VISIT TO CALKE ABBEY 20TH SEPT 2009

CALKE ABBEY

Went to have a look around Calke Abbey on Sunday, it was lovely and sunny and warm for September and we had a picnic there. It was good to go round the Abbey as its years since I last went - about the time the National Trust took it over - about 1985 I think.

The Abbey itself is interesting, it's quite dilapidated - paper hanging off the walls and dark and dreary in places - left as it was pretty much when the last of the Harper-Crewe's lived there.

I was particularly interested in the servants quarters as this gave me a flavour of what it must have been like to work there - quite hard work I imagine but I think folk would have looked after each other. There were old pots and pans in the kitchen and big lead sinks, no wonder they were mad !

We also walked down the tunnels that led to the brew house etc. My Aunt Edna remembers that her Granny who was a laundrymaid there used to go to work across the fields and through a tunnel (so the 'gentry' didn't have their view of the park spoiled)

My Greatgrandmother Edna Clarke (nee Spencer) was chief laundrymaid (see photo from Calke book earlier) Her sisters and children also later worked there. Her brother in law, a Mr Lyons was a lengthsman for the main Melbourne to Calke Road and their family lived at White Lees.

I asked quite a few volunteers for information about my Great Grandfather Henry Clarke - he was a groom there. I got a nice phone call back the next day from one of the staff. They couldn't tell me much more than I already knew but explained about the grooms usually living above the stables - which may account for him being referred to as a 'general labourer' on his death certificate - he must have given up being a groom by then, possibly because he was ill (died of TB aged 38) and also married by then with three daughters.

I was wondering if his father (no mention of him on his birth certificate) was perhaps Sir Vauncey Harper Crewe, who was around at the time !!! just a fantasy I think !!

HENRY CLARKE

I have now got a copy of Henry Clarke's (my great grandfather) birth cerificate.
He was born on 18th August 1860 in Ticknall, Derbyshire.
His mother was Clara Clarke.
There is no mention of the father at all................. confirming that he is in fact illegitimate.
Not been able to find any mention of Clara Clarke on any of the census' around that time in Ticknall................

This photo shows left to right :
Lilian (Lewis' wife) Edna, Ena and Molly.
They are wearing the hats worn by the soldiers who were billited with them in High Street during the war.

THE END OF THE WAR - PHOTO

This photo was taken in Melbourne Market Place at the end of the Second World War.

Everyone was celebrating the end of the war and making fun of the Germans.

Molly and Edna are to the left of the photo by 'Hitlers' arm.

ARTHUR MARSON TIVEY PROFILE

Arthur Marson Tivey


born 21st October 1898
died ? lung cancer ?

Parents Leonard Tivey and Elizabeth Marson and brother Hereward.
Born and lived in Melbourne for most of his life.
Married Helena Clarke in 1920.
Lived at the Dog Kennel cottages at Calke with Helena.
Had three daughters Molly, Edna and Helena (Ena)
Helena died 1925
Worked as a brick layer's labourer all his working life.
He remarried in 1936 to Evelyn Godfrey and they moved and lived rest of their lives in Wilmorton Derby.

Unsure of his military history but a note in his wife's diary leads me to believe he joined up with the Sherwood Forresters. He apparently always suffered with a 'bad chest' due to being gassed during the war. Not sure how true this is ?

PROFILE OF HENRY CLARKE

Henry Clarke was my Great Grandfather

He was born in 1868 in Ticknall, Derbyshire

According to the 1871 census when he was 2 years old he was living in Stanton Lane, Ticknall with his Aunt and Uncle Samuel and Sarah Topliss and their children.

Have an idea he may have been born illegitamately..............
I have tracked down and ordered a copy of his birth certificate try to find out.

In 1881 according to the census he was still living with Samuel and Sarah Topliss and their children William 19, Catherine 13, Mary 9, Samuel 5 and George Topliss in Stanton Lane, Ticknall.

He married Edna Spencer (she was born about 1872) ? when

They had 3 daughters
Evelyn b. 1897
Helena b. 1899
Mary Jane (Jinney) b. 1900

In the 1901 census he was living at Bantons Lane in Ticknall with his wife and daughters and working as a groom at Calke Abbey.

In the next census in 1911 his wife was widowed and living at Derby Hills, Melbourne (The Common - between Melbourne and Ticknall) together with Helena and Mary Jane

Henry Clarke died 8th December 1905 in Main Street, Ticknall. He was 38 years old. He died of Chronic Pulmonary Tuberculosis and heart failure. His wife was with him when he died. At that time he was described as a 'general labourer'.

DEATH CERTIFICATES

I have received the death cerificates I ordered.

Found out Henry Clarke (great grandfather) died of Tuberculosis aged 38.
He died on 8th December 1905 in Main Street, Ticknall. His wife Edna Clarke was with him when he died.

Helena Tivey (my grandmother and daughter of Henry Clarke) died on 4th May 1924 aged 25. She died in the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary. Her husband Arthur Marson Tivey was a bricklayers labourer at the time and they lived at the Kennels, Calke nr Ticknall. She died of Encaephalitis Lethargica - 21 days PM whatever that means ?