May Frazer Watson
8th April 1907-13th February 1973
My thoughts on Auntie May. I remember her as a lovely lady, who loved me and my siblings. She probably drank and smoked too much, but was always very jolly. In this document I have tried to raise queries in what is known about her life, without offering opinions. In 2016 I found out that she wasn't my father's sister, but his mother. The Big Conspiracy tells the story.
The 1901 Electoral Roll has Jane Leggett,
May’s future mother-in-law, in Hartlepool at the 19, High Street, Beerhouse, also
known as the General Jackson pub.
However the 1901 census lists William Griffiths as being the innkeeper
at the pub, along with his family including daughter Catherine who would, in
1934, marry another of Jane Leggett's sons, Ernest Victor Leggett, (brother of
Thomas William Leggett who was married to May briefly in the late 1920s and early 1930s). The 1901 census lists May’s mother, Kate
Loughborough, at 11 Croft Terrace, just a few moments' walk from the General
Jackson. Hartlepool Headland was a close-knit community, being cut off from the rest of the town by the
docks, and it seems highly possible that Jane Leggett and the Loughborough
family (Kate and her grandmother Elizabeth and others) were aware of each
other. There were local shops in Croft
Terrace and High Street, and St Hilda's church was very close.
We can assume nothing further. It is easy to wonder if, nearly thirty years later, with May and Thomas Leggett married, whether they were aware of the connection between their respective mothers.
May Frazer Watson was born on April 8th,
1907 at 77 Chester Road, Hartlepool, to Kate Watson, formerly Loughborough and
James Sedcole Watson, a ship builders' clerk.
The name Frazer may have come from Isabella Frazer, wife of Thomas
Watson, James Sedcole Watson's father.
By 1911 the family had moved to 104 Sandringham Road, Connie having been
born in November 1910. The name Constance
may have come from Constance Jane Greig Mackenzie, wife of William Holmes
Watson, James Sedcole Watson's eldest brother.
Throughout her life it seems that Frazer
(from her birth certificate) was often incorrectly give as Fraser. It can be wondered if these changes might not
have been accidental, considering the frequent other name changes. Even the
Certified Copy of an Entry of a Cremation in 1973 stated ‘Fraser’, although the death
certificate showed ‘Frazer’, surname RHODES.
The signature of the Registrar matches the rest of the document, so I
assume he was copying from details provided, presumably by Uncle Peter. It seems likely he knew that ‘Rhodes’ was
May’s surname, or was for at least some part of her life, especially as he
attended the wedding of May’s daughter, Yvonne Rhodes. I assume that using ‘Lampard on the early
1960s Electoral Roll was in keeping with the time.
In 1911 the Leggett family was now living
3 miles away in Alma Street, Hartlepool.
In 1917 Thomas began a five year
apprenticeship as a ship's plater, with Messrs William Gray & Co. That year King George V and Queen Mary
visited the yard to boost morale. The yard had a 100-ton hammer head crane
which was a Hartlepool landmark until it was demolished in the 1960s. He was earning six shillings per week, to
rise steadily to twelve shillings after 5 years.
James Sedcole (spelled Setcole) and Kate
Watson and a Norman Britton appeared on the 1926 Electoral Roll at 104
Sandringham Road.
James Sedcole (again spelled Setcole)
and Kate Watson and a John Norman Britton appeared on the 1928 Electoral Roll
at 48 Tristram Road Hartlepool. Oddly the
Watsons lived next door to the Holmes family)! It can be assumed that May & Connie were living at the same address,
but were too young to be registered.
In 1927 Thomas William Leggett is at 177
York Road Hartlepool, with his mother Jane, and brother, Ernest Victor. That
address is one mile from Tristram Avenue.
This proximity is probably how May and Thomas met. She was working as a shorthand typist at the
time of her marriage, so perhaps her walk to work took her near Thomas. Their September 1927 marriage certificate
gives his address as 32 Dunning Road, Middlesbrough, 8 miles south of
Hartlepool.
She got pregnant in 1927 and quickly
married Thomas Leggett. May gave birth
to Harry in April 1928.
