Following on from my previous post – which you can read here, ten years after having received an anonymous letter giving me some sparse details about my grandmother’s adopted sister – Mary Ann Pratt, who had been born in March 1924 and given up for adoption after the death of her mother, also named Mary Ann, I received an email out of the blue which answered a lot of questions for me.

I received an email in March 2023 from a lady called Angela who let me know that Mary Ann Pratt had been adopted into her family, (her own mother having also been adopted into a branch of this family) and that she had been renamed Lois Mary Caudwell. Lois was Angela’s second cousin and she told me that sadly Lois had died eight years before in 2015, and it was Angela’s sister who had been the one to write to me anonymously before. She offered me photographs and paperwork relating to Lois if I was interested – which I quickly said yes to.

In a follow up email Angela told me that Lois was adopted by Eric Caudwell who was a mechanical engineer who loved motorbikes, and that one of his motorbikes is in the Science Museum in London. Eric’s wife was Evelyn Winterbon, the Winterbon family being quite affluent – which meant that Lois had a very privileged upbringing – a stark contrast to that of her biological family. Evelyn’s sister had adopted Angela’s mother. The Caudwell’s lived at St Lawrence Bay near Maldon and also in Bournemouth. Lois was raised as a Quaker and later attended Ackworth School in Yorkshire and on leaving school trained as a librarian in Bournemouth. During WWII she joined the Land Army, and it is believed that it was around this time that she met and married Donald Kemp – a motor mechanic from Tillingham near Maldon. She and Donald were unable to have any children of their own, but looked after children of other family members including Angela. For a period Lois and Donald lived with Donald’s father who ran the local newsagent shop. Louis was a talented artist and needlewoman. They both loved motor racing and sailing and had a holiday home at St Lawrence Bay which they would go to most weekends. After she was widowed she moved permanently into the holiday home and lived out her days there – dying of ovarian cancer a couple of weeks after having moved to a care home on 27 January 2015. It was Angela herself who conducted her funeral at the Congregational Chapel in Tillingham.

Not long after these emails I received an A4 brown envelope in the post which was full of little personal items relating to Lois – I was finally able to see what my grandmother’s little sister looked like and to be able to hold in my hands things that she had owned and created – as some items were paintings she had done. I wept tears of happiness – and thinking about it again now fills me with emotion.

From Angela’s information it showed that at least one thing my mother’s cousin Colin had mentioned about Mary Ann – about her having been in the Land Army – was correct and likely he did indeed meet her – my second cousin – the granddaughter of Alice’s sister Joyce, said that Joyce, Edna and Colin had all met Lois at some point – so this at least seems to be true. When I showed my mother the photographs I had been sent of Lois – she remarked how like her Auntie Joyce she looked, which also corroborates Colin’s mention of him mistaking her for his Aunt when he saw her when he was five – which would have been around 1944. Sadly Colin had passed away in 2021, two years before Angela made contact with me so I was never able to share this information with him – I had tried to make contact but had no reply and after his cousin had made some attempts to locate him – after he had been moved to a care home – he had already passed away and none of his family had been notified – which is very sad. Colin’s only sibling Terry had died in 1966 in a tragic car accident so there were no other direct relatives.

Lois’s adoptive parents Eric Caudwell and Evelyn Winterbon married in Chelmsford in 1914. Eric was born in 1890 in Brighton, East Sussex – the son of David and Cecilia Caudwell, David worked in banking for most of his career – from being a Bankers Clerk to becoming a Bank Manager. Cecilia was David’s cousin as she was the daughter of David’s uncle Charles Caudwell. They also had a daughter Vera born in 1892. David and Cecilia married in 1887 in Drayton, Berkshire where Cecilia and her parents lived. The family were living in Brighton in 1891, and by 1901 they were living in Richmond, Surrey and by 1911 they were in Cranleigh, Surrey and in 1921 in Busbridge, Godalming, Surrey. David died there in 1925 and Cecilia remained there until her death in 1940. Their daughter Vera never married and she also died in Busbridge in 1942.

Evelyn Mary Winterbon was born in 1884 in Camberwell, Surrey and was the daughter of Arthur John Winterbon and Laura Jane Croxson who had married in Ewell, Surrey in 1883. Her father initially began his working life as a Chemist’s Apprentice then becoming an Oilman which seems to relate to selling oil for lamps. By 1901 he has no occupation – and is Living on Own Means, meaning he was independently wealthy. Arthur’s family were from Essex originally and he returned there by the 1901 census – living at The Stone, St Lawrence Bay. Evelyn was the eldest of nine children, with siblings Arthur Charles Ely, Bertha Minna, Phyllis Gertrude, Edith Naomi, George Raymond, Kenneth John, Alice Ruth and William Bernard. Evelyn’s mother Laura died in 1939 and her father passed away in 1942 both in St Lawrence Bay. In 1901 Evelyn was working as a Commercial Clerk, and by 1911 working as a Shorthand Typist for a Mechanical Engineers in Chelmsford. In 1911 Eric was working as an Engineer’s Draughtsman for a Mechanical Engineers while living in Cranleigh. I imagine that there was some sort of overlap with these Mechanical Engineers employers which lead to them meeting each other.

