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| Back: Josephine or Phina (?); Front L-R: Tom, Bernard, Monica, Philip, Pat [England family collection] |
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| 'England wives' - L-R: Monica, Nora, Sheila, Gwen, Joan plus first born children in 1942 [England family collection] |
Patrick Joseph and Josephine England had six children over the period of 1905 - 1916.
Josephine Mary England:(1905 - 1978)
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| Phina (sitting) and Monica (playing)? or Josephine sitting and Phina playing? [England family collection] |
Known as Phina, she was a lively, intelligent 'tom-boy' who even rode motorbikes. [Gwen gave her name as Josephina not Josephine in her family book.]
She joined the Poor Clare Convent in Green Lane, Mossley Hill, Liverpool around 1927. Her religious name was Sister Mary Colette.
Anecdotal evidence has it that she was told by her father to wait for a year before making a decision to join a convent. One year later she returned and announced she wanted to become a nun in the Poor Clare order.
Place name
Mossley Hill: a district of Liverpool. It is located to the south of the city. The Beatles song ‘Penny Lane’ is named after a street within Mossley Hill. [Also, see William Imrie, ship owner, and his connection with the Poor Clares.]
He was known as Pat, PJ or Dr Pat. In 1923 he was living at 89, Cowbridge Rd, Cardiff. His date of registration as a doctor was 27-10-1933.
Pat married Nora Doreen Floyd in 1936 and they went to Tangier, Morocco on a boat bound for Yokahama, Japan in the same year. According to the Passenger Registration details Pat was a medical practitioner, aged 28, of 89, Cowbridge Road, [Cardiff.] Nora, 27, accompanied him. They embarked from London on the Ranpura on the 20-11-1936.
On the return journey, Patrick and Nora left on the Corfu and arrived in England on the 4-12-1936. According to the passenger registration details they now lived at Farnane, Western Avenue, Cardiff!
In 1939, an advertisement was placed in the Western Mail.
General Servants: Capable: General (16-22) required. Write with references, Mrs, Dr England, Farnane, Western Ave, Cardiff. (20-3-1939)
By 1940 Pat was, or had been, Resident House Surgeon and clinical assistant in the Paediatrician Department of Cardiff Royal Infirmary. Also, according to the UK and Ireland Medical Directories, he had been a Junior Resident Medical Officer at the Cardiff City Lodge Hospital. This was across the road from 89 Cowbridge Road. He was also a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps.
Pat died in September 1974, aged sixty six.
She joined the Poor Clare Convent in Green Lane, Mossley Hill, Liverpool around 1927. Her religious name was Sister Mary Colette.
Anecdotal evidence has it that she was told by her father to wait for a year before making a decision to join a convent. One year later she returned and announced she wanted to become a nun in the Poor Clare order.
Phina took a degree in German and then wanted to enter an order of nuns. Her father asked her to give a year’s thought to the matter. A year to the day she returned with the intent to enter the novitiate of the Poor Clares, a contemplative enclosed order. She wrote very happy, beautiful letters. Whenever anyone visited the convent they saw and spoke to her through a grille. One sensed her complete happiness and dedication. Tom used to say her prayers kept everyone safe through the war. [1 See Gwen England below]
Place name
Mossley Hill: a district of Liverpool. It is located to the south of the city. The Beatles song ‘Penny Lane’ is named after a street within Mossley Hill. [Also, see William Imrie, ship owner, and his connection with the Poor Clares.]
The second child of Patrick Joseph England and
Josephine Walsh was:
Patrick
J. Michael England m1936 Nora
D Floyd
(1908 – Sept 1974) (12.11.1909 – 2002)
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| L-R: Tom, Monica, Pat, Bernard [England family collection] |
Pat married Nora Doreen Floyd in 1936 and they went to Tangier, Morocco on a boat bound for Yokahama, Japan in the same year. According to the Passenger Registration details Pat was a medical practitioner, aged 28, of 89, Cowbridge Road, [Cardiff.] Nora, 27, accompanied him. They embarked from London on the Ranpura on the 20-11-1936.
On the return journey, Patrick and Nora left on the Corfu and arrived in England on the 4-12-1936. According to the passenger registration details they now lived at Farnane, Western Avenue, Cardiff!
In 1939, an advertisement was placed in the Western Mail.
General Servants: Capable: General (16-22) required. Write with references, Mrs, Dr England, Farnane, Western Ave, Cardiff. (20-3-1939)
By 1940 Pat was, or had been, Resident House Surgeon and clinical assistant in the Paediatrician Department of Cardiff Royal Infirmary. Also, according to the UK and Ireland Medical Directories, he had been a Junior Resident Medical Officer at the Cardiff City Lodge Hospital. This was across the road from 89 Cowbridge Road. He was also a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps.
Dr. Pat and his wife Nora lived in Western Avenue, Cardiff and his practice was mainly in the Fairwater and Llandaff districts. He loved cars and usually had a very unusual one – nearly always open sports type. He was an excellent squash player and genial host.[1 Gwen England]Pat was quite the joker. He kept a mynah bird near the entrance to the surgery attached to his house. The bird was taught to speak and apparently surprised many patients by saying, 'I can see you', in an intimidating manner!
Pat died in September 1974, aged sixty six.
Nora Doreen England (nee Floyd) (12-11-1909 – 2002)
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| [England family collection] |
Nora was born in Clydach on Tawe, Glamorgan, South Wales. Her residence was given as Rhyndwyclydach – a hamlet.
She was an attractive strawberry blond who dressed stylishly. It was Pat and Nora's habit to have an 'at home' on Boxing Day where there was a plentiful buffet and drinks all day and into the evening, no doubt organised faultlessly by her and her girls. It was always a very lively event greatly appreciated by those that went to it.
Nora died in 2002 aged 92.
They had four children.
Place name
Clydach: a village six miles north east of Swansea.
(11.10.1910 – 9.12.1967) (13.3.1916 – 15.11.2004)
She was an attractive strawberry blond who dressed stylishly. It was Pat and Nora's habit to have an 'at home' on Boxing Day where there was a plentiful buffet and drinks all day and into the evening, no doubt organised faultlessly by her and her girls. It was always a very lively event greatly appreciated by those that went to it.
Nora died in 2002 aged 92.
They had four children.
Place name
Clydach: a village six miles north east of Swansea.
The third
child of Patrick Joseph England and Josephine Walsh was:
(11.10.1910 – 9.12.1967) (13.3.1916 – 15.11.2004)
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| [England family collection] |
He was known as Tom, Tommy or Dr Tom. He was born on the 11-10-1910 and baptised on the 5-11-1910. In the 1939 UK and Ireland Medical Directories Tom was a medical student. His registration as a doctor was given as 27-10-1939. Tom met his future wife when she was nursing at the Royal Infirmary, Cardiff in 1935.
According to Gwen, Tom’s special interests were stamp collecting, music, hockey, tennis and golf. [See Gwen England below]
In 1940, the Western Mail, under Squash Rackets reported:
“The Cardiff club met the London Scottish at Cardiff on Saturday night. Dr. England beat Lieut Davidson 3-0." (WM 30-9-1940)] Was this Pat or Tom as they were both very good squash players? Pat may well have been away in the Medical Corps.
Tom died in 1967 of coronary thrombosis. He had had one heart attack prior to the one that killed him.
Known as Gwen.
Gwen was born in Ammanford, South Wales. Her father’s name was William Hicks and her mother’s name was Elizabeth Davies. Gwen had one sister – Rosa (Rosamund Laugharne, nee Hicks). The family lived at 8, Union St.
In the 1930's, Gwen went to London with her best friend to train as fever nurses in The Fever Hospital, Islington. Her best friend contracted TB while at the hospital, and died. Gwen continued at the fever hospital dealing with infectious diseases and incurable diseases. This was nursing before many of the curable breakthroughs happened.
