Frank, Ellen and Lillian Nichols’ Family Circa 1900
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Frank Nichols 1905-1912	Lillian Nichols circa 1912
Frank Nichols in his fifties	Lillian with her second husband Robert Martin circa 1960

A.    Frank, Ellen and Lillian Nichols’ Family Circa 1900

Certified Copy of Entry of an Entry of Marriage
	1912 Marriage Solemnised at the Register Office
	in the District of: Kettering in County of: Northampton
	No	When Married	Name and Surname	Age	Condition	Rank or Profession at time of Marriage	Residence at time of Marriage	Father’s Name	Rank or Prof of Father
	108	Ninth November	William Frank Nichols	29 years	Widower	Foreman Heel Builder	96 Durban Road Kettering	Stephen Nichols	Councils Labourer
		1912	Lillian Smith	28 years	Spinster	____	27 Bath Rd., Kettering	Robert Willett Smith	Foreman Shoe Closer
Married in the Register Office Rites and ceremonies of the by Certificate before by me, Robert E Tingle   Registrar This Marriage    { William Frank Nichols } in the        { Raymond J Driver                                                   was solemnised {                                           } presence  { Eustace R Lorne between us         { Lillian Smith                  } of us         {Gilbert L Lewis     Deputy Supr Registrar

Frank’s address on his second marriage certificate suggests that he might still have been living at or near Ellen’s parents (Durban and Durham roads could be the same street). His new job as Foreman probably helped him meet Lillian whose father was also a shoe maker.

Ellen’s daughters accepted Lillian as their new mother and Lillian proudly included all of their children as her grandchildren when she entered ‘Glamorous Grandmother’ competitions at Butlins holiday camps. Mable certainly supported Lillian by providing goods/money from her shop.

Frank and Lillian rapidly had three children: Elsie Lillian (1.3.1913), Nancy (actually Doris Annie - 17.3.1914) and Bill (William Robert) (25.1.1916)). Both Maud and Elsie’s second names are their mother’s. Bill was named after his father and maternal grandfather. Nancy’s real name soon disappeared - an Aunt criticised it so vehemently that the child was thereafter known as Nancy (the pet-name also used by Frank’s sister, Mary Anne Nichols {according to her daughter Millicent and possibly the aunt referred to}, Frank’s greatgrandmother was described as Nancy in the 1841 census as was his mother’s aunt {in the 1851 & 1861 census}).

The Nichols’ initially lived at 215 Wood Str., Kettering. but moved to the Mill House, Doddington (on the river Nene – pronounced NEN) when Frank obtained a new job in Wellingborough in about 1917, Frank and Lillian (according to Maud) rode their motorbike and sidecar to the new house, whilst the five children peered over the top of the lower half door travelled in the back of the furniture van following them.

Figure 5. Photograph of Frank and Tom Nichols’ Families

The picture above was almost certainly taken at the Mill house. Frank is standing right centre, his younger brother Tom is on the left. Their mother, Bessie, is seated centrally wearing a black or red dress, Lillian is on the right and Tom’s wife is on the left of the photograph. All but one of the children is Frank’s.

Mabel, with her chin under her dress top is on the left. Maud and Nancy (front) are standing next to Bessie. Bill and his sister Elsie are standing beside Lillian. Bill’s age suggests that the photograph was taken in 1918. From photographs such as these a surprising amount of background information can be drawn. Everybody is wearing their best clothes:

The two men are wearing suits, fob (pocket) watches and hats (Tom’s a straw boater, Frank a flat cap). The mens shirts have separate collars to reduce washing (these collars are very evident in the two earlier photographs of Frank).

The women are wearing long dresses and have their hair tied back. The two younger women, at least, are wearing boots.

The girls have bows in their long hair, whilst Bill’s hair is cut very short. Nancy and Elsie are wearing ‘drawers’ - long underpants.

Though Bessie’s husband died in February 1916, she appears to be still wearing mourning clothes. Sadly, the blackness of the dress cannot be confirmed, but in all the B/W photographs her dress is dark (Red or Black).

