lizzie palmer

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Lizzie was born in Dilwyn, Herefordshire, on 28 May 1868, and was baptised on 8 June 1868. At the time of the 1871 census, she lived in Tyrells Court, Dilwyn, with her father George, a farmer, her mother Mary, her three month old brother George, and her grandmother Sarah Palmer. Also included in the household were a cousin who was employed as a servant, and three other domestic servants. The family must have been quite prosperous, as George notes that he owned 119 acres and employed three men and one boy.

Ten years later the family was still living on the same farm, which now measured 120 acres. George still had the same number of farm workers and domestic servants, although none of them were the same as in the previous census. Grandmother Sarah was no longer with them, but the family had grown with the addition of five more children, Amy, Charles, Alice, Walter and Roger.

In the next census in 1891, twenty-two year old Lizzie was working as a servant on a farm owned by Margaret Williams in Llanmartin, South Monmouthshire. She listed her occupation as ‘mother’s help’.

Lizzie started working at the Powick Asylum on 8 May 1893, earning £18 a year as a junior attendant. In the 1901 census, she is among a list of women noted as ‘Sisters’. She was promoted to Charge Nurse in April 1903, with a wage increase to £28. She left the Asylum on 17 November 1903.

She apparently left to get married, as there is a marriage registered in the fourth quarter of that year. Her husband was Henry Charles, born in Bransford, Worcestershire on 8 August 1866, to George, an agricultural labourer, and Ann, a dressmaker. In the 1871 census, the family was still living in Bransford and had two other sons, Thomas and George. Ten years later, at fourteen, Henry was also working as agricultural labourer. In 1901 Henry is included in the Powick Asylum census return, listed as a Porter.

In the first census after their marriage, the 1911, Henry and Lizzie were living at Asylum Cottages in Powick, with their three children, Dorothy (born in 1904), Edna (1906), and Dennis (1907). Henry was still a porter at the Asylum, but there is no occupation listed for Lizzie. The assumption must be that she was fully occupied with unpaid domestic duties and child care.

Ten years later, Henry was now listed as a male nurse, Lizzie as undertaking home duties, and Edna as a dressmaker. Dennis was still at school, and Dorothy was not included. A census return for her has not been found.

In the electoral rolls for 1929-1931, the whole family was living in the vicinity of Powick, although at different addresses. Shortly after this the family had some good news and some bad news. On 15 December 1932, Dennis married Selina Beatrice Hewston. His occupation on the marriage licence is listed as ‘Mental Attendant’ at the asylum.

This happiness did not last long. There is a burial record dated 28 December 1932 for Dennis. A funeral notice in Berrow’s Worcester Journal for December 31, 1932, notes that Dennis ‘died 25th December at the Hospital, Powick’. The notice mentions that he was the only son of H and L Charles, of Newland. There is no mention of his wife. Less than a year later, Selina married again. She died in 1997.

By the 1939 Register, the family had moved to 7 Council Houses, in Newland, Malvern, which was to be their address until Henry’s death. Henry had now retired, Lizzie was still a housewife, Dorothy was a shorthand typist for a solicitor, and Edna was a dressmaker’s fitter.

Neither of Lizzie’s daughters married. Henry died in 1943, Lizzie in 1964, Edna in 1966 and Dorothy in 1974. Probate records for the three women give the same address for all of them, suggesting that they lived together.

Research by Cathy Broad, 2025.

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