of course) as Pegleg Archer. He worked for most of his life as a journeyman tailor, & then in his seventies & eighties as a night watchman with an old coal brazier for company. The daughter Ethel recalled later in life that her mother said she had married him because she was desperate & had nowhere for herself & her son to live. Sounds really quite Dickensian!....

There is only so much that can be done over the internet, & it certainly gets frustrating not being able to get to a lot of the locations. I shall definitely have to plan a genealogical research trip to the UK very soon.

Hi Petrina, 

This is the pic of Great-grand-uncle George, & a bit of his story, that I sent to Michael & Buffy.

We are going to set up a blog for genealogical anecdotes (as opposed to facts!!), & I am currently trying to put together a piece on "1066 and all that...". We'll let you know when it's up.

Love John

Just to add a little bit more to this story of William and Pegleg Archer: I remember my grandmother often singing "Jim the Carter Lad" when I was a child. I have one particularly vivid memory of her singing it at Franklin Rd (Kings Norton, Birmingham, UK) as I sat at the dining table and she was serving the lunch! It was clearly one of her favourite tunes, and so I thought we should add this tune to our page here.