Finally, a clothes line is evident behind Mabel

A photograph of a similar date shows that Frank had only recently shaved off his moustache.

Whilst living at Doddington Frank used his motorbike to get to work. Maud believed that Lillian did a few hours work in a shoe factory at Doddington (presumably Maud remembered looking after her younger siblings). On 24^th March 1924 the family moved to 15 Park Rd., Wellingborough, Frank was a manager at the shoe factory situated just behind the house. Apparently Frank was eventually offered the opportunity of buying the house and factory cheaply, but couldn’t afford it. The owners however agreed that the family could stay in the house at a peppercorn rent. It was only finally vacated after Lillian’s second husband, Bob Martin, died.

A wet holiday circa 1930 @ Hunstanton: Frank, Bill, Bessie, Lillian and Nancy	Bathing Belles circa 1934 @ Hunstanton: Unknown friend, Mabel, Elsie and Nancy

In the thirties the family regularly went for week-long seaside holidays to Hunstanton on the Norfolk coast (the only resort with a beach facing west on the East coast!). Sadly, Maud is not present in any of the photographs still existing presumably because she married in 1929. The two photographs below were probably taken at about the same time; the cars in the photograph on the right, of Lillian and Frank shopping, clearly confirm that it was taken in the thirties (though in England with no prohibition, the cars did not contain gangsters firing sub-machine guns!).

Figure 7 Holiday Photographs in the 1930’s

Interesting costumes: Lillian, Nancy and Bill	Lillian and Frank shopping on holiday

Fortunately, the bad-times of high employment that hit Britain in the thirties did not seem to affect the Nichols’ family (certainly, I can remember no unemployment recollections from my mother.)

Bessie , Frank’s mother, continued to live in Kettering but spent the last few years of her life at Park Rd. She died at Wellingborough Park Str. Hospital, which she almost certainly thought of as "The Workhouse", in 1938.

With the outbreak of World War II, however, everybody’s life changed:

World War II, in terms of lives lost and material destruction, was the most devastating war in human history. It began in 1939 as a European conflict between Germany and an Anglo-French coalition but eventually widened to include most of the nations of the world. It ended in 1945, leaving a new world order dominated by the United States and the USSR.

More than any previous war, World War II involved the commitment of nations' entire human and economic resources, the blurring of the distinction between combatant and noncombatant, and the expansion of the battlefield to include all of the enemy's territory.           "World War II," Microsoft® Encarta® 97 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1996

But the Nichols family was lucky neither Frank’s son nor his daughters’ husbands were captured, injured or killed.

Figure 8 Bill Nichols in India in WWII

Bill, like his father, smoked cigarettes (smoking by women, particularly in the street, was generally frowned upon and I never saw Lillian or her daughters smoking). He enjoyed cycling and once, as a young lad, cycled to Leicester to see his grandfather, Robert Willets Smith. Bill joined the Royal Air Force in World War II and finished with the rank of corporal. He worked as a mechanic on Spitfires and Mustangs (both in the photograph below, spitfire on left)..

Bill met his wife Gladys whilst he was billeted at Blackpool.     The photograph of Bill, above, was taken in India.

Return to Military

ll worked all his life in the shoe industry. Given leather and tools he could make a pair of shoes from scratch. After the war, he worked at Burton Latimer and eventually owned a shoe factory at Long Buckby, Northants. Sadly, because of inadequate materials the manufacturing business failed. His reaction was to sell shoes directly to the public on markets.

The Nichols family rented ‘sites’ at Overstone Solarium. The photograph below was taken circa 1940.

