My Auntie Nellie was born in Barkestone-le-Vale, Leicestershire, on 23 October 1906 to my grandparents: James and Edith Mackley (née Stevens). She was the eldest of five children. Her name was Constance Ellen, but she was always known as Nellie.
When I was a little boy in the 1940s, she worked as a governess to two boys in Chobham in Surrey. Their surname was Lucas. I think one of them was called Christopher and the other might have been called John. They were probably about eight and ten years older than me. She was always very kind to me and used to send me birthday and Christmas presents. Sometimes she sent me presents of things, which the boys had grown out of.
On 29 July 1950 she married Ted Green in Barkestone church. As her father had died 8 years previously, it was her brother, Hugh Mackley, who gave her away. The officiant was the Reverend Sievewright, who was the Vicar of Scalford at the time, but, who had previously been Vicar of Barkestone.
Unknown, unknown, Ted, Nellie, Nancy, Grandma, Hugh
They were both in their forties, when they married. Ted had been born a few months before Nellie on 25 May 1906. His father was a farmer. By the time they were married, the farm had passed down to Ted. Nellie would have given up work when they married and they moved into a cottage in Windlesham. Their address was: School Lane, Chertsey Road, Windlesham, Surrey.
Later they moved into the bungalow which was situated on Ted’s land. Their address was:
Rounce Farm, Brentmoor Road, West End, Woking, Surrey.
They had a barn and some other outhouses. I don’t remember what livestock they kept or whether they grew any cereals, though I think not. Jon remembers that they kept rabbits much later on: one of them bit Ted’s hand when he was feeding it. I walked through the fields several times with Uncle Ted and I had the impression that the land was not of a particularly good quality.
I went to stay with them several times. The first time I would have been thirteen or fourteen. My mother took me to the station at Loughborough or Nottingham, from where there was a direct train to Reading West. My Auntie Nellie met me there and took me, no doubt by bus, to their home in Windlesham.
They ate well and soon both had a good “middle-aged spread”.
Uncle Ted always seemed to be in good humour. He had a strong local Surrey country accent. Whenever we went anywhere he would point to the numerous affluent properties and say that these were “gennlemen’s houses”.
During that first visit, Auntie Nellie took me into London one day. This was my first visit to the capital. Indeed it was the first time I had been south of Northampton. During this visit she took me to Buckingham Palace where I witnessed the changing of the guard; this made a big impression on me.
For many years, Auntie Nellie had a “sit-up-and-beg” bicycle, with a basket on the handlebars. She used to ride it to go to the local shops.
On one occasion when I was there, I was sitting outside on a canvas garden chair. All of a sudden the chair collapsed with me in it. I had my right hand between the base and the leg of the chair. When the chair collapsed I had my full weight on my finger which was trapped in the chair. It was extremely painful, but I was not very heavy in those days and nothing was broken.
They had a guard dog. One evening in the early sixties, I had to go to London for an interview. I decided to call in afterwards and see Uncle Ted and Auntie Nellie, unannounced. (In my defence they did not have a telephone, so my only means of communication would have been by letter.) I got a bus to Woking, but was unable to get one from Woking to West End. So I had to walk from the centre of Woking to their house. By the time I arrived it was very late. They had gone to bed. The dog was keeping guard by the gate. Somehow I cajoled the dog to let me in without barking and I went to sleep in a barn. Uncle Ted found me there, asleep, at eight o’clock the following morning. Fortunately, he had not taken his hay-fork to get some fodder for his livestock.
My grandma used to like to go and stay with them. Indeed, she was staying with them when she died on 2 December 1969.
Left: Grandma Mackley outside the house at West End, late sixties
Middle: Grandma Mackley on their farm in Surrey – note the grey Ferguson tractor, very popular in the fifties and sixties
Right: Grandma, Nancy, Ted and Nelly, West End, c.1968
When I went to work in London at the beginning of December 1970, I went, first of all to stay with my parents-in-law’s friends, Phyl and Ken, in Heston from Monday to Friday. Then I went to stay with Auntie Nellie and Uncle Ted on the same basis. They were very good to me, but I didn’t stay very long. I needed to get a bus at seven o’clock in the morning, when it was cold and dark. I particularly remember walking across the Hungerford footbridge from Waterloo Station on one cold and wet December morning. Afterwards I settled for the delights of a seedy guesthouse near King’s Cross Station, an area which in those days left something to be desired.
In a letter dated 16th May 1976, my father wrote:
My eldest sister (Nellie) who will be 70 this year is in poor health and living with her husband (Ted) …
Uncle Ted died on 5 March 1980.
The last time I remember seeing Auntie Nellie was in 1984. Jennifer and I took my father to see his sister one Sunday and we had lunch in a restaurant.
Auntie Nellie died on 7th March 1985.
Jim Mackley
July 2020
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