Harry's birth certificate, naming Thomas
as the father has Harry's address as 48 Tristram Road. Thomas's occupation is given as timber
cutter. Is there any significance to the
fact that the birth was only registered after 50 days, (April 23rd to June
12th)? The law permitted a delay of up
to 42 days, and a warning would be issued after 35. The father had to be present, if named on the
certificate, as Thomas’s was.
Did May choose to give up Harry or did
Kate demand it? We know some of May's life during the 1930s, but there are also
many gaps and mysteries. Harry grew up oblivious of the fact that Kate was his
grandmother rather than his mother. Did
Kate think he would never learn the truth? Was that a reasonable assumption? I
think it is inconceivable that May's younger sister Connie didn't know about May's pregnancy, and
birth. It is possible (but unlikely) she didn't know about the wedding. It was
usual for weddings to take place in the bride's parish. Why did May and Thomas
marry in Middlesbrough, at the register office?
It was near to Thomas's address. From the wedding day until the birth of
May's son Harry it was over 7 months. Could she have possibly have not known that
she was pregnant? The witnesses were "Agnes & Harold Shaw". It
seems significant that the newlyweds hadn't asked family members to be
witnesses. Does that imply neither Kate & James, nor Jane Leggett, nor any
of Thomas's siblings still in Hartlepool approved of the marriage? Or did they
not even know about it? Perhaps May & Thomas just didn't want a big event. Nothing is known about May's relationship
with Connie.
The 1928 Roll lists James Sedcole (still
spelled Setcole) and Kate Watson and John Norman Britton, as well as Thomas
William Leggett. May would have been 21
in April 1928. Was she just too young
for that year's Roll? In 1929 May
Frazer Leggett appears at the same address, and the names are the same for
1930.
The 1931 list shows James Setcole Watson
and Kate at the foot of the page. Page 2
missing... Was Connie not listed as she only became 21 in November 1931?
There do not appear to be any 1930s Electoral
Rolls surviving after 1931. The
immediate whereabouts of May and Thomas are unknown. What exactly were May's plans? Did she know anybody in London? Did she and Thomas leave at the same time,
but separately? This must have been an
amazingly brave adventure for a young girl.
On 8th January 1931 she gave birth to
Jack Lovekin, at 42 Talbot Road Hornsey & 59 Penn Road Holloway. The father was Eric William Lovekin, born
about 1905. The April 1932 Electoral
Roll (currently missing) lists Mae Frazer Lovekin at 9, Bodney Mansions, Bodney
Rd Hackney with Eric. By October 1935
Eric had married. Eric took his own
life in 1968.
I think it is significant that Harry was
not given a middle name, or even 'given' one later to match his supposed
sisters Connie and May.
Connie and Vic Palmer were married in
Shoreditch in the summer of 1936. Was
she already living in London? Connie
must have been very pregnant. Derek, the elder son was
born in Islington at about the same time.
Is that why she married in London and not in Hartlepool? The 1939 Register has Connie living in
Tristram Road with her parents. Perhaps
Vic was away from home due to the war, and it was decided that Connie would be
safest back in Hartlepool. Her year of
birth is given as 1914, rather than the correct 1910. Why?
One entry is redacted, presumably Derek.
In 1942 Vic was transferred from the Royal Artillery to the Royal Army
Ordnance Corps. Second son Frank arrived 14 years
later.
It should be noted that May's father's
middle name was spelled 'SETCOLE' on both Harry’s birth certificate and on the
record of her marriage to Cecil Rhodes.
On this latter document, May's age is given as 27, but she was actually
33. Did Cecil know the truth? Her status
is given as 'spinster'. Does that give
any indication as to whether her marriage to Thomas Leggett had formally been
ended? Very few divorce records exist
for the 1930s.
On 20th July 1938 May gave birth to Yvonne
Margaret Rhodes at a hospital at 6 Birdhurst Rise Croydon, when she was living
with the father, Cecil Milton Rhodes, born April 1916. On the 1939 register May and Cecil and Yvonne
are living at 263 South Lambeth Road.
They married on 8th April 1940, a week after Cecil had enlisted in the
army. Soon after this, they separated.
