Introduction

It is something of an oddity about our family that although we are Craxfords (and the initial thrust of this magazine was very much in that direction) as youngsters we were surrounded and knew much more of our mother's relations that father's. What could be simpler in childhood terms than knowing grandma and grandpa, Uncle Ted, Auntie Dorrie. Or so we thought.

We have already charted our maternal grandfather's line - the Cooks - on these pages and noted the tragic start to our mother's life. This article is dedicated to the three Naylor lines with whom we had direct contact during the years we were growing up in Leicester

'Nunkie' - Mary's line (I)

Mary Naylor was born in 1866 at Cotes Park. When she was fifteen she had taken a post as a domestic servant at the household of John and Margaret Stoddart in Church Street, Ripley. He was a printer and confectioner. However she had returned to the family home by the time of the 1891 census.

She met school teacher William Ball, also from South Normanton, whom she married in the early 1890s. They moved to Leicester where they bought a house in Stretton Road in the west end of the city and for a time her younger sister, Miriam, lived with them. They had two sons, Cyril and William junior. William taught science at Alderman Newton’s Boys Grammar School ultimately rising to be Deputy Headmaster. Mary worked as a dressmaker.

After the death of her mother, Hilda was taken in by William and Mary. It was said that she became the daughter that they did not have. Her early childhood name for William was “Nunkie” – an appellation which persisted throughout his life. She attended Alderman Newton’s Girls School. She often referred to her holidays in Jacksdale, Derbyshire in her younger days and also bus trips to the Nottingham Goose Fair with her grown up uncles.

In the 1930s William bought two adjacent houses on Stoughton Road in Oadby. He and Mary moved into one of these, the other was given to his son Cyril. Hilda was married at Oadby Parish Church to George Craxford in May 1940 and William was on hand to give her away.

Mary died in the autum of 1940s only months after Hilda's wedding. During the war, and while father was away, she continued to live with and look after her uncle. William continued to live at 16 Stoughton Road into the 1950s with slowly failing health. He had a stomach condition and required feeding through a gastrostomy tube (a function carried out regularly by his district nurse). His was our first exposure to chronic illness although it was never intrusive to us children.

The house had an electrical bell box system installed which always intrigued and tempted us when we visited. I also have recollections of a low stool with a raffia top that Brenda used to play with. She would turn it upside down and rock about on it. She still has the companion small wicker armchair which has been painted various colours and is now a doll's seat.

"Two Swans?" - Mary's line (II)

Cyril Ball married Dorothy Alice Hart in Leicester in August 1926. I well remember his chuckle of delight whenever he explained their initials: COB and DAB. Cyril became Chief Clerk for the Leicester Health Authority and had his office on London Road. He was also the first relative that I recall having a car.

He was increasingly dogged by the effects of asthma and bronchitis – conditions which were not helped by the prevailing weather conditions of the early 1950s. I still remember the return leg of a visit we made by bus to see them in 1952 or 1953 when we ran into a smog. The conductor walked the whole length of London Road in front of the bus with a lamp to warn of our approach. We were several hours late home for our tea.

They had no children but Uncle Cyril and Auntie Dorrie were always pleased to see us. They were happy enough to entertain us by joining in games of Monopoly or Cluedo on dark winter evenings. Theirs was a large and rather rambling house with a through hall leading to a sitting room and dining room and then a kitchen and scullery at the back. There was also large parlour at the front which looked out of bay windows onto Stoughton Road which was kept for best. The quiet of the house was punctuated by the quarter hourly chiming of a mantle clock which had been presented to his father on his retirement from the school. They had a large garden in which they grew raspberries. I seem to remember the task of picking out all the grubs from the fruit before the berries went into the jam cauldron. The summer found rows of canes filled with runner beans. There was also a large greenhouse in which grew masses of tomatoes. Cyril was very keen on growing pinks and sweetpeas. During the summer there were always vases of both in the house. Even now I associate the scent of pinks with him.

Cyril died in 1965 leaving Dorrie to live on alone in their home for the next ten years.

