Lucy Mary Davies

GEDCOM Note

Lucy Mary Davies
&ltp&gt1892 - 1976&lt/p&gt
&ltp&gtby&lt/p&gt
&ltp&gtLucy Alice Harper&lt/p&gt
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&ltp&gtLucy was born at Townsend Cottages, St John's Wood in London on the 14th July 1892. Two years later her sister Emma was born and her parents separated. William Davies was a gambler, which I understand was the cause of the separation.
&ltp&gtLucy remembered being dressed up in her Sunday Best and having her hair curled to meet her father although she remembered very little of him. her mother, Rose, later married William Kirby and they had seven more children that survived, four boys and three girls.
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&ltp&gtLucy was Christened at the Church of Our Lady in Lisson Grove, St John's Wood, although she didn't follow the Catholic Faith but joined the Baptist Church in Abbey Road, London. Life was very hard for her living with Kirby, she was not allowed in the house if her mother was out, she had to sit on the doorstep until her mother returned, even if Kirby was at home. On one occasion he hit Lucy with a knotted rope, injuring her spine. At the hospital they said she had fallen down the stairs. She had to have an operation and afterwards she had to wear a spinal jacket, which she wore until she outgrew it. It's strange that my brother, Robert, had a Nevis in the same place on the lower spine and I have a brown birthmark, also in the same place.
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&ltp&gtLucy was always late for school, as Kirby would not let her go until after the morning prayers. She was a giggler and arrived at school one morning to see all the class with a pencil held up and with one eye closed, for a drawing lesson, she got the giggles and was sent out of the class and was never able to have drawing lessons again.
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&ltp&gtAfter leaving school she was put into service and when she went home on one of her days off, she found that the family had moved without telling her where they had gone. She later took a job with Mr. & Mrs. Maunders, who had a newsagents & library in Boundary Road, St John's Wood. This was the turning point in her life, as this family took her under their wings and really looked after her. They had a son & daugher who she became fond of and a librarian who gave her smart clothes. Once,
&ltp&gtthe family were going for a day out to Weston-Super-Mare and on hearing that Lucy had never seen the sea, took her with them, but the tide was out so she still didn't see the sea.&lt/p&gt
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&ltp&gtA young man, Bert Veale, would talk to her when he came in the shop and may have told his brother Robert about her, as he made contact and within six months they were married. Lucy was warned by his mother that he wouldn't live past the age of 21 as he had been a sickly child, Lucy took the chance and they had more than sixty years together.
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&ltp&gtRobert had to be home by 10 o'clock even up to the night before they married. They started married life in two rooms and had their first born, two years later who they named Robert. They moved to a first floor flat in Holtham Road, where three & a half years later I was born, this was 1918.
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&ltp&gtThe war years must have been difficult for Lucy with her husband away in the Royal Flying Corps [ later to become the R.A.F.] Her sister Emma stayed with her quite a lot of the time and kept her company. When the children were older, Lucy went back to work on a casual basis, for Mrs. Maunders, who now had a shop in Haverstock Hill, Hampstead. Lucy's brothers and sisters often filled the flat in the evenings and there was so much laughter.
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&ltp&gtAt the Baptist Church, Lucy gave exhibitions of skipping and club swinging. In the early Twenties they had a Motor Cycle and sidecar and took up Trial Riding with a M/C club. With Trials the passenger is very important, if the outfit isn't handled correctly, the whole lot would overturn, but Lucy was an expert at holding the sidecar down on left hand bends, sometimes with her head nearly touching the ground and on right hand bends, leaning right over the Motor Cycle. Sometimes she would come home soaked and really muddy, the hill climbs were the most taxing.
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