This is your life - Alice Mary Ireson

My gt-grandmother Alice Mary Kinchin nee' Ireson was perhaps not the most fun of grandmothers, at least that was the consensus of her grandchildren, Ronald, Elaine and Raymond. I think she was the stern grandmother, but to be fair she had a pretty hard life.

Alice was born in 1881 in Sindlesham Berkshire, England. Alice's father, Charles Ireson was a miller, so she grew up living in Burghfield Mill Cottages. As a young woman she was, like so many, engaged as a domestic servant and it was here, no doubt, during that time that she learned the art of cooking.

Alice(left), Wilfred(Pop), Charles Ireson,
and sister-in-law(also Alice I think)

At the age of 24 and living in Richmond Gardens she met and married Walter Kinchin and then started their young family with the birth of my grandfather.

Walter Kinchin and Alice Ireson
Wedding 1905

Soon after, as you might have read in the previous post, Alice was widowed when Walter was burnt very badly in a boiler explosion at Talbot Motor Works. My grandfather was destined to be an only child.

Initially, they resided with Alice's parents and her brother Ernest at Calcot. She was looking after her parents and running their small shop. After her mother died in 1913, she and her young son went to live in Newbury, another river town.

Mr and Mrs Perry

Alice had to go back to work in domestic service, leaving her 2-yr old son with family and friends to raise him so that she could provide for him financially, and to give him an education. They moved often following the work, so Pop moved schools every time his mother got a new job.

My Pop attended many schools, first at Pound Lane Willesden Green, then under the care of an Aunt Emily Craven (Alice's elder sister) he was sent to St. Mary's Roman Catholic School. Living here was probably not so bad as he had good friends in his cousins Win and Percy.

Then they moved on again, moving up to Streatham.

When Alice got a job near Reigate they moved south and she sent him to live with an elderly couple, the Perry's, for three or four years during the first world war and it at least kept her son close to her.

He was then sent back to the aunt and uncle at Norbury and he attended school at Thornton Heath as the school at Norbury had been taken for a hospital. Apparently changing schools was not an issue for Pop, he said he quite enjoyed school.

For Alice, the next school was a probably a blessing, as my Pop won a prized scholarship to The Whitgift Grammar School at Croydon. (pictured below) If Alice wanted to make sure that he had the best education, this would certainly have made life a little bit easier financially.

Alice had a hard job working in private service and then she took a job as a pastry chef in a shop in London. But life was still tough...

According to Pop she had the help of a nephew who was in the Salvation Army and they came out to Australia under their scheme. It was very fast and within a couple of weeks they had sold up all their belongings and were heading for a new land. Very exciting for a 14 year old, and possibly an anxious time for Alice.

Shipping record from the Benalla in 1922

Alice (wearing hat) and
Wilfred sitting next to her
S.S. Benalla 1922

Leaving from the Tilbury docks the trip took about 6 weeks, taking about the first 4 to get as far as Cape Town, only seeing land in the distance a couple of times. Apparently the Bay of Biscay was a bit rough and caused some sea sickness, but other than that the trip was an adventure for my Pop. Rounding the coast of Australia, they stopped at Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and then on to Sydney.

When they arrived in Australia both Alice and Wilfred got jobs straight away. Alice was working as a cook at Rose Bay, but after only a few weeks in the country she got pneumonia and pleurisy and the 14 yr old had to take his mother out to the hospital and then find his way back to the Salvation Army to arrange somewhere to stay. They arranged accommodation in the Men's Hostel in Albion Street in Sydney where he stayed for several weeks, as Alice's employer didn't want him around. Alice was in hospital for a few weeks and was then moved to Vaucluse to a convalescent home to recover.

Once she recovered she went to work in a posh boarding house in Darlinghurst, hefting large pots and pans! They were shocked to find out she had just come out of the convalescent home.

And then she worked at the Lodge for Prime Minister Lyons, which was quite a feather in her cap.

They kept moving and went just across the border into Victoria, to stay with the only person they knew in Australia, a young woman who had married an Australian soldier during the first world war. Alice got a job working at the hotel in Tintaldra, while Wilfred got a job working for a farmer and then for the man who owned most of the town.

Eventually they returned to Sydney and Wilfred worked a myriad of country jobs, dairies, sheep and cattle properties.

In 1923 a bit over a year after they had arrived Alice's father passed away back in England, but they didn't return home again until 1927, when they took a holiday back to the old country. A stark contrast where you have to rug up with blankets to sit on the beach.

Back in Australia, and on her own now she settled in Petersham for a while and then moved to Fairfield to be a bit closer to Wilfred who was living at Bossley Park with his new wife and young family. The grandkids spent a lot of time with the other grandparents who lived right next door (Fred and Jane Wallace) and it was like a second home to them. They would scurry through the fence when they were getting roused on at home, to the safety of Nan. By comparison, Alice was only ever a visitor in their lives.

Alice worked hard all of her life, and was a good mother by all accounts. She suffered a lot of tragedy and never remarried, she had only her son for companionship and once he had his own family I imagine she felt a bit alone. So I guess the grandkids got the very English "stiff upper lip" version of Grandma.

Alice Kinchin (Left) and Jane Wallace (right)

Alice died in 1961 a few years before I was born so I never got to meet her. My grandfather always talked fondly of his mother as it was just the two of them for a long time. I have a little soft spot for her too :)