After their marriage in 1914 Eric and Evelyn were living at 5 Cornwall Road, Coventry, Warwickshire in 1921 where Eric was working as a Mechanical Engineer at Advance Motor MFG Co. Ltd in Northampton – who were manufacturers of internal combustion engines. It is not clear when they moved back to the Essex area, but we know that 3 years after the 1921 census they adopted Mary Ann Pratt – and renamed her Lois Mary Caudwell.

This is Lois aged around 18 months old – with her adoptive mother Evelyn. What a sweet little girl she was.

Lois as a young girl

In all of the items Angela sent me, there was a lovely little autograph book that belonged to Lois when she was young which she continued to add to over the years. From that I was able to see that she went to Sibworth School – in Banbury, Oxfordshire in 1937, and then went to Ackworth School in 1938 – I knew from Angela’s information in her emails that Lois attended Ackworth School in Yorkshire, in the collection Angela sent me there is an acknowledgement from the school in a letter to Angela to thank her for sending them postcards, letters and photographs from Lois’s time there and that they had been passed on to the school’s archivist.

Before Lois’s time at Sibworth she seems to have attended school in Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex as there is a mention of her in the Essex Chronicle from 1 Sep 1933 at the Bradwell School annual sports day when she came second in the Long Jump. The autograph book gives an address for Lois on the inside cover – Stone House, St Lawrence Bay, Nr. Southminster, Essex, and then on the opposite page notes the address of Homelands, 9 Horsa Road, Southbourne and has “Ackworth School 1938 – 18P” written under her name. The same address in Southminster is given on the back page of the book. There are some lovely pictures that have been drawn in the book by various people from both schools. There is a list of girls who were in Neild Dormitory in Sibford School and the motto from Sibford – “Trouthe and Honour, Freedom and Curteisie – Chaucer“. There is also a delightful double page of signatures titled “My Wall of Friendship” with signatures spanning 1937 to 1963 including one from her aunt Bertha Winterbon. There are various entries in French – presumably from people she may have met in France on a holiday once? There are also pictures drawn by Bertha and by Angela – who was affectionately known as “Nib.” Some of these entries are shown below as well as pictures of the schools she attended.

Sibworth School (top picture from the Sibworth School website) and Ackworth School (bottom picture from the Ackworth School website)

Sadly Lois lost her adoptive father Eric on 13 December 1938 aged just 48 when she was 14. He died at Chelmsford Hospital from Uraemia, Chronic Nephritis and Adherent Pericardium. So it seems he had some sort of kidney disease and was also suffering from a condition where the layers of the sac around the heart become stuck together which likely occurred due to the kidney disease. There was a small obituary for Eric in the Surrey Chronicle from 17 Dec 1938. It mentions he was the inventor of the Caudwell Engine – for driving electric lighting plants. Sadly it states “there is no family” where you would have imagined they would have noted that he leaves a wife and a daughter – especially as it does mention his wife. While Lois wasn’t their biological child, it seems sad that she was not noted here.

In 1939 Evelyn and Lois were listed at 1 and 3 St Johns Road, Bournemouth, although on different pages of the 1939 Register, Evelyn was noted as doing Domestic Duties – with Paid written in red next to this. Lois was down as being At School. All those listed as living at the same address were women. The first name in the household was a Mary Joy who is noted as being a Hostel Warden. I then found that this address was a YWCA Hostel – Daisy House. It is now owned by Bournemouth University as one of their student accommodation houses. It isn’t really clear why they were there then – their other address of Homelands, 9 Horsa Road, Southbourne, Bournemouth and indeed their home address in 1939 is blank with no entry against it, as is the home in St Lawrence so presumably this was just a temporary stay at the YWCA.

During WWII Lois joined the Land Army – her Land Army index card found on both Ancestry and on Findmypast showed that she first signed up aged 18 on 22 June 1942, at that at the time she was living at Homelands, 9 Horsa Road, Southbourne, Bournemouth and that her occupation at the time was Junior Librarian. I have a letter from the Bournemouth Municipal Libraries dated 19 June 1942 accepting her resignation. “Dear Miss Caudwell, I am very sorry that you have had to resign your position on the Staff and we shall greatly miss your services. Your work has been most satisfactory and I shall be very happy to give you a testimonial should you need one at any time. With good wishes for your future – D S Young – Borough Librarian.” Her Land Army index card notes that she then transferred to Essex on 30 December 1942, then back to Hampshire on 31 July 1944, then resigned on 30 October 1944 only to be reinstated on 9 February 1945 – eventually resigning again under the demobilisation scheme on 2 January 1946.

