d.28/02/1924
Born in Darlington, had 6 children, husband's cotton spinning went bankrupt, widowed, moved to Berko
Relatives
Research:
Eliza Booth – died 28th. February 1924, aged 82 years
Eliza Booth was born in May 1841 in Darlington, County Durham, the fourth daughter of Edward Kipling, a Leather Merchant and his wife Charlotte, nee Kane. She appears in the 1841 Census, just one month old, with her parents and older sisters – Mary Jane (5), Frances Elizabeth (4) and Charlotte (2). They are living in Mