This is lovely! And so much of it reminds me of my own childhood. We lived in London when I was young (aged 0-6 and 9-10) and my brother and I spent every Christmas and Easter and much of the summer at my grandparents' house in Hampshire. An elderly widow and her companion/servant Alice Fouracre had been evacuated to The White House during the war. By the end of the war, the widow had died, and Alice, brought up in a Barnardo's Home and in service at fourteen, had no family so she stayed on. Her room was on the top floor of this large Georgian house which had both front and back stairs. She did the laundry and some of the cooking and housework, which she shared with my eldest, unmarried, aunt. She had a lively personality and often bickered with Granny, though in fact they were very fond of each other. She used to call my mother "Miss Jean" until she became "Mrs Tony". Alice was tiny; I think I became taller than her when I was about 11 or 12. Alice was part of the household until she began to suffer from dementia and went into the local nursing home. I remember visiting her there; the last time was about 1969. Alas, I have no photos of her. Thank you, Peter, for sharing these memories.
This is lovely! And so much of it reminds me of my own childhood. We lived in London when I was young (aged 0-6 and 9-10) and my brother and I spent every Christmas and Easter and much of the summer at my grandparents' house in Hampshire. An elderly widow and her companion/servant Alice Fouracre had been evacuated to The White House during the war. By the end of the war, the widow had died, and Alice, brought up in a Barnardo's Home and in service at fourteen, had no family so she stayed on. Her room was on the top floor of this large Georgian house which had both front and back stairs. She did the laundry and some of the cooking and housework, which she shared with my eldest, unmarried, aunt. She had a lively personality and often bickered with Granny, though in fact they were very fond of each other. She used to call my mother "Miss Jean" until she became "Mrs Tony". Alice was tiny; I think I became taller than her when I was about 11 or 12. Alice was part of the household until she began to suffer from dementia and went into the local nursing home. I remember visiting her there; the last time was about 1969. Alas, I have no photos of her. Thank you, Peter, for sharing these memories.