My Grandmother Edith Butler

My grandmother Edith Butler was born on 8th July 1900 in Wakefield, Yorkshire. She was the youngest child of Charles Henry Butler and his wife Everil nee Stacey.

As related in my previous post on Fanny Butler, Edith was orphaned when she was less than a year old.  She was taken, along with her 12 year old brother Ernest,  to live with their paternal grandparents, William and Annie Butler and their family, in Ravenfield.

This is a photo of Edith as a baby.  Don't know how old she was but maybe around one year I would think.








Below is a photo of Edith in what looks like a Christmas concert at Ravenfield school.  Edith is second from the left on the back row. Again don't know the year this was taken but I would think maybe Edith was in her early teens.

Left is Edith with my grandfather Herbert William Tirrell and I think this was before their marriage.  Possible an engagement picture.



















They were married on 26th December 1920 at St James Church in Ravenfield.  The photo right was taken on their wedding day.  No fancy wedding dress but maybe they couldn't afford it.

My mother was born on 3rd March 1922 in Bramley, Yorkshire.  This Edith and my mother Kathleen.
                                                               

According to my mother this was taken at a wedding which she thought was in Ravenfield.  She didn't know who the couple were and I have been unable to find out whose wedding it was.  It was taken in 1925 shortly before my grandmother's death.  Edith is on the front row first left with my mother sitting on her lap.

Sadly, on 25th September 1925, while Edith was dusting the mantelpiece in their home, her apron caught fire. She was admitted to Rotherham Hospital but died later of shock due to the burns.  This is a news item copied from the Sheffield Mail.   Apparently Herbert had signed on to a free insurance scheme that the newspaper ran. 

This is a photograph of Edith's grave in St James' Churchyard.  Such a lot of flowers. Mum was very upset a few years ago when visiting the grave as the ground have been leveled and she couldn't see where it was.  There never was a stone as granddad couldn't afford one. 

George Stacey

George was the youngest of the Stacey children.  He was born in Rotherham 1882 and died in 1958 in Ravenfield.  He married Phoebe Griffiths, who was welsh, in Cardigan, Wales in 1909.  He brought Phoebe to live in Ravenfield.  How they met I do not know as Wales was quite a distance at that time.  Much closer now with modern transport but not as easy to get to at the beginning of the 20th century.  I have acquired several photos of George and Phoebe and this first one, I like to think, was of their wedding.  Why else would you wear such a marvelous hat.

Next is Phoebe with their their first child George Griffiths Stacey (known as Griff) on the occasion of his baptism at St James' Church in Ravenfield on 6th June 1910.  What a beautiful christening gown he is wearing.

These are pictures of George and Phoebe with their children, George Griffiths and Letitia Mary. Letitia was born on 19th May 1914.  The Photo on the right was taken earliest and I would have put it first, if only I could work out how to move them round the page. I can sometimes but only by a fluke. The picture of the children on their own looks as though it might have been over-painted as Letitia's dress is a delicate shade of green.  It is lovely to see the fashions of the period on these old photographs.  Letitia is also pictured on another post with her Aunt Kate.