Eleanor Alice Adelaide Bawden nee Russell (1888-1983)

And to follow …………… my paternal grandmother:

Eleanor Alice Adelaide Russell

Support for her Husband


Eleanor Alice Adelaide Russell (known as Allie, or Puhh by the family) was born at 4 Unicorn Buildings, Landport on 4 March 1888[1], the only daughter of Ellen and Walter Russell, who in the next year had a son, Walter Thomas Cornelius. At the time of the 1891 census the family was at the same address[2]. Walter was an assistant warder at HM Convict Prison and all the other occupants of the building were associated with the prison so I assume it was tied accommodation of some form.






Some time during the following 10 years Walter transferred to work at Portland Prison and in the 1901 census the family is at 2, I Quarters, Portland[3]. Again, this appears to be some form of tied accommodation. The census return has Puhh “attending school”, presumably somewhere on Portland. For some time up until the end of June 1906 she was an apprentice teacher at Portland Prison Officers’ Schools[4][5].



In 1906 she commenced attendance at Salisbury Training College and became a certified teacher in 1908[6][7]. Apart from her attending school and acting as an apprentice teacher, the only information I have about her life prior to going to the college is entries in a remembrance album she was given for her 16^th birthday, and almost universally they are homilies rather than informative pieces. Where the inscriber has included a location for the years 1904 and 1905 nearly everyone was located on Portland, and one of these is headed “Good-Bye” but without any indication of who may be departing, nor where. Entries for 1906-1908 are mainly associated with the college, several addressed from “Top Room, King’s House, Salisbury”. There are a few later entries, including several addressed from Weymouth.



In the Christmas 1908 edition of the Salisbury College magazine the cast list for “Comus”, performed in the previous summer, shows Puhh playing Mercury. Whether theatricals were “her thing” I do not know; the cast appears to comprise all the second year students of King’s House. Interestingly, in the list of appointments in the same magazine she is named as Russell, E Alice A, further indicating a preference to be known by her second name.



In the 1911 census Puhh is shown as resident in Westham, Weymouth where she was an assistant teacher at a Weymouth Borough Council school. From this I guess that it was in Weymouth that she met George Charles Bawden (Huckleberry), whom she married in 1918[8]. (I have a photo postcard[9] from George addressed to Mr & Mrs Russell, Parkhust, IoW dated 17 June 1917 so they first met before then. From this I also assume that Puhh’s father, Walter, had transferred to Parkhurst prison).



Thereafter, until 1939, I know little more of Puhh’s life than those events detailed in my notes on Huckleberry and my father. It is possible that she suffered a miscarriage between the birth of Walter Harry and Charles Roskelly[10]. Presumably Puhh, as was the practice at that time, gave up teaching when she married. In the 1939 Register[11] she is recorded as undertaking unpaid domestic duties.



In 1945 she applied to join the Mothers’ Union[12] and was admitted in 1946[13].

After Huckleberry died, Puhh stayed on for many years in the new bungalow that they purchased in West Parley. Eventually, however, it became clear that she needed to be nearer family support and in 1976 she moved into a flat in Wellesley Court, Richings Park[14] to be close to Jean and Charles. There she managed without help for about a year but after that Jean took over preparing her meals and visiting her every day. From the point of moving in she had had some odd immovable ideas. For instance, she couldn’t understand that she had purchased the flat fully carpeted so she deployed “stepping stones” of small mats so that she didn’t cause wear to the carpets. Later she began “annexing” library books, removing the date sheet from them and claiming them as her own. My mother had to rescue them and restore them to the library. She steadily became more fanciful and when she started wandering off Jean and Charles found accommodation for her in a care home in Harlestone[15].

 

In 1983 she suffered a fall in the house, breaking her hip. She was operated upon at Norfolk and Norwich Hospital but died a day or so after on 24 May 1983[16][17].



My memory of her is of someone with very fixed ideas and very little sense of humour. She had a keen sense of “duty” and was always eager to help but lacked the empathy to understand that it wasn’t always necessary, or even desired.

---

[1] Birth registration GRO reference 1888 Mar Portsea 2b 453.

[2] 1891 England and Wales census RG12/859/81/4.

[3] 1901 England and Wales census RG13/1997/80/45.

[4] Letter from the Chaplain’s Office, Portland Prison, dated 27 July 1906, currently in my possession.

[5] Letter from Sarah H Batchelor, Head Mistress of Prison Officers’ Girls’ School, Portland, dated 7 February 1908, currently in my possession.

[6] Archbishop’s Certificate in Divinity, currently in m possession.

[7] Board of Education Teacher Certificate, currently in my possession.

[8] Marriage registration GRO reference 1918 Jun Isle of Wight 2B 1308.

[9] Photograph 400.

[10] Undocumented conversation with Janet Mary Mitchell (née Bawden).

[11] 1939 National Register RG101/6938A/004/42.

[12] Mothers’ Union preparation card, dated 24 June 1945, currently in my possession.

[13] Mothers’ Union admission certificate, dated 9 January 1946, currently in my possession.

[14] Jean Barham Bawden (née Johnson) autobiographical notes.

[15] Ibid.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Death registration GRO reference 1983 Jun Norwich 10 1797.