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Robert Derbyshire was born July 9th 1871, in the Standish district of Wigan, Lancashire, in north-west
England.1 He married Elizabeth Daniels sometime in the middle or late 1890s.
They had four children: Polly, John Robert, Thomas Noel, and Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was called "Cissie" (for "little sister"
— but spelt like this, with a "C", e.g. on the backs of photographs she sent to Dad) by everybody in the family except her husband. Sometime in the early or mid-1900s the family moved to Oakengates, a small mining town in Shropshire. Robert Derbyshire was an engineer in the coal mines, and eventually rose to some kind of supervisory position in one of the Oakengates collieries.2
Robert Derbyshire seems not to have been remembered very fondly by his
family.3 Dad spoke of him as a drunkard who beat his wife
— on one occasion, coming home drunk late at night and setting fire to the bed she was sleeping in.
Of his drinking, Dad reported that: "He used to drink a bottle of whisky a day.
He drank till the blood spurted out of his ears." However, all the drinking made him ill at last, and the doctor told him if he didn't give it up he'd die.
So he gave it up; but (said Dad) always resented having had to. There are signs that he had some kind of inner life.
He was a great reader, according to Dad, particularly fond of any sort of popular science books, of almanacs and collections of wonders.The family's religion — much more important as a social indicator at that time than now — was an odd mix. Grandad was staunch Church of England. (Though Dad thought his father took up religion as an alternative consolation, when he was obliged to stop drinking.) Grandma Derbyshire, on the other hand was a Catholic, who (according to Noel) used to "sneak out" to attend the nearest Catholic church, in Wellington. Her people must have been either recusants4 or else Irish — there are plenty of both in Lancashire. Auntie Polly, through what influence I don't know — probably marriage — became a Methodist, attending the church at the bottom of Albion Hill. I have a book — Sketches by Boz — given as a prize to Uncle Tommy in 1922: the name plate says "Oakengates Primitive Methodist Sunday School". Perhaps this was Polly's church.
The family's politics were Liberal, in the old English, not the modern American, sense. They were strong supporters of David Lloyd George, the charismatic Liberal leader and eventually Prime Minister.5 Auntie Cissie told me her father actually ran for office on the Liberal ticket — this would have been for a local election, town or county council — and can remember seeing posters around the town saying VOTE FOR DERBYSHIRE.
I can remember Grandad Derbyshire coming to visit us at 62 Friars Avenue. He wore a flat cap and big black boots laced all the way up the ankle. I rode into town on the bus with him and he bought me a cricket set (bat, stumps, bails). I have another very dim memory of him sitting me on a wall somewhere — in Shropshire, I believe. He was laughing and I felt happy.
I have Grandad's gold watch in my possession: see here. There is a story attached to the watch: see the "Father's siblings" page under Auntie Polly.
Elizabeth Daniels was born December 6th 1872.
The Danielses came from the Pemberton district of Wigan. No strong impression of Grandma Derbyshire came down to me.
Dad used to say that when she reached her menopause she became slightly unhinged, and he had to stay up all night with her, walking round the house.
She seems to have been opposed to my father's marriage, and acted spitefully towards my mother (said Mother).My only memory of Grandma Derbyshire is very dim: she came to the house in Friars Avenue and there was some unpleasantness. The unpleasantness took place, or is associated with, the path in front of the house, between the gate and the sidewalk; but I can't remember why. The entire memory may, in fact, be false, made out of something my mother told me.
Noel: "Grandma Derbyshire was a very busy lady. She loved cooking and kept us all well fed. She was social and liked to go to meetings of the various women's societies around Oakengates. Once or twice a year she would visit the 'Round' Catholic church in Wellington. She presided over the 'back chat' about the one absent by the one present: Polly over Cissie, Cissie over Polly, then when Dad married, of course Mum became a topic. I used to sit and listen to it all. I was included in all the outings: Blackpool, Rhyl and Llandudno on annual holidays, Llangollen and Ludlow on Women's club outings."
1. Though Lancastrians by birth and, probably, ancestry, neither Grandad nor Grandma Derbyshire seems to have nursed any loyalty to the Red Rose.
Neither (according to Noel) had much Lancashire accent.
2. All of which belonged to the Lilleshall Iron Foundry Works, the main employer around Oakengates, with its own foundry, collieries, railway lines etc.
There were three collieries: the Grange just off the Watling Street, the Granville half a mile away, and the Woodside.
The Woodside closed first (around 1939) when its seams met with the Grange's.
The Grange closed in the 1950s. Noel: "Grandad was not tall, but he was well-built.
Twice I remember the pit van bringing him home after being involved in underground accidents with coal tubs."
3. My brother Noel is an exception. He has always expressed deep gratitude and affection toward Grandad and Grandma for taking him in and bringing him up when nobody else wanted the job.
He allows, however, that Grandad was a stern and distant "father" in the Victorian style.
"Try reaching for anything across the dinner table without asking permission.
Grandad's big old knife would come down on your fingers before you could blink.
The blunt edge, of course
— but he didn't stop to check before striking."
4. "recusant, n. [from Latin recusare, to reject.]
A person, especially a Roman Catholic, who refused to attend the services of the Church of England or recognize its authority."
There are entire villages in Lancashire the Reformation just "missed"
— everybody stayed Catholic.
5. David Lloyd George was the giant of British politics in the early 20th century.
He represented the mood of social reform that was in the air at that time, in America as well as Britain, and when in office laid the foundations of the British welfare state.
He led the country through the Great War; but his party, the Liberals, was then eclipsed by the rise of the Labour Party.
The two-volume War Memoirs of David Lloyd George stood on my father's bookshelf all through my childhood,
though whether Dad actually read it, I do not know. I gave it a try, but did not get very far.