Edith Haywood Hoyland

Both called Edith, but they could not have been more different. My two grandmothers were from very different backgrounds. I have already posted an article about Mum's mother (Nanan to us boys)on 4th February 2011 and about when we stayed with her as children, posted on 9th February this year. My father's mother, Edith Haywood Roberts (maiden name Hoyland and known as Gran to my brothers and I) came from a wealthy family. She was born on 21st January 1892 at Ball Road, Hillsbrough, Sheffield (actually in the Parish of Ecclesfield).

Her mother was Louisa Maria Hoyland, formerly Brooks. Her father Charles Haywood Hoyland inherited the prosperous brush manufacturing business from his father (see posting 23-02-09). At the 1911 Census, when she was 19, Edith was living with her parents on Busheywood Road, Dore. All her brothers and sister were all staying with their Aunt Kate in Wimbledon because there was a medical problem at home. There were two nurses staying at the house at Busheywood Road. Aunt Molly remembered Edith's mother (Louise Maria Brooks before she married Charles) as being a lovely gentle lady.

Edith married Stanley Boyd Roberts on 2nd July 1913 in Christ Church, Dore.
Stanley and Edith lived at Baulby on Busheywood Road when Dad was born there in 1917. But which was it of the many properties on this street that was owned, but mortgaged, by Edith's father Charles Haywood Hoyland? This will be the subject of some more research and a detailed posting at a later date.

Stanley was a solicitor whose grandfather, John Shearwood Roberts had become rich in property. But all the wealth was frittered away to the point where they could no longer afford the private education for their second and third sons. And when you take into account the business and other income inherited by Edith's father, and that the spinster great aunts of Dad (Kate and Isobel Hoyland) left everything to Edith when they died) I am starting to understand why Dad maintained his parents had lost more than one fortune.

I never knew Stanley, but Edith was apparently a complete snob and liked to think of herself as very much middle class. I think she must have been quite disappointed when Mum became her daughter in law. According to Auntie Molly, she referred to Mum as NQOC (not quite our class). When we were young, we would occasionally visit Gran at her large house at 88 Ashdell Road, Broomhill in Sheffield.

The house felt quite intimidating, and John and I had to be on our best behaviour. We could play in the garden under supervision. There was a big old grandfather clock standing in the hall, and I have a hazy memory of an attic. I can remember we would go there for tea, sandwiches and cakes that would appear on an old fashioned cake stand. I guess this was all while we lived in Dore, when I was five and John four. Because when we moved to Alton in Staffordshire, I cannot remember ever going there again.

Gran usually gave me a book for Christmas. I have a treasured copy of The Wind in the Willows that she gave me for my 5th birthday and Just So Stories a year later.

Gran must have lived on her own at Broomfield Road from when her husband Stanley died in 1937 to when she died alone just before 27th May 1965. Neighbours alerted the police when milk bottles appeared uncollected outside. She is recorded in the burial records for Christ Church, Dore for 11th June 1965 when her ashes were deposited there. Auntie Molly remembered only the brothers attending the funeral, but later they joined Molly,  Mum and Auntie Joy and Janet, the second wife of Dad's brother Arthur, at the Grand Hotel. Aunty Joy said the women all had lunch there while the brothers went off to the funeral. I guess that was the last time all the brothers and their wives got together.

In her will, Edith left £2000 to her sons John, Peter and James. She had excluded her son Arthur from this bequest, but the other three made up his contribution. Edith would not have been impressed. She also left £200 to each grandchild when they reached the age of 21. I was the only one to have done so at this time, and the money went towards my first car, see posting 31st March 2010.

After some other bequests, the remainder of the estate went to the four brothers. The net value was £26,781 which attracted estate duty of £4536. On today's values, each of her sons would have received about £75,000. But it was quite complicated with most of the property which she owned the freehold being on long leases and not worth very much. Dad did receive dribs and drabs over the following years. But I will always be grateful for the money she left to me (£200), and my first set of wheels. The two year old Triumph Herald Convertible.

So my two grandmothers: holidays with Nanan and bags of chips eaten on the way back from the chippie and Gran with tea and cakes on a stand. Now which do you think I preferred.

P.S. There is a final paragraph that I had considered omitting. It recounts a conversation I had with Auntie Molly in 1999. She told me things about Edith that Dad would never have mentioned. She said that Edith was an amoral person and would even tell fibs, just to keep up appearances. (Was that where the story about our family being descendants of Captain Cook came from? As there is no truth in it.) Edith apparently spent all the money she had. Stanley, her husband, was very musical and they used to host musical evenings. Do we believe Edith when she said that even Sir Henry Wood came to visit? Molly said that Edith was the worst kind of snob, everything was about her and she did nothing for or with the children. She never spoke to Stanley's father, Vincent Littlewood Roberts. He could not stand her, but loved her three boys. John ended up seeing Vincent secretly. It may have been John's grandfather that enabled him to go to Oxford University.

The Will of Vincent Littlewood Roberts.
Vincent only had one child and that was Stanley, and when Vincent died in 1940, apart from some particular bequests, he left £500 and the remainder of his estate (which amounted to a gross value of £21,760, worth approximately £1Million today) to his four grandsons, cutting out Edith altogether. According to Molly, Edith was very angry and threatened to contest the will. However, I understand that in the end, the boys were "encouraged" (Molly's words) into giving the money to their mother.