Later, Gwen became a Sister at Cardiff Royal Infirmary and it was here that she met Tom. She also did some private nursing at St Winifred's Hospital, Cardiff, before she married. Her residence at marriage was given as St Winifred's Hospital, 24, Romily Crescent.
Tom and Gwen moved out of 89 Cowbridge Road to 65 Cardiff Road, Llandaff. This was bought for them by William Patrick Walsh who was a Director of William Lewis's Seed Merchants in Cardiff and in some way connected to Tom's mother Josephine Walsh. Again, the connection is unproven as Josephine's background has remained a mystery. It is thought that William's wife, Cissy, might have been Josephine's sister and so William was her brother-in-law, but this is conjecture.*
A William Patrick Walsh lived at 11, Clinton Road, Penarth [1937 Cardiff Directory] Was this 'Uncle' who lived with the Englands at 65, Cardiff Road, Llandaff.
*No longer conjecture! In 2019 it was discovered that Cissy was indeed Josephine's sister.
Footnotes
[1] Gwen gave a book to each member of her family entitled ‘The History of Our Family’
and commented on Tom’s brothers and sister. She also wrote The Welsh Connection which outlined her childhood, professional training and life whilst married to Tom and after his death. These comments are from both sources.
Place Names:
Ammanford: a former coal mining town in the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales.
Llandaff: a district in the north of Cardiff. Llandaff cathedral features the aluminium figure of Christ in Majesty by Jacob Epstein.
I met Tom in Casualty helping to hold a patient down to have an injection and painful boil lanced. He said that he had noticed on the roster in the Sister's office that I had a half day that day and that he would like to take me to the Park Place cinema. [She accepted and afterwards]... we went to Cowbridge Rd where the housekeeper had left soup and sandwiches. I met Pop who was in and out of the surgery...Bernard came in and out and Monica looked in and went out.By Christmas 1939 Tom and Gwen were engaged and when war broke out:
...he expected to be called up, while being a houseman in St. David's Hospital and shortly call up papers came for Tom to go to Salisbury for a medical for the Air Force. He was turned down because the doctor told him he had sugar in his urine.When he returned to Cardiff he had a full medical where it was found he had a low renal threshold and had sugar still present but was not a diabetic. [1]He married Sarah Jane Gwenllian [Gwen] Hicks on the 29-6-1940. They had nine children. One was stillborn and another died some hours after he was born. All were born in Cardiff except one, the eldest.
According to Gwen, Tom’s special interests were stamp collecting, music, hockey, tennis and golf. [See Gwen England below]
In 1940, the Western Mail, under Squash Rackets reported:
“The Cardiff club met the London Scottish at Cardiff on Saturday night. Dr. England beat Lieut Davidson 3-0." (WM 30-9-1940)] Was this Pat or Tom as they were both very good squash players? Pat may well have been away in the Medical Corps.
Tom died in 1967 of coronary thrombosis. He had had one heart attack prior to the one that killed him.
December 9th 1967 was an unusual day for this country; it was more like a day in Switzerland in winter. Quite a substantial fall of snow had occurred in the night but the radiance of the light in the morning was remarkable....I was up early because it was the day of an international match at the Arms Park. Looking out over Llandaff fields was a wonderful sight...but Tom couldn't get the car out of the garage. He had been warned not to dig, as his first coronary two years earlier had occurred after digging out the car in a snowstorm. He was outside in the bitter cold without an overcoat...walking back from the gate he was struck down. [See 1 below]
He was buried at Cathays Cemetery, Cardiff. Later, his daughter Elizabeth and his wife Gwen were buried in the same grave.
Sarah Jane Gwenllian England (nee Hicks) (13.3.1916 - 15.11.2004)
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| [England family collection] |
Gwen was born in Ammanford, South Wales. Her father’s name was William Hicks and her mother’s name was Elizabeth Davies. Gwen had one sister – Rosa (Rosamund Laugharne, nee Hicks). The family lived at 8, Union St.