Figure 9 The Nichols Family at Ovestone Solarium

Although the photograph is dark and somewhat out of focus, a surprising amount of contemporary information is evident. Nancy and Bill’s chalets are much more modern than Frank and Lillian’s. Bill’s chalet was large and had a kitchen, bedroom, living room and small verandah. Both Nancy and Bill’s chalet’s are made entirely of wood and are resting on single bricks above the ground (there are no foundations). Frank and Lillian’s chalet is much more ad.hoc in design and, from my memory of its appearance, was probably made in three stages. The floor in the front area of the chalet was virtually at ground height and the walls were covered with corrugated iron sheets. The middle area, including the bedroom was wooden and stood about one brick high. The kitchen, back/left, was the most modern in appearance. It is probable, therefore, that Frank and Lillian’s chalet was built in the twenties. The man on the left of the photograph is Frank, and to his left is his motorbike and sidecar. Bill Nichols is standing ‘at ease’ with the muzzle of a Lee-Enfield rifle in his right hand. Lillian (Nan to her grandchildren) is sitting in a chair. The woman sitting on the fence is probably Nancy. The woman in front of Bill’s chalet is unknown but could be his sister Elsie – she doesn’t look like his future wife Gladys – and the photograph could have been taken before she met him.

Overstone Solarium is halfway between Wellingborough and Northampton and lies between the villages of Overstone and Ecton. The chalets backed onto woodland and faced a large grass field. At the far end of the field were two lakes and, at least post war, an open air swimming pool. Water was initially collected from springs feeding the larger lake. There was no electricity, light was by paraffin-filled lamps, cooking by bottled gas, sanitation by Elsan toilets (these were much more primitive than the type used in modern caravans – effectively a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat – and the only way of emptying them was to dig a hole in the wood (or, as my father sometimes did, use a rabbit hole!). Chalets in the park were diverse in appearance, with several of the older ones having as their basis the shell of a bus, the only common aspect was that they were all painted green and white.

The family spent a lot of time at Overstone during the war, they heard aircraft flying overhead. Just a week before V-E Day (Victory in Europe May 8 1945), Frank Nichols died from a heart attack, at Wellingborough Gold Street post office, where he worked as a sorter. My brother remembers Frank’s body being "laid out" on the Billiard table in the front room at 15 Park Rd. Frank was buried at Doddington Rd. Cemetry on the 3rd. May 1945:

His epitaph states: In loving memory of Dear Husband and a Devoted father. William Frank Nichols Passed away 1st May 1945 Aged 62 Years.  The grave also includes Bill's  first son who died when just 2 days old  (Grave 125S: Take first path to the right from Doddington Rd. entrance, walk about 30 yards beyond the chapel. Grave is 9 plots in from the end of the set of graves in the middle row of graves.)

The last photograph of Frank and Lillian must have been taken at Blackpool after 1938, because Lillian is wearing Bessie’s (Frank’s mother’s) locket (subsequently passed on to Gladys Nichols).

The delight, and problems associated with the end of the war, are evidenced in the letter to Bill from his Aunt Margaret. Margaret had migrated to Australia many years earlier.

Except for the fact that Nancy’s chalet was substantially extended in 1946, my memories of Overstone are probably akin to those of Frank, Lillian and their children, because Overstone seems to have existed in a time warp. It was superb for children with woods and fields to play in, two lakes to walk around, as well as a large ‘head and shoulder’ shaped swimming pool. Other sources of entertainment were the radio, playing monopoly and cards (Frank, like his daughter Nancy, hated losing at cards - becoming very ‘ratty’ – games: Whist, Rummy) and going fishing. Ice cream vans toured the park (adults bought themselves choc ices, icecream wafers, orange lollies or ‘mivvies’ {icecream lollypops surrounded by raspberry water-ice} at 6d (2.5p)} whilst the children were bought cornets or water ices at about half the cost. Occasionally a grocers van toured the park - prices occasionally ended in a farthing {about a tenth of a new penny}. Generally food was brought from Wellingborough, but a very small, one-roomed, village shop was occasionally used at Ecton. Milk was bought fresh, unpasteurised and warm (!) from the farm opposite Overstone’s entrance.

After they married, Aunty Glad and Uncle Bill lived in their chalet whilst Bill worked at Burton Latimer. With no one else there, the solitude, and occasional scrabbling of squirrels feet on the roof, was at times disquieting! Mostly, however, Overstone was where members of the family met and enjoyed each others company. Frank’s brother Tom owned a chalet next to Bill’s. 

