Margaret Annie Riding

Margaret Annie Riding

Maggie was born on the 25th of August 1882, the eldest child of William and Sarah who were living in West Road, Lancaster at the time. She left school at the age of 11 to work in the cotton mill but due to poor eyesight she could not continue, She then went into 'service' for the families of Hayes, Dugdalls and lastly the Cardwells. She stayed with the Cardwells for seven years. Edward Cardwell was a dentist and she named her daughter Lena after Cardwell's wife. The Cardwells finally moved to Maidstone in Kent due to ill health.

When she was 29, she married Bill Huntington, a widower with a daughter. She was living at Benbigh in College Row, Lancaster at the time. Witnesses to the marriage were her younger sister Jenny and her future husband, Tommy Davies. With their four children, they emigrated to South Australia on 2nd October 1924 on the P & O ship 'Berrima', travelling with her sister & husband, the Pettits. The males and females were separated on board and they were in an eight berth cabin. Their total fare was £148.10.0 at the assisted rate. Maggie was then 41 and the Certificate of Identity states that she was 5'4".

They arrived in Australia on November 12th and settled in Murray Bridge . They lived with Maggie's sister and her husband, Tom and Lil Davies for a short while before renting a house near the railway crossing. With her husband away a lot working on the railways , Maggie did some cleaning and washing for other people which she enjoyed. She never regretted coming to Australia.

Her daughter Lena, has a postcard sent by her to her husband, Bill for his birthday in 1918. Maggie had taken the children to stay with a 'cousin' whose address was Hartbarrow Farm, C(G)artmell Fell, Windermere. (My father remembers this cousin as being a gardener named Robinson.)

Bill Huntington was the second son of Henry Huntington and Ann Simpson Lucas. In 1891, aged 17, he was working as a mill hand.

At the time of his marriage to Margaret Riding , Bill was working as a labourer and lived at 14 Adelphi Street, Lancaster. Iv He enjoyed an allotment garden there. He was 38 years old and a widower with a three year old daughter, Annie. Bill worked for White Cross Mills owned by Storey Bros in Lancaster UK for 30 years. During World War 1 he served as an aircraft hand in the Royal Air Force but did not see active service.iii

After emigrating to South Australia, Bill worked 'up the line' for the railways but unemployment was an ever present possibility so he became an egg producer on a small scale. In 1941 Bill fell from his bicycle and was diagnosed as having Epilepsy but he finally died of old age and high blood pressure. On the Certificate of Identity he was described as being 5'6" with grey eyes.

• Ros Davies With Thanks
• Residence: 1891 - Lancaster, Lancashire, England