In the 1930's, Gwen went to London with her best friend to train as fever nurses in The Fever Hospital, Islington. Her best friend contracted TB while at the hospital, and died. Gwen continued at the fever hospital dealing with infectious diseases and incurable diseases. This was nursing before many of the curable breakthroughs happened.
Later, Gwen became a Sister at Cardiff Royal Infirmary and it was here that she met Tom. She also did some private nursing at St Winifred's Hospital, Cardiff, before she married. Her residence at marriage was given as St Winifred's Hospital, 24, Romily Crescent.
Tom and Gwen moved out of 89 Cowbridge Road to 65 Cardiff Road, Llandaff. This was bought for them by William Patrick Walsh who was a Director of William Lewis's Seed Merchants in Cardiff and in some way connected to Tom's mother Josephine Walsh. Again, the connection is unproven as Josephine's background has remained a mystery. It is thought that William's wife, Cissy, might have been Josephine's sister and so William was her brother-in-law, but this is conjecture.*
A William Patrick Walsh lived at 11, Clinton Road, Penarth [1937 Cardiff Directory] Was this 'Uncle' who lived with the Englands at 65, Cardiff Road, Llandaff.
*No longer conjecture! In 2019 it was discovered that Cissy was indeed Josephine's sister.
Footnotes
[1] Gwen gave a book to each member of her family entitled ‘The History of Our Family’
and commented on Tom’s brothers and sister. She also wrote The Welsh Connection which outlined her childhood, professional training and life whilst married to Tom and after his death. These comments are from both sources.
Place Names:
Ammanford: a former coal mining town in the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales.
Llandaff: a district in the north of Cardiff. Llandaff cathedral features the aluminium figure of Christ in Majesty by Jacob Epstein.
The fourth child of Patrick Joseph and
Josephine was
Bernard Francis Sheila
O’Flanagan
(21.12.1911 - 1962) m 1941 (9.2.1913 – 1994)
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| [England family collection] |
Bernard was baptised on the 16-1-1912. In the 1939 Electoral Register Bernard was living at 89, Cowbridge Road. He was an “Agricultural Seed Expert,” and worked at William Lewis’, Castle St, Cardiff. This was the same seed merchants mentioned in connection with William Patrick Walsh above.
Bernard was a lovely gentle personality who was a seed merchant. He went to Cambridge on a course on Botany. He married Sheila O’Flanagan, a trained nurse from Mullingar, in Ireland, who came to nurse at St Winifred’s Hospital in Cardiff. They were a devoted couple. [See 1 above]
Bernard and Sheila married in Dublin in 1941.
There was one day at the beach [Little House, Pembrokeshire] when Bernard and Sheila joined us with the children. Bernard was in the sea, Tom and Sheila and I sitting on the sand. He said quietly to me, "Quick diagnosis from you, look carefully at Bernard coming up from the sea and tell me what you see." I looked but I couldn't see anything wrong; he looked tanned and well, and relaxed and happy. Tom had previously noticed a thickening of Bernard's neck when he undressed...A virulent form of cancer of the thyroid was found. Sheila and he went to Lourdes and had treatment in hospital later. He died within the year at home. I helped Sheila to nurse him. He was a truly good person. [See 1 above]
Sheila England (nee O'Flanagan) (1913 - 1994)
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| [England family collection] |
Sheila was born in Dublin on the 9-2-1913 and trained as a nurse in St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, from November 1932 to October 1936. At that time her address was given as Ulster Bank House, Mullingar, County Westmeath.
When she moved to Cardiff and was working there, it is likely she met Bernard through Gwen England as they both worked in the same private hospital, St Winifred's, for a while. Once married in Dublin, Bernard and Sheila lived in Ryder St, Cardiff. Sheila was a very small lady but had a big personality. She had a beautiful Irish lilt and an infectious laugh. Bernard died relatively young. Sheila never remarried and devoted herself to bringing up their four children.
Sheila died in 1994 aged 81.
Place name
Mullingar: is the county town of County Westmeath forty nine miles from Dublin.