I have no memory of when we had our
first holiday with May and Peter.
Whether it was before or after the death of Kate I do not know. It is also difficult to date any joint
holidays, either from photos or memory.
We definitely visited Heidelberg with May and Peter as I had to use the
cable car on my own to find him when we were somehow separated. By the time I started learning German at
school, aged 13, I knew quite a lot of words learned on holidays.
Is it possible that in about 1930 May
and Kate had fallen out to the extent that May wanted no contact with her or
with her son Harry, until after Kate's death?
How did May find out about Kate's death, from Harry or Connie? Who was in contact with May? I can only guess that it was Harry. Perhaps the family was in contact with May by
1967. Family photographs of my sisters Joanne and
Louise as babies do not give any clues.
Was there no contact with May in the 1960s until after Kate had died?
Did Harry know anything of a problem between May and Kate, (if there actually
was one)?
May and Peter's movements in the period
from the end of WWII until the early 1960s...
1945, Peter was still living with his
wife, Aileen Esme (Denyer) Lampard, at 10, Worcester Road, Guildford, NW of the
town. Mae F. Rhodes was at 46, Aldershot
Road, Guildford, with Annie E Austing, and Nellie A. Firman, just half a mile
away, both in the Westborough ward.
1946, Peter was at 35, Hurst Hill
Cottages, Birtley Road, 4 miles SE of the town.
1947, 'Mae' and Peter, were still at the
same separate addresses, but a Peter T Tyler was also at Mae's address.
1948 Mae F. Rhodes was at 72 Ludlow
Road, Guildford, halfway between the cathedral and the town centre, with Frank
Mills, Harold A. Mills, Frederick J. Shepherd and Gladys E. Shepherd.
1948 Annie E Lampard, probably Peter's
sister was at 47 George Road Guildford, just north of the town centre, with
Peter Lampard and William T Lampard. The
identity of the two last is not clear.
Nellie was at #14, with several others.
In 1949/50 the residents at 47 George Road were Annie E., Nellie, Peter,
Peter W. and William T Lampard. It is
unclear if 'Peter W.' is Wilfred Peter, but highly probable. By 1952 and '53 and '54 and '55 William T
Lampard had left, and Peter is recorded as Wilfred P Lampard.
In December 1950 my parents Harry Watson and Joyce Young were
married, and must have quickly moved to London.
A 1950 Electoral Roll (Borough of Lambeth – Brixton Constituency –
Vassall Ward – Polling District G) shows (a) Harry & Joyce Watson at 44
Elliott Road, SW9, between The Oval tube station and Loughborough Junction
Station. It is easy to wonder if the Loughborough name was an attraction to the
area! Elliott Road has since been
extensively redeveloped. Only the church
of St John the Divine, Kennington, remains. It is not known if Harry already
had a job before moving to London. I
have memories of being told that he worked in Lewisham, dates unknown. Julie Ann Watson was born in Dartford in the
summer quarter (Jul/Aug/Sep) of 1951, and died within six weeks in the same
quarter, in the Holborn recording district, at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children. Harry is listed as 'Bank cashier'.
We cannot tell if Kate was living alone in Tristram Avenue after the marriage. (Harry was living at 48 Tristram Road according to the marriage certificate.) By 1954 the house had been sold, as a 1954 newspaper article mentions the new owner being involved in an accident. Kate is not listed on the above-mentioned Electoral Roll, so perhaps she was still in Hartlepool, supervising the sale of 48 Tristram Avenue, before joining Harry & Joyce in Dartford. There is no other evidence to indicate where Kate lived in the 1950s between the wedding and the house sale, exact date unknown.
Harry & Joyce were living at 68, Mayfair Road, Dartford, as recorded on the birth and death certificates of their first child, Julie Ann who died in infancy in the summer of 1951, before moving to 10 Princes Avenue, Dartford. There is a photo of Kate outside this house, date unknown, but probably 1964. Martin was born in Dartford in July 1957. Harry was working for The London Trustee Savings Bank in Gravesend, exact dates unknown. Prior to the end of 1964 Joyce worked for the Beadle Car Company in Dartford, probably in Spital Street, and also as a dentist’s receptionist, location unknown (family knowledge, dates unknown).