Lois in her Land Army uniform – and her letter from Queen Elizabeth to thank her for her service.

After WWII – Lois met and married Donald Walter Kemp and they married in 1948. Donald had been born in 1916 in Tillingham, Essex.

Lois and Donald and Lois by their car – dates unknown

Lois also participated in local events – and I have some cards from prizes she won from the Tillingham and District Flower, Fruit and Vegetable Show over various years. There are some without dates where she won a first and second prize in two categories, then another undated one where she won first prize for Fair Isle Knitting, then dated one where in the show from 1964 she won first prize for a Picture – Pen and Ink category and a second prize in a Painting – Oil or Watercolour category. In the 1969 show she won a second prize for the same category she won a second prize for in 1964, then in 1970 she won a first prize for Painting in Watercolour category and a second prize for Picture – Pen and Ink.

Here are some of her artworks – she had quite a talent.

Artwork by Lois Mary Caudwell – I have a copy of the blackbird painting on my desk

Lois’s mother Evelyn passed away in New Milton, Hampshire on 6 April 1978. She never remarried after the death of Eric. Her address at her death was 40 Barton Court Road, and this was a care home which had opened just a year before her death. It is known both as Quaker Care Home and New Milton House.

Lois and Donald lived together in Tinnocks Lane, St Lawrence in a house called Espero – this was what was previously named Stone House. Donald passed away in 2004 aged 88 and Lois outlived him by over ten years, dying on 27 Jan 2015 aged 91. Their home has since been pulled down and a new house built in it’s place and it is named Stone House again. The executor to Lois’s will was Angela’s sister. Lois requested to be cremated and her her ashes to be placed in her husband’s grave in Tillingham churchyard and the headstone updated with her details as well as other requests including a donation to the Essex Air Ambulance.

While I am sad to have never met Lois, and this was as per her wishes, I do understand why she chose to not do so. She was getting on in life and had already lived her life to the full. I was glad that she knew her of her beginnings, her birth name, and that she had another family who loved her. I am privileged to have had these precious items sent to me and I cherish them. I am proud of the life Lois had, glad that she was able to live the sort of life she would not have had if she had remained with my grandmother’s stepfather.

From my grandmother’s memoirs her family remained living at 45 Ship Yard / Market Hill until Alice was 13 – so around 1931. They often had to do things like pea and potato picking to earn some money and Arthur was sometimes a foreman for the pea picking. She noted that her stepfather Arthur was often drunk and didn’t pay the rent and they moved to Wantz Road in Maldon – which is where the Pilley family had lived at one time, but soon moved on from there as again, Arthur hadn’t paid the rent, they ended up losing their furniture – perhaps Arthur sold it to make ends meet. Then Edna and Alice parted ways with Arthur – it is not clear from her memoir whether Joyce also left with them, but Edna rented a bedroom in a lodging house on Market Hill and Cromwell Hill, the corner of Mill Lane. In a letter from Edna’s son Colin from July 2006 he mentioned that his mother had smashed a chair over Arthur and threw him out of the house – he said this was when they lived in Ship Yard, and that it was because he had tried to abuse the girls while he was drunk. Some time later Edna ended up in small house in North Street, Maldon – which I believe she then lived in until her death and Colin continued to live in. Alice and Joyce ended up in service looking after young children and doing housework. While Alice and her siblings had a difficult life, they did still have good times and she did write about the good memories she had. She must have stayed in touch with her stepfather as she was the informant of his death. Arthur James Pratt, Lois’s biological father, died at the Chelmsford Hospital aged 61 on 3 April 1942. He was described as being of 36 Market Hill, Maldon and a General Labourer. His cause of death was given as Heart Failure, Post-Operative Shock and Carcinoma of the Rectum. Alice’s address at the time was 39 Fitches Crescent, Maldon.

36 Market Hill and 9 Fitches Crescent – both from Google StreetView

The search for Lois is a good example of how information from family members can often be a mixture of truth and red herrings, and you have to consider the source of the information being provided. In this case I had details from my grandmother’s own writing about her memories as a very young child, and her perhaps also relying on snippets of information other family members had said over the years. My mother’s cousin Colin’s letters were often difficult to read, jumping from one subject to another, brief details being given with promises of more information to follow in later letters that were not forthcoming. He too was going off information remembered from stories from his mother – long since passed, and some information from other cousins still in the Maldon area. His mention of the adopted daughter having some job with the BBC never had anything to do with Lois’s story – that I am aware of, so I have no idea where that element came from. Without Angela providing me with information I would still be in the dark today, so she deserves a massive thank you for solving my family mystery and opening up Lois’s life for me. It also shows how important it is to reach out to things like newspapers / local news outlets to widen the net when looking for family.

Do you have any similar stories in your family tree? Let me know!