When she moved to Cardiff and was working there, it is likely she met Bernard through Gwen England as they both worked in the same private hospital, St Winifred's, for a while. Once married in Dublin, Bernard and Sheila lived in Ryder St, Cardiff. Sheila was a very small lady but had a big personality. She had a beautiful Irish lilt and an infectious laugh. Bernard died relatively young. Sheila never remarried and devoted herself to bringing up their four children.
Sheila died in 1994 aged 81.
Place name
Mullingar: is the county town of County Westmeath forty nine miles from Dublin.
The fifth child of Patrick
Joseph and Josephine was:
Philip
Gregory Joan Destiny Cullen
(26.6.1913 - 1987) m 1939 (21.9.1917 - 2005)
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| [England family collection] |
He was born on 26-6-1913 and baptised on 12-7-1913. The witnesses were a Toma Walsh and a Josephine England. His mother’s maiden name was given as Welsh on his birth certificate?. (So for Josephine, we have Walsh, Welch and Welsh. Quite often the transcriptions were done aurally – and this could account for the different spellings. These anomalies add to her mystery, of course.)
He married Joan Destiny Cullen in Cardiff in 1939. He was an accountant in Cardiff and then in Swansea.
Philip enlisted and saw active service in North Africa during the Rommel campaign.
He died in Swansea in 1987. Aged 74.
He married Joan Destiny Cullen in Cardiff in 1939. He was an accountant in Cardiff and then in Swansea.
Philip qualified as a chartered accountant at a very young age. He married Joan who lived in The Heath, Cardiff. They went to live in Swansea and whenever they visited Cardiff we saw them. [See 1 above]In fact, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales Certificate issued 31st July 1936 listed Philip Gregory England of 127 Bute Street, Cardiff, as having passed his final exams on the 26, 27, 28 and 29th May 1936. He was 23.
Philip enlisted and saw active service in North Africa during the Rommel campaign.
He died in Swansea in 1987. Aged 74.
Joan Destiny England (nee Cullen) (1917 - 2005)
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| [England family collection] |
Joan was born 21-9-1917 in Penryn, Cornwall. Gwen England nursed Joan's mother for a while in St Winifred's Hospital, Cardiff. Gwen knew Joan's mother by her second marriage's name, Lovell, as her first husband had died during the war and she had remarried. Mrs Lovell gave Gwen and Tom a pair of fish servers for their marriage.
Before children arrived, Christmas at Cowbridge Road was a very busy affair:
Joan died in 2005 at Mendip, Somerset.
Place name
The Heath: a district in the north of Cardiff. The University Hospital of Wales was built on the site of the former Heath Wood.
Before children arrived, Christmas at Cowbridge Road was a very busy affair:
The dining table with extra leaves in could seat 16. We were 13: Pat and Nora, Grandpa, Joe and Monica, Bernard and Sheila, Tom and I, Philip and Joan, Uncle and Aunty. [The Walshes] Later Des and Margot came along. [See 1 above]
Joan died in 2005 at Mendip, Somerset.
Joan and Philip had three children
Place name
The Heath: a district in the north of Cardiff. The University Hospital of Wales was built on the site of the former Heath Wood.
The sixth child of Patrick
Joseph and Josephine was:
Monica
Irene Joseph
Anthony Daly
(1916 - 1994) m 29.6.1940
(12.1.1913 -
2001)
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| [England family collection] |
In the 1939 Electoral Register Monica Daly (England) was a teacher of Domestic Science and lived at 89, Cowbridge Road.
She married Joseph Anthony Daly ( 12 -1-1913 - 2001) at St Mary’s, Canton, Cardiff on the 29-6-1940 – a double marriage with Tom and Gwen. She died aged 78.
Known as Joe.
Joe went to Prior Park school in Bath where many of the Englands went. He certainly was part of the same successful Prior Park rugby team as Tom. He may have met Monica through this connection.
He was a great joker and often did very good impersonations of the comedian, Tommy Cooper. Joe looked like him, tall, broad shouldered, with a flat-topped head. For many years he volunteered to be a helper with the Cardiff pilgrimage to Lourdes. He had a good heart and would help anyone that needed it.