1950/51 Mae was still at 72 Ludlow Road,
Guildford, with Frank Mills, Harold A. Mills, Frederick J. Shepherd and Gladys
E. Shepherd.
The 1952-54 Electoral Rolls have
Margaret F Rhodes and Harold A. Mills (see 1950/51), presumably in a relationship,
at 29 Burpham Lane, Guildford. A
registered letter envelope exists, addressed to ‘Mrs. K. Watson, 29 Burpham
Lane, Burpham, Nr. Guildford’. It is marked as having been sent by ‘Mrs. D. M.
Allen, Post Office, Horndon on the Hill, Stanford-le-Hope, Essex. The contents have not been located. It is stamped ‘12 Fe 52’. (This address is 15 miles NE of Dartford,
across the Thames in Essex). If Kate was living at this address with her
daughter, May, she was not named on the Electoral Rolls. Nothing is known about the sender, Mrs. D. M.
Allen. The only connection to the area
is that Connie and Vic are believed to have lived in Basildon, 5 miles NE of
Horndon on the Hill, date unknown.
In 1955 a Margaret M Rhodes is at 14
Stoke Road in a shared house or as a tenant.
The 1957 Electoral Roll has Wilfred
Peter Lampard and Margaret Lampart (sic) at 56 Chertsey Street Guildford, now
demolished, with Ernest V. Curtis, Annie Wesley and Florence M. B. Young. The 1958, 59 Rolls are unchanged apart from
the correction to Margaret's surname spelling.
The 1960 and 61 rolls list Wilfred Peter Lampard and Margaret Lampard
and Annie Young. The 1962 roll lists
Wilfred Peter Lampard and Margaret Lampard and Florence Young.
It seems highly likely that Margaret
Lampard living with Peter at 56 Chertsey Street, Guildford from 1957 to at
least 1952 is May Frazer Watson. During
this period it is known that Peter and May attended the wedding of Yvonne
Snow, mother of my cousin Carol. Quite why May was calling herself
Margaret (or even Lampard) is not known.
It should be noted that her daughter with Cecil Rhodes, Yvonne, was
given the middle name Margaret. There
is no evidence to suggest that Peter was married to a Margaret during these
years.
Yvonne Rhodes & Eric Snow married in
late 1959, in Dover. May attended with
Peter Lampard. Had May been in contact
with Yvonne all along? Peter gave the
bride away, so that must surely have been planned. Surely he must have known that Yvonne was
May’s daughter? Did May know that Yvonne and Eric Snow had a
child, Carol, in spring 1961? Did May
ever know that the Snow family emigrated?
It seems slightly odd that Peter never mentioned to Harry that May had
been married and had had a child. I can
only assume that he was told not to, despite the photos, including a group
including Yvonne and Eric Snow and May and Peter, although in pre-internet
days, he was never likely to come across them.
My brother Graham, born in January 1960,
was given the middle name 'Peter' but there is no evidence either way as to
whether this was after Peter Lampard.
I have very vague memories of Kate, and we have one photograph, as mentioned, of her standing outside the Dartford house in about 1964. A contemporaneous photograph shows me in the school uniform I wore from September to December 1964. There is also an earlier one at the 1950 wedding of Harry and Joyce. Apart from that photo, I have no evidence that Kate ever lived in Dartford, but it seems likely that she did. I on't think that Kate lived with Harry and Joyce immediately after the 1950 wedding. It seems highly likely that when the family moved to Eastcote in December 1964 that Kate moved with the family. In retrospect I do wonder what odd ramblings she might have said in the early 1960s, probably suffering from dementia, remembering things in a clouded manner. I have vague memories of her wetting herself to the annoyance of my mother Joyce.
