Children of Cherrytree: Mabel Wilkes
Sally Knights got in touch with us recently having found a record on our website of her grandmother's stay in Cherrytree Orphanage.
Her name was Mabel Grace Gertrude Wilkes. Mabel was born in Hulme, Manchester on 12 November 1889, the youngest of the seven children born to Herbert Wilkes, a cooper from Sedgley in Staffordshire and his Gloucestershire born wife Sarah Ann Viola Georgiana, nee Clappe. The couple had married at St. Mary and All Saints Church, Chesterfield on 7 August 1873. They lived in Sheffield until 1879 when they moved to Bradford and then to Manchester around 1883. Sadly, no fewer than five of their children died whilst infants: Alice Maud (1874-75), William Henry (1875-77), Bertha Grace (1878-79), Montague Burcher (1880-83) and Beatrice Victoria (1887-97). Only Mabel and her brother Arthur Albert, eleven years her elder, survived until adulthood. Their mother Sarah died on 9 September 1891 and their father soon after on 25 March 1895. Arthur became a postman, marrying Florence McNamara on 16 June 1900 at Holy Trinity, Hulme. They lived in Manchester for the rest of their lives.
It would appear that after her father's death young Mabel went to live in Sheffield with her aunt, Sarah Gibbons Wilkes, who had married Francis Brown, a milk dealer, at All Saints Church, Pitsmoor on 10 June 1872. The Browns had three older children of their own and, for whatever reason, application was made to Cherrytree Orphanage for a place for Mabel. She was admitted on 22 July 1897 at the age of 7. The Orphanage records show that Mabel had previously attended the All Saints National School, Pitsmoor and that the application was supported by Rev. Charles Frederick Knight, the vicar of All Saints Church. Rev. Knight was a man of considerable reputation and influence in east Sheffield, having been born in Hobart in 1856, the son of Thomas John Knight Q.C., the Attorney-General of Tasmania. As a graduate of both London and Cambridge Universities and Chairman of the Sheffield Church Schools Board, his backing would have carried considerable weight and, with both parents dead, the application met the Orphanage's strictly enforced rules. We know nothing from the Orphanage's surviving records of Mabel's times there but the regime was fairly grim with days filled with little more than meals, prayers and schooling.
Prize awarded to Mabel Wilkes, 1900
Sally sent us these two images of the front cover and the inside plate of a book presented to Mabel in May 1900 as a prize for her writing. The Orphanage had an annual Examinations Day which was open to the public and widely mentioned in local newspapers. The bookplate is signed by Sir George Franklin (1853-1916) who was a trustee and President of the Orphanage and the first commoner Lord Mayor of Sheffield as well as Chairman of both the Sheffield and Hallamshire Banking Company and the National Telephone Company. Examinations were administered by the Orphanage's Ladies Committee and on its behalf the bookplate has also been signed by Dame Maria Bingham (1837-1924) and Miss Mary W. Keddie (1844-1930). The book The Children of Cherryholme was chosen, surely, because of the similarity of the name to Cherrytree. It was written by Margaret Scott Haycraft (1855-1936) and was first published in London in 1895 by S.W. Partridge & Co.
Cherrytree Orphanage's Report Book shows that Mabel Wilkes left the Orphanage on 1 December 1905 to return to her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Brown who were then living at 213 Grimethorpe Road, pending a placement. Her progress was to be monitored by Mr. Thomas William Sorby of Storthfield, Graham Road, Ranmoor, an iron merchant and trustee of the Orphanage. Mabel left her aunt and uncle by March 1906 for a placement as a domestic servant with Mrs. Emeline Peace, Springfield House, Sandygate. She was the widow of Hugh Kirkby Peace, head of the Sheffield steelmakers W.K. & C. Peace Ltd. Mabel left her employment in April 1909 to work for Mrs Favell at Brunswick House, Glossop Road. Ada Favell was the wife of Richard Favell, surgeon at Sheffield's Jessop Hospital for Women and Professor of Obstetrics at University College. The final entry in the Report Book shows that Mabel left the Favells in December 1910 to be married.
On 27 December 1910 Mabel Wilkes, aged 21, married Septimus John Gale at St. John the Evangelist in Ranmoor. Septimus was a harness maker, the son of Thomas Gale and his wife Martha, nee Holderness. He was the eighth child of nine and the seventh son. The marriage was witnessed by Eli Ezer Wilkes, Mabel's uncle who presumably gave her away, and by Harriet Hilda Nendick. In the 1911 Census the couple were living at 42 Blair Athol Road, Greystones, Sheffield. A daughter, Grace Emily Gale was born on 5 July the following year and baptised at All Saints, Ecclesall on 25 July. The family moved to High Street, Blyth, Nottinghamshire and a second daughter, Gwendoline, was born on 24 October 1916.
Septimus Gale died on 4 April 1924 aged 40. He was greatly missed. Mabel placed notices in the In Memororium columns of the Sheffield newspapers for years to come and she never remarried. She went to live in Ipswich, Suffolk and was shown as living at 89 Derby Road with daughter Gwendoline in the 1939 Register. Gwendoline married Jack Knights later that year in Ipswich and their daughter Sally was born in 1953. Sally treasures Mabel's locket which contains photographs of her grandparents thought to be taken soon after their marriage.
Locket with photos of Mabel and Septimus Gale
A few memories of Mabel's time in Cherrytree have been passed down in the family. Sally remembers that Mabel's best friend at Cherrytree, Ellen Topham, died there. The two girls were the same age and were admitted to the Orphanage in the same year. Sally also remembers her grandmother's words 'Jam on Sundays' and 'Miss, it's touching!' which is what was shouted when the chamberpot was ready to be emptied. Another story is that Mabel was reprimanded by her husband when she once said to another girl 'stare lass, I'm not a bear, lass. If I were lass, I'd eat thee up lass!' Mabel was likely to have picked this up at the Orphanage.
Mabel Grace Gertrude Gale died in Ipswich in 1957. She was aged 67.