Cyril’s brother William moved to Jacksdale, a coal mining community on the border of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire after he was married, not far from the family's South Normanton roots. In 1932 he was manager of a colliery. Later in life they retired to the Cheltenham area. We saw very little of Uncle William and Auntie Louie although there were always envelopes from them under the tree at Christmas time. I was often reminded of the time (at about the age of six I think) when I misread the handwriting on the card and asked who “Auntie Loonie” was. They had a son and a daughter (Peter and Margaret). Margaret worked for a long time at the University in Nottingham.

Continued in column 2...

"And the consequence was ... !" - John Henry's line.

John Henry Naylor, John and Ann’s fourth son was born in Cotes Park in 1869. He followed the family calling into the coal mine. He married Lilly Haywood in 1890 and the family moved to Alfreton. They had three children (daughters Ruby and Clarice and son Lancelot John). Ruby’s middle name was Marion although some documents and offical indexes spell it as Manon. We have been told that Edwin Naylor had a large family which included twins who were born in September 1889. The girl, Ruby Manon, died at two months; the boy, Launcelot Calladine died in December 1890.

Lilly was to die young as well in March 1901. The census of that year notes John Henry as a widower living with his three children in West Street, South Normanton. Interestingly his next door neighbour is Ann Naylor (aged 64) whom we presume to be his mother. She is described as a widow. We have not so far identified a death certificate for John Naylor but we know from Miriam's marriage certificate that he had died prior to 1909. This narrows the window to between late 1896 and early 1901.

Sometime during the early 1900s the family moved away from Derbyshire to Bedworth, a small town near to Nuneaton in Warwickshire. Ruby married Clarence Wych, a mechanic, in 1919 at the Parish Church in Bedworth. Ultimately they moved to Leicester where they established a laundry business from their home in Pinetree Avenue in the Humberstone area of the City. Mum used to tell us of bicycle rides on long summer afternoons from Stoughton Road along Shady Lane to visit them in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Similar accounts of visits have come from our correspondents from the Wych family. (See Letters Page)

When they retired in the 1960s Auntie Ruby and Uncle Clarrie moved with Ruby’s younger sister Auntie Clarice to a terraced house at 52 Regent Street in Oadby which was about 400 yards from Stoughton Road. Ruby was an excellent cook and renowned baker. Afternoon tea would consist of sandwiches from a freshly baked loaf and slices of homemade Battenberg cake. Clarice was the quiet one and occupied her time with embroidery and needlepoint. Clarrie enjoyed playing bowls and went to the local rink two or three times a week. In later life he became increasingly disabled with Parkinsonism.

They had no children either. However Sunday afternoons were destined to keep us amused after tea with simple childhood card and “pen and pencil” games. It was here that we learned Old Maid, the hilarity of Consequences and divined how many European cities began with the letter ‘Q’. Even after all these years I can still remember her rolling rounded Derbyshire accent – a marked contrast to the local Leicester strains.

Clarrie died in 1970. Ruby and Clarice continued to live together in close proximity to Dorrie for the next four years. After Clarice died too Ruby moved into a nursing home for the last couple of years of her life.

Uncle Jack (Lancelot) continued to live in Bedworth with his wife. They had no children.

From Derbyshire to Leicestershire - Miriam's line.

Miriam Naylor was the youngest child of John and Ann Naylor and was our maternal grandmother. She was born in Cotes Park in 1879 - when Joseph, her eldest brother was already 24 years of age. She attended a local school. After her father died in 1897 she moved to Leicester to live with her sister Mary's family. She was employed as a draper's assistant.

William and Mary moved the short distance from Stretton Road to 96 Westcotes Drive (2) around 1905 and Miriam went with them. We believe that the photograph of Miriam with her young nephew, Cyril, was taken at the rear of this house. She married George Cook in 1909 at the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Leicester. Joseph was witness to the ceremony.

After the marriage they moved to Northampton when George worked as a store manager. By all accounts married life was happy for the couple. She became pregnant with her first child in 1916 when she was aged 37 years. The birth of her daughter, Hilda Mary, was complicated by a puerpural fever and she died within six days of a septicaemia. See ("A Wand'ring Minstrel, I"). This month marks the ninety sixth anniversary of her death.

As we have told above, the infant Hilda was brought up by William and Mary, first in Leicester and then when they moved to Oadby. Her father served in the Army in Malta during the first World War. He married again in 1918.

Hilda married in 1940 and after the second World War we appeared on the scene. The rest is history.

Page added: June 17th 2006
Last update: June 7th 2012

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