We have a letter from a physician in the
Geriatric Unit of Edgware General Hospital, dated 13th September, 1965. It asks to see Harry and/or Joyce,
"...to talk about your mother. She
was very disturbed when she came to us at Roxbourne Hospital, but I am glad to
say that she is more settled now. It
would be helpful for me to know more of the background history as she is unable
to give this herself." (Roxbourne
Hospital, now demolished and rebuilt, was in South Harrow, half way between Eastcote
and Harrow. It had 50 beds for the
elderly chronic sick and was linked with Edgware General Hospital.)
Kate died less than eighteen months
later, in Oxhey Grove Hospital, Oxhey Lane.
(During the 1930s Oxhey Grove, a mansion in Hatch End, became a private
nursing home with 6 beds for maternity and nervous cases. In 1941 the property was bought by the Local
Authority in Harrow and opened as a hospital for the chronic sick. It had 30 beds.)
My sister Jo (Joanne) records that she and Louise
were told they were taken on a visit to see Kate while they were very young. I have no
knowledge of her funeral, but I do remember visiting Ruislip Crematorium
several times and reading the plaque in her name. An invoice for the funeral
exists, detailing a hearse and limousine for 6.
This does not imply that there were six principle mourners. The fee
charged might have been for a standard package. It is not known who attended.
There is a certain irony thinking of my
father Harry, acting as administrator of Kate's small estate, sharing the money
equally three ways between himself, May and Connie, when May must have been
aware that it should probably have been split between just Connie and May. His notes for this transaction still exist.
Electoral Rolls after 1962 have not been
located. At some time May and Peter
moved to 3 Sycamore Road, Guildford.
They were at this address by soon after Kate's February 1967 death. The address is where disbursements of Kate's
estate were sent, to Mrs M. Lampard by cheque.
(It must have been very easy to open a bank account in almost any
name.) Probate had been granted in
February 1967. They lived there until
May's death in February 1973. I visited
that address with
my parents when they were there in the early 1970s.
I can recall a conversation I had with
Connie's husband, Uncle Vic Palmer, sometime after the autumn 1964 birth of
their grandchild, Derek's son, Keith A Palmer, on the subject of relationships.
I must have asked about Keith's relationship to me, as I remember Vic telling
me very promptly that it would be ‘cousin once removed’. This makes me think
that Vic didn't know that Harry was May's son, rather than Kate's. I also remember that Connie & Vic's son
Frank always addressed Harry as UNCLE Harry. I would love to know if he did know that he
was actually Cousin Harry. I doubt it,
but it was becoming a complex deceit for Connie to manage, if Vic or Derek or Frank
knew.
I have vague memories of many visits
from May and Peter, staying for the weekend in Eastcote in the late 60s and
early 1970s but I cannot date these more accurately. I cannot recall any visit
by them to Dartford. I recall May working in Debenhams department store in
Guildford at some time, dates not known.
Above, late 1960s, Uncle Peter on the left, Auntie May far right.
May died at her home, 3 Sycamore Road,
Guildford, in 1973 and I can remember Joyce telling me of her surprise at
finding that May and Peter were not married.
The question never arose as to when the wedding might have taken place
nor why Harry did not know of it, nor why he had not been invited. Many years later I saw her death certificate,
mentioning that she was known as both Watson and Lampard, and also as Rhodes
although this was not known to me in 1973.
I have no idea whether Harry wondered about the existence of the
mysterious Mr. Rhodes. Did Harry ever
ask Uncle Peter, although possibly Harry never saw the death certificate? Did Peter even know?
May’s death certificate makes sad
reading. The causes of death are:
“Ia. Pontine Haemorrhage
c.
Cerebral arteriosclerosis
II.
Hypertension
Renal Tubular acidosis
After post mortem without inquest.”
Her name and usual address were given as
May Frazer RHODES of 3 Sycamore Road, Guildford, informant Wilfred Peter
Lampard. The name on the Certified Copy
of an Entry of a Cremation stated the application was made by Wilfred Peter Rhodes.
Detailed analysis of the causes of May’s
death is very much beyond the scope of this document, but this is a summary
from unspecified internet resources:
Pontine haemorrhage, a form
of intracranial haemorrhage,
is most commonly due to long standing poorly-controlled chronic hypertension.
It carries a very poor prognosis.
