My dad’s mom had an amazing life. She was born in 1880, before the age of motor vehicles, and died in 1970, a year after Neil Armstrong had become the first man to walk on the moon. I struggle to believe that many other ninety year olds lived through such a time of change.

Annie Ethel Watkinson was the tenth of the twelve children of Joseph and Mary Watkinson, nee Rodgers. Born on 6 February 1880 she lived through the reigns of Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, King George V, King Edward VIII, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. Currently I have only known one monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. What a life!

Annie Ethel Watkinson was born on 6 February 1880 in Tankersley, near Barnsley in South Yorkshire. When she was born her oldest sibling, her sister Amy was a few days away from her nineteenth birthday. Had Annie Ethel been born in 1800 her surviving to her first birthday would have been in doubt with child mortality being 43% at that time but by 1880 child mortality had dropped to 3.5%.

When Annie Ethel was a year old she was living at 11 Pilley Colliery, Tankersley with her father, Joseph, who was an Overman in the local coal pit, Mary, her mother, and seven older siblings. One of her siblings, Harriet, was with her aunt and uncle, George and Martha Slater Martha being Mary’s sister. Her other sibling, Bertha, died soon after birth in 1865.

Ten years later the family had moved to 27 Sheffield Road, Worsborough. The 1891 census records that Annie Ethel, now aged 11 and a scholar, is living with her parents and six of her siblings including Thomas and Ann, children eleven and twelve for Joseph and Mary.

By 1901 Annie Ethel has moved along Sheffield Road and is now living at number 63 with her parents, her younger brother Tom and a domestic servant, Martha Ann Mayor. Joseph has now been promoted at the colliery and is a Colliery Deputy. On this census there is no occupation recorded for Annie Ethel.

Five years later Annie Ethel Watkinson marries Thomas Thompson on 11 August 1906 at Ebenezer Methodist Chapel in Barnsley. As was the normal process at that time the bride and groom and the family went to the local photographers studio for photographs of the occasion.

It would be really interesting to be able to identify all the nine people in this group photograph but I’m afraid I can’t. Who can we be sure about? Here goes then (left to right)

Unknown, child on lap unknown but probably a niece of the bride, Mary (Annie Ethel’s mother), lady possibly a sister of the bride, Thomas Thompson, the groom, Annie Ethel Watkinson, the bride, Joseph Watkinson (Annie Ethel’s father), lady possibly a sister of the bride and man unknown. Below is a scan of the original marriage certificate. The minister at the service was T Sheldon Willetts and the registrar was A E Ashworth. One of the witnesses was Emmanuel Thompson, Thomas’s younger brother and possibly his bestman. He might be the person in the above photograph on the extreme right.

Thomas and Annie Ethel had eight children, William born in 1908, Nellie born in 1910, Amy born in 1912, Joseph born in 1914, Ann born in 1916, Sheila born in 1918, Emma born in 1919 and Wilfred born in 1924. Their first four children were born in South Yorkshire and the latter four in South Wales where they lived at 12 Glen View, Ynysddu. Seven of the children lived into adulthood but sadly Sheila died when just five weeks old. Thomas and Annie Ethel had thirteen grandchildren.

Annie and Thomas moved to South Wales, during the First World War, so Thomas could continue his work as a Coal Miner, contributing to the war effort. Despite moving away from South Yorkshire Annie Ethel kept in touch with her father, her mother having died in 1909, and he made trips to South Wales to see them by train. Below is a picture of one of his last trips, taken around 1930. Annie is seated in the centre of the picture.

Eventually, in about 1937, Thomas and Annie Ethel moved to Birmingham and lived in Lyttleton Road, Stechford, firstly in larger house, number 107?, before moving to number 44. There are a number of pictures with Annie Ethel taken at number 44 which follow. Thomas and Annie Ethel were very involved in the life of Newbridge Baptist Church which Annie Ethel continued to attend until a few weeks before her death in November 1970.

Here is a picture of Thomas and Annie Ethel with two of their older grandchildren, Samuel and Bryan, taken around 1940.

This a photograph of the wedding of Annie Ethel’s youngest daughter, Emma, to Gwyn Lowry in July 1941. Annie Ethel is seated to the right side of the picture. The embarrassed boy at the front could be Samuel, referred to in the previous picture.

Here is Annie Ethel again, with the birds on her hat, in August 1949 at the wedding of her youngest son Wilfred. The bride, Marjorie Corbett, has been omitted from the group!

Here is Annie Ethel, aged about 80, probably at Christmas 1960. The two other ladies in the picture are Marjorie, the bride omitted from the previous picture, and Annie Ethel’s daughter, Amy, who lived with her until Annie Ethel died in 1970. The two grandchildren are children of Wilfred and Marjorie.

My final memory of Annie Ethel was her 90th birthday party, which took place in the hall of Newbridge Baptist Church and to the best of my knowledge was attended by her seven children and thirteen grandchildren.

My amazing grandmother who led an amazing life.