Elizabeth POWELL was christened 5 March 1871 in Bromfield. She was barely 2 years old at the time of her father's death in 1873 which, no doubt, would have had a profound effect on her family's situation. By 1873 the Powell family was living in Leintwardine, Herefordshire, which is near Ludlow on the border of Herefordshire and Shropshire.
In 1890 and 1894 Elizabeth, a domestic servant, gave birth to two sons, William Mason & Albert, both registered under her own surname.
Then on the 21st of June 1897 she married Samuel TURNER and soon after gave birth to their daughter, Mary Jane TURNER.
It is possible that Samuel TURNER is the father of all three of Elizabeth's children but we may never know for sure. William's second name of "MASON" seems to suggest that he, at least, could well have a different father to his brother and sister.
In the 1901 census, just four years after her marriage to Samuel TURNER, Elizabeth is
already a widow and working as a domestic servant in Pemberton, Lancashire while her three young children are being cared for by her family in Leintwardine, Herefordshire.
At the time of the 1901 Census, Elizabeth TURNER nee POWELL is working in Pemberton, Lancashire for John WOOD, a widowed Church of England Clergyman, and his two spinster daughters, Annie and Susan.
Although we know Elizabeth was actually born in Bromfield, Shropshire, she had lived all her life in Leintwardine, Herefordshire and gives that as her place of birth.
She may have been unaware she had not actually been born in Leintwardine.
There is a legend within the Powell family of a connection with a well-to-do family. Elizabeth's son, Albert was said to be an intelligent well spoken man who appeared to have been educated well beyond the level of a person from such a modest background. He served in the medical corp. during World War One but was unfortunate enough to be mustard gassed while on active service in France. As a result of this and other war injuries, he suffered poor health for the rest of his life, finally succumbing in the flu epidemic of 1957.
The life of female domestic servants at the turn of the 20th century was particularly hard.
Many had to hide the fact of husbands and/or children in order to find work.
This was especially so if those children were unfortunate enough to have been born out of wedlock. Children of domestics servants were often raised by relatives while their parents toiled for meagre wages in the homes of the better off. If they did not have family willing to look after them, these children, especially those who were illegitimate, might be placed in 'Baby Farms' where they could well be mistreated, sometimes to the point of death.
Domestic servants of both sexes were three times more likely than the general population to
end up in the Workhouse or to bare children out of wedlock. Their long work days were full
of unending drudgery with little prospect of escape to a better life. Young, female domestics servants particularly could find themselves venerable to the unwanted advances of unscrupulous masters as well as those of male servants in the same household.
CENSUS DATA
Many thanks to Irene Harvey nee Powell, Reg, Horace, Ron & Albert Powell, Janet and Alan Tweedy for their help with compiling the above information