Joe and Monica lived close to Tom and Gwen in 186, Cardiff Road so their children had a lot to do with one another. Joe would bundle several kids into his Morris 1000 Traveller van and take them off to Southerndown beach. Southerndown is a beautiful large beach on the way to Bridgend surrounded by outcrops of large flat rocks. Whatever the gender, the kids would have to play cricket! On the way back, Joe would always stop for an ice cream.
Joe died aged 88.
This part of the story dealt with the descendants of Michael England - the third child of Thomas and Honora England. The Fourth Child who comes in the next blog was Anne.
Place Names
Southerndown: a village southwest of Bridgend and close to Llantwit Major and Ogmore. It is twenty five miles west of Cardiff.
If you want to add further family information please use the 'Post a comment' facility.
She married Joseph Anthony Daly ( 12 -1-1913 - 2001) at St Mary’s, Canton, Cardiff on the 29-6-1940 – a double marriage with Tom and Gwen. She died aged 78.
Monica trained in the University of Cardiff as a Domestic Science teacher. She married Joe Daly in June 1940, the same day as Tom and Gwen in St Mary’s, Canton. No one had mentioned that June 29th was the feast of St Peter and Paul. As a result the 10 o’clock mass was packed to the door, not only for the double wedding! Monica and Joe visited Cowbridge Rd. for cards on Tuesday and Sunday evenings for many a year, as did Sheila and Bernard and Pat and Nora. [See 1 above]]They had six children.
Joseph Anthony Daly ( 12-1-1913 - 2001)
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| [England family collection] |
Joe went to Prior Park school in Bath where many of the Englands went. He certainly was part of the same successful Prior Park rugby team as Tom. He may have met Monica through this connection.
He was a great joker and often did very good impersonations of the comedian, Tommy Cooper. Joe looked like him, tall, broad shouldered, with a flat-topped head. For many years he volunteered to be a helper with the Cardiff pilgrimage to Lourdes. He had a good heart and would help anyone that needed it.
Joe and Monica lived close to Tom and Gwen in 186, Cardiff Road so their children had a lot to do with one another. Joe would bundle several kids into his Morris 1000 Traveller van and take them off to Southerndown beach. Southerndown is a beautiful large beach on the way to Bridgend surrounded by outcrops of large flat rocks. Whatever the gender, the kids would have to play cricket! On the way back, Joe would always stop for an ice cream.
Joe died aged 88.
This part of the story dealt with the descendants of Michael England - the third child of Thomas and Honora England. The Fourth Child who comes in the next blog was Anne.
Place Names
Southerndown: a village southwest of Bridgend and close to Llantwit Major and Ogmore. It is twenty five miles west of Cardiff.
If you want to add further family information please use the 'Post a comment' facility.
Mike England writes:
ReplyDeleteUncle, (Walsh) and auntie did live in Penarth, I went there and he gave me an apple off one of his trees. I know that before we went, mum and dad told me to be on my best behaviour!
Another little story about uncle I remember. Way back when he was still in business, he had a stall at the Royal Welsh Show, which in those days travelled around different towns each year. This particular year it was in Sophia Gardens in Cardiff and dad and I went. We visited the stall, dad had a cup of tea, but I most remember, there was a Combine Harvester on display. Uncle proudly pointed out that it was the first in Wales.
I think that mum and dad were the most travelled, working wise, out of all the brothers. After getting married in Cardiff in 1939, they went to Guilford where dad was working. He joined up at the start of the war and mum came back to Cardiff, living with her mother and stepfather. I was born there and have no recollection of my father until after I had started school in 1945.
After the war, we moved to Birmingham where dad worked for Daimler Lancaster in Coventry. In 1952 he moved to Manchester and worked for an oil company. Mum, my sister and I moved back to Cardiff, again to Mrs Lovell's house in the Heath. Dad came home every weekend. Then in 1954/5 we all moved to Swansea when, dad once again changed companies. Not quite all they actually moved house three times when living in Swansea.