Cerebral arteriosclerosis is the
result of thickening and hardening of the walls of the arteries in the brain. Symptoms of cerebral arteriosclerosis include
headache, facial pain, and impaired vision. Cerebral arteriosclerosis can cause serious health problems.
Hypertension, also known as high or
raised blood pressure, is a condition in which the blood vessels have
persistently raised pressure.
Renal tubular acidosis is a
medical condition that involves an accumulation of acid in the body due to a
failure of the kidneys to appropriately acidify the urine.
I have no memory of May and Connie being
in the Eastcote house at the same time, but this is hardly conclusive evidence
that such a meeting never happened as I would have only been 10 or 12 at the
time. Possibly May and Connie had not
been in touch since the early 1930s. There are no photos of the extended
family. May is not in the one photo of
Derek's wedding. I can remember visiting
Connie and Vic and Frank in Stevenage, and at least one visit to May and Peter
in Guildford. I very clearly remember Frank's bedroom, his telescope, and
Connie's smart house, her pouffe, the dog Chinky, and the geometric placemats.
Jo can remember visiting, with Keith Palmer being there, which probably means
it was after 1970. I can remember
getting into trouble when it was found out that I had fiddled with the the
bedside tea maker at May and Peter's house in Guildford, causing it to go off
in the middle of the night. That would have been early 1970s. I don't remember
any other visits there. The houses are small in that street.
I remember being told that Frank had
separated from his wife Ann and this would have been about 1974 or 75, probably
before I left school. I don't remember
the wedding, or if I attended. I have
no memory of any contact with Uncle Peter, or Connie and Vic after 1975.
My sister Jo has recounted how, in the
mid-1980s our father, Harry, applied for a 10-year passport to visit the United
States. Applying for a copy of his birth certificate in his name of Watson he
was unable to obtain it. It was only
eventually that it was discovered he was actually born Harry Leggett. Jo tells that he announced this discovery to
his family. This then gives rise to the question about whether he contacted his
sister, Connie, to see whether she knew about this. (There is no record of this conversation ever
having taken place). He would have guessed various things, 10 years after the
death of his birth mother, May, and 20 years after the death of his grandmother
Kate, who raised him as her own. He must have realised that Connie knew about
this deception. Perhaps he chose not to discuss it with her to avoid her any
embarrassment. Perhaps he chose not to
discuss it with her because he felt that he had been deceived by her, his only
close living relative and was angry at the deception that had carried on for 55
years. It is not known how much contact
Harry had with Connie after May's 1974 death.
I have given a lot of thought to how
Harry must have felt about the deception. Did he think that possibly a decision
was made which was for the best of all concerned - him, May, Kate, feeling sad
that for whatever reason May couldn't cope, and grateful to Kate &
James. Or was he angry, at never being
told the truth, even as an adult?
In retrospect it does seem slightly odd,
but certainly not impossible, for there to be a near 20 year gap between the
births of Kate's two daughters, and that of Harry. Even at that time it was not impossible for a
woman of Kate's age, 45, to give birth. I have wondered what my mother, Joyce,
thought, finding out that the old lady she had cared for in the early 1960s was
Harry's grandmother, rather than his mother.
I do think Kate's illness made her very difficult. I have spent much
time, thinking of Harry wondering about Thomas Leggett, and the mysterious
Rhodes name on May's death certificate, and finding that May and Peter Lampard
weren't married. Did he ever think about
trying to find his birth father? What
would he have thought to know that both his natural parents had subsequent
marriages, children and grandchildren? And that we all made contact?
At the time of writing, August 2020, I
have no doubt that almost all of the existing mysteries about May’s life will
remain unsolved.
Three apparently unplanned pregnancies
is odd, ignoring three children is odd, frequently changing your name is odd,
but she was such a nice aunt.
There seem to be two May Frazer Watsons.
There is the one that I and my sister Jo remember as a jolly, caring and fun
elderly aunt. The other one, based purely on the records of births, marriages,
deaths and electoral rolls portrays a troubled lady. Everything that my sister
and I remember is true, but so is everything recorded by bureaucracy and
administration. The highlights of her biography must be the fact that she gave
birth to 3 children early in relationships with three different men over the
course of 10 years, and abandoned all three children while simultaneously contending
with the breakdown of the relationships which had led to the conceptions of
those children. It is very noticeable that May identified herself under
different names between 1930 and her death 43 years later.
It is almost as if she went through
life, and every time she experienced difficulty, she changed her self-conceived
identity and closed the door to that part of her life behind her, denying its
existence in her new life. Writing about her, nearly 50 years after her death,
it is very difficult for me to remember how old I was when she came into my life,
but it would have been sometime before the mid-1960s. My memory does not permit
greater clarity. I was 16 when she died and my memories of her are fading. I
remember her as the regular bringer of happiness into the house, presents for
birthdays and Christmas, and interesting food products when she and Uncle Peter
came to stay with us for the weekend.
Many people have had a difficult
upbringing but gone on to great things, and many people with a privileged
background have gone on to find life very difficult. I have spent a lot of time in the last five
years thinking about the facts that have been discovered. Kate's mother lost
her own mother at the age of one, and was brought up by her grandparents, and
her grandfather was probably away at sea for a lot of the time. Kate's grandmother also apparently had a child
in early 50s, which seems rather unlikely. That Kate lived with her grandparents,
even after her father subsequently remarried, suggest that she wasn't
particularly close to her father. Or was it vice versa?
James Sedcole Watson, May's father, must
have had a difficult childhood. As one of six brothers, he was only about 13 at
the time that his father died in the morning following an arrest for drunkenness,
with a long history of wife-beating and drunkenness behind him. James's elder brother, William Holmes Watson,
at the age of just 14, had to give evidence in court against father, supporting
the charge that his father had assaulted his mother.
While May's life does not sound ideal,
it does not reveal any great difficulties that are not faced by many young
people.
The fact that May became pregnant on
three occasions soon after starting new relationships, suggests a certain lack
of awareness or responsibility, but that should have been shared between her
and the men in question. It is not
possible to comment on whether May was happy with the pregnancies, but she
clearly chose to see them through rather than terminating them.
It seems significant that her longest
relationship, that with Peter Lampard, which probably lasted from 1957 to 1973
did not involve children. Had May matured emotionally, or was it simply that by
1957 she was probably beyond childbearing age?
Did May suffer from some form of mental
illness (post-natal or depression) and couldn't cope with the pressures of
motherhood and simply took off, each time?
But 3 babies all left behind???? And why and how did she decide to get back in
touch with harry and his family?
My memories of Uncle Peter are of a very
calm and dignified sociable man. The 1939 register shows that he was coach
driver and conductor, which suggests to me that he had a calm but authoritative
manner, which is how I remember him. I have no memories of him as being loud
and I think he realised that May was the vivacious and bubbly one in their
relationship. He was genial but very dignified and reserved.
Many questions that will stay unanswered…
In
early 2017 I optimistically wrote to all the Lampards listed
in the Surrey telephone directory. In
June 2017 I received an email from Susan, b1950, Uncle Peter’s granddaughter.
She said that she had no knowledge of May, although she did know of Winifred
Turner, the lady Uncle Peter married in spring 1974. She also told me of Uncle Peter’s death, “He
was at the club, just about to take a sip of his pint so no pain no
sickness.” She also confirmed memories
of the teas-maid, saying it had been the first one she had ever seen.
Following
a computer problem at the time I lost all of our brief correspondence. In June 2021 I found a printed copy of
Susan’s first email to me, and I tried to re-establish contact. I tried again in 2024.
Reading this again, for editing and updating in 2024, I still find the whole story quite bewildering, in that a family mystery dating back to the early 1930s, went undiscovered until about 1985, when my father first saw his birth certificate naming him as Harry Leggett.
Recently I used the Chat-GPT Artificial Intelligence system to create an imaginary scenario when Harry told his family that he had discovered that May was his mother, not his sister. I was quite impressed with the results, and this is only slightly edited, to make it sound more like my father.
Since you've been gone our worlds have grown apart,
Now I don't know what's in your head or in your heart.
Those little things you kept so secretly
They don't mean much to you but they mean so much to me.