Item Detail
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Edwards, Mary Barker
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1874-
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MSS SC 923
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Autobiography
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Mary Barker Edwards was born in Gilbert Street, Coventry, Warwickshire, England to Thomas Masters Barker and Mary Moore Barker on June 6, 1874. Thomas' father, Alfred Great Barker, sold Thomas his ribbon looms and gave him his garden plot when he left for America. The family made some money by growing produce in the garden and selling it in a stall at Coventry Market. However, much of the time Mary's father did not work, and her mother had to hold the family together. With three daughters, Martha Ellen, Rose Ann, and Mary, still left at home, their family moved to Ramsgate, Kent. Mary was about eleven years old at this time, and she worked at a nearby laundry. She was proud to take her three shillings a week home to her mother who worked so hard. While they were in Kent, Martha Ellen drowned in a swimming pool. This was extremely disruptive for the family. Rose Ann witnessed the drowning, and as a result lost her memory for a time. After recovering, she went to be a matron of a children's home in Wales. Thus, only Mary was left at home with her parents. They started their own small laundry and worked very hard to keep it running. Thomas Masters died of cancer during this time. Soon after, Mary met Ralph Edwards who was staying with relatives in Clevedon, Somerset. They were engaged eighteen months and married December 26, 1895, after which they moved to Reading to live. Ralph and Mary were married for thirteen years before their first child was born. The baby, Roger, died that same day. Two years later Monica was born. Mary treasured her as 'a real God given gift.' Ralph was a caretaker of an old church, and they were also proprietors of several inns. Mary, Ralph, and Monica lived through the bombing raids of WWII.
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Mary's autobiographical account of her life is part of a collection containing information on the Alfred Great Barker family. Mary's autobiography is a typewritten account which Hazel B. Bott compiled from Mary's autobiography and her letters. It is four pages long'pages seven to ten in the collection'and it is written in first person from Mary's perspective. Mary explains her family's difficult financial situation and talks about what her older siblings went on to do. Then, she talks briefly about her married life. In the last paragraph of the autobiography, Mary relates her memories of the bombing raids during WWII. She says that they never knew whether to stay up or go to bed when they heard the sirens. Her daughter, Monica, would stay up to watch the fires and check on the neighbors. Mary finished her autobiography June 3, 1946, calling it a 'rather morbid story of my life.' She does focus primarily on her difficult life experiences and on major events. The last page has two pictures of her mother, Mary Moore Barker, and of Mary Moore's obituary and a photograph of Mary, Ralph, and Monica taken about 1950. Some excerpts of Mary's letters are contained in Alfred Great's biography, which is part of the collection.
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1844-