Lillian married Robert Martin on the 22nd. of April 1950 at High Street Congregational Church, Wellingborough. Although he gave his job as a Boiler Assistant, her new husband had almost certainly known Frank and Lillian for some years – it is too much of a coincidence for Lillian, by chance, to have married a man who had the same job as her first husband (Post Office Sorter - Mount Pleasant Sorting Office, London). In the background of the wedding photograph several family members can be seen: Nancy and her children David, Graham and Rosemary Maud's daughter' Janet and Jean Elsie  Bill Nichols and his wife witnessed the certificate

In the late fifties/early sixties Lillian's daughter Mabel  had a caravan in an adjacent field and came over regularly with her son Keith. At least once a year Maud’s familyand Elsie’s familyvisited Lillian at Overstone. The photograph below illustrates a combined visit circa 1952.

Back Row: Janet & her husband Tony  Maud  Tony and his mother Elsie  Horace, Jean's husband Nancy  & Jean (Maud's daughter) Middle Row Ronny & Richard (Sons of Maud) Barbara (Daughter of Maud)  in front of David (Nancies son), Lillian Martin  Robert Martin & Rosemary (Nancies                                                       daughter) Front Row Michael (Elsie's son), Robert (Maud's son), Terence (Maud's son), Graham (Nancies son), Michael (Maud's                                                       grandson)

When we were older and the Maud's family visited, my brother David and I would cycle the mile down the lane (bordered by fields and on the right side a copse of trees and bracken-filled fields) and meet the Wellingborough-Northampton bus at The World’s End pub, Ecton. We would ferry members of the family back on the tandem – I hope those on the back pedalled! The role of the cycle with respect to Overstone must not be under-emphasised – we used them to get to Overstone (circa 6 miles), and to cycle to the Congregational (now United Reformed) church in Wellingborough on Sundays. In the summer, Nancy used a motorised cycle (the back wheel containing an engine) to travel down the lane to Ecton to catch a bus to go to work.

Bill's family regularly came to Overstone at weekends, but I cannot ever remember them staying overnight, but Bill did bring his motor mower and make light work of mowing all the grass.

The house at Park Rd. was large with three floors. The description below is based on my memory:

Although there was an impressive front door entered by a short steep flight of steps, members of the family always walked down the drive way (bridged by the top floor of the house) leading to the factory at the rear. At the back of the house one could go up a set of steps to a balcony leading to the first floor and conservatory (see photograph on left below), but we invariably went down a set of steps to a minute blue brick paved courtyard with an outside toilet and laundry room. The blue back door, with a horseshoe above it, opened on to a corridor which lead to the downstairs living room (where Lillian {Nan} could always be found), a small coal cupboard, a large damp dark (and, to Lillian’s grandchildren, frightening) cellar/kitchen and a staircase leading up to the first floor.

The downstairs living room (right photograph below) was where Nan lived. It had a small open iron fireplace range with adjacent built-in ovens and a distinctive, slightly damp smell. In one corner of the room, by the window, was a large white sink.

Balcony: A ‘Peake’?, Bessie & Lillian Nichols. Before 1939 (Bessie died 7 Dec. 1938)	Back: Lillian, Pop; Nancies family Front: Bill's family.  Date: Xmas 1954:

Figure 15     Christmas in 1954 at Park Rd., Wellingborough

The first floor could be reached directly via the front door or by the staircase from the ground floor. The living room at the front held a half-sized billiard table, the one at the back opened onto a conservatory and through that the verandah (see photo. above). In the fifties, at least, these rooms, though well furnished, were rarely used – but, as the photograph on the right indicates, the one at the back was used at Christmas 1954.

Sleeping accomodation was in the three bedrooms on the top floor. Nan rented out one of these in the nineteen fifties.

For much of Spring, Summer and early Autumn, Nan (Lillian), Pop (Bob Martin) and Nancy's family were often at Overstone Solarium – the seasons are identified by memories of walking through blue-bell filled woods (and sadly picking armfulls of them!), collecting lilac and blackberries for Nan to make oodles of jam. At other times of the year, Nancy and Bill Nichols’ families spent Saturday evening at Park Rd. Memories include delicious stews, steamed Spotted Dicks and the necessity for ABSOLUTE silence whilst the football results were announced on the radio.

Figure 16 Activities at Overstone Solarium in the Fifties
Nan and a Blackberry ‘Gift’	David, Rosemary (centre) and Graham at Overstone Pool

The WWII dinghy was owned and regularly used by the Tall’s.  Inevitably, living for much of the summer at Overstone, they were good swimmers.  Dave and I regular found sweet money, by searching the pool for pennies thrown in by parents for their children to pick of the bottom.  

Figure 17 Overstone Circa 1964. I’m Talking to Nan in Front of Bill’s Chalet.

Nan (Lilian Nichols/Martin) was less than 5 foot tall and had a quiet, gentle personality. An educated woman she believed that speaking correctly was essential and hated children saying "What?" insisting, in a deep voice, that we had to say "Pardon". As far as I was concerned she was the ideal grandmother. After marrying Bob Martin she took up Old-Tyme ball-room dancing and regularly entered competitions. The photograph below is of Nan and Pop leading the floor, dancing the Veleta at Butlin’s holiday camp:

Lillian died aged 80 on the 15^th March 1965 of heart failure. She was cremated and her ashes scattered at Kettering crematorium.

B. Frank, Ellen and Lillian’s Children:

Maud Nichols husband worked for the Iron Company but had originally worked as a farm labourer. They had 10 children and lived at Kingsway Wellingborough. The photograph overleaf is of their elder children taken at their Aunty Nancy’s wedding in 1940.

From the left: Dennis , Jean, Shirley , Janet and Derek

Mabel Nichols married a head gardener and had a single son – Keith.  . Tragically the couple died in a car accident in 1965.

Elsie Nichols married a Roman Catholic car assembly worker at Coventry.  The couple had nine children: Sheila , Tony , Pauline, Michael, Pat , Brenda , Roger , Barry  and Susan. Elsie died in 1989 at Coventry

Nancy Nichols worked for Arthur Dawes as a secretary, a business which is advertised in Kelly’s Directory of Northamptonshire as:

Arthur Dawes, Wholesale & Family Grocer. Ale & Porter Merchant. Grocer’s Valuer and Transfer agent, Ceylon House 33 Market Street TN44

She married in 1940.  The couple lived for one year with Nancy’s mother before moving to a small council house (2 rooms upstairs, 2 rooms downstairs, toilet at end of garden, no bathroom, had to pay to have water plumbed in from outside tap) at Cannon Str. in 1941.

After having her three children, Nancy returned to work in the shoe factory opposite Harry’s house in Stanley Rd., and near to her children’s school. She subsequently obtained work as a secretary/book keeper for Warwicks’ clothiers in Wellingborough: Nancy had total responsibility for the shop’s money, regularly carrying cash from the shop to the bank in her large shopping bag! After retirement the couple moved to 71 Bell Court. Nancy died in 1990 of a heart attack, whilst living with her children. The picture was take at Butlins holiday camp in 1947/8. Rosemary  is in the push chair, David  is next to his father and Graham  is next to Nancy.

Bill Nichols was based in India at the latter end of the second world war.  He married In 1948. The couple had 4 children, the first of whom died when he was just 2 days old: Stephen, Michael, Peter  and Jocelyn.  Bill owned a shoe factory and sold footwear at markets throughout the area. Bill died in 1998.

It was through Uncle Bill (William Robert Nichols) that we finally managed to recontact other descendants of Stephen Nichols. Using letters he had kept, giving their army ranks and numbers, he contacted the family of Margaret Ellen Nichols, through Australia House. Margaret had emigrated with her husband ,to Australia (probably Melbourne) after World War I.  It was margaret's children who gave us contact with Bill's cousins in England

Figure 22 The Nichols’ Family in 1965 and 1979
Jocelyn, Michael & Peter Nichols 1965	Bill's family

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