Mary, a fisherman’s wife, appears in the first chapter of Barefoot on the Cobbles. She is the first mother that we get to know in the novel and through Mary, we can experience a manifestation of motherhood that is rather different from those that are revealed in later chapters. Unlike most Victorian families, Mary has only two children, Albert and Fred. There is no evidence for any other live births but she may have suffered miscarriages. Of course, there could have been another reason for her untypical lack of fecundity. The story of how she opens her heart and home to young Eadie is a true one. Like a number of Bucks Mills’ wives, Mary was often known by the forename of her husband, to avoid confusion with others of the same surname, hence ‘Mrs William’.

St. Anne’s, Bucks Mills

Mary’s post should really have been yesterday. She was born as Mary Jane on 22 September 1842 at Horn’s Cross, Alwington, Devon to Richard and Hannah Hamlyn née Lewis and she was the only child of their marriage. They were a farming family and Mary worked as a launderess; nonetheless, in 1862, Mary met and married William, a fisherman from the neighbouring parish. Theirs was the first marriage in the newly opened Anglican church at Bucks Mills. Their son, Albert arrived nine months later and his brother followed two years after that.

Mary lived at Rose Cottage in Bucks Mills for the last forty years of her life. She died in 1928.

More information about Bucks Mills can be found here.

‘Albert was explaining to his mother how he had rescued a distressed Eadie from the square.

‘Mebbe you stay here for a day or two maid, ’til your da calms down,’ said Mary.

There was reassurance in the words but who was the more comforted, Mary or this dark-visaged child with sadness in her soul? Mary turned to her son, who had unwittingly presented her with a few days of companionship.’

Barefoot on the Cobbles will be published on 17 November 2018. More information about the novel can be found here. Copies will be available at various events in the weeks following the launch or can be pre-ordered from Blue Poppy Publishing or the author.

There is a passing reference to Uncle John in chapter 4 of Barefoot on the Cobbles, when he assumes the responsibility for his sister, Matilda. Born on 6 October in Bucks Mills, John was the eldest of Albert’s surviving uncles. Like his father, grandfather and brothers, John was a fisherman. In order to distinguish him from the other Johns in the same family, who also lived in the village, he was known as ‘Johnny Kivell’. He took his wife’s maiden surname as a nickname, as opposed to her christian name, which was the method adopted by the other Johns. He was also called ‘Big Johnny Kivell’ and he was renowned for his strength. He allegedly carried a hundredweight of limestone up the street. This is undoubtably an exaggeration but nonetheless, a lifetime of hauling lobster pots obviously required plenty of muscle.

Johnny Kivell and his wife Susan had eight children and they also brought up a granddaughter. He lived all his life in Bucks Mills. After he married, John made his home at number 9, now known as ‘George’s’. In the 1890s he and his growing family moved next door, to number 10, which has now been amalgamated with the adjacent cottages. The family were devout Methodists and John was instrumental in the building of the new Methodist Chapel in the village in 1907. John died on his 91^st birthday, in 1930.

 ‘Uncle John says her [Matilda’s] language is something shocking. Her excuse is the devil’s got her tongue. Sounds like she’s gone proper mazed. She used to go to chapel regular, now she’s saying she’s going to hell. Uncle John’s been having a right time of it.’

 Barefoot on the Cobbles will be published on 17 November 2018. More information about the novel can be found here. Copies will be available at various events in the weeks following the launch or can be pre-ordered from Blue Poppy Publishing or the author.

The home of ‘Johnnie Adelaide’ (right hand cottage)

‘Johnnie Adelaide’ is so called to distinguish him from another John, who lived at the other end of Bucks Mills village. Both men had their wife’s christian name appended to their own, becoming ‘Johnnie Adelaide’ and ‘Johnnie Lydia’. ‘Johnnie Adelaide’ is mentioned just once, in the first chapter of Barefoot on the Cobbles, along with two of his daughters Norah and Gertie. As inhabitants of 4 Forest Gardens, ‘Johnnie Adelaide’ and his family were Mary and William’s neighbours. John’s wife, Adelaide, had lived in the cottage with her widowed mother, Mrs Dunn and continued to bring up her family there. 4 Forest Gardens eventually passed to ‘Johnnie Adelaide’’s daughter, Louisa.

Like most of the men in Bucks Mills, ‘Johnnie Adelaide’ spent his working life at sea, combining fishing with engagement in the merchant service. He had been born in the village in 1847. At the age of thirty three he married Adelaide Dunn and they had four daughters and a son.

‘Firmly and before she could be gainsaid, Mary answered, ‘She be staying put. There’s too many of them down at Ivy. I could do with some help in the house now me arthritics be so bad and she will walk up to school with Johnny Adelaide’s girls. Norah’s about her age and Gertie can keep an eye on them both on the way. She won’t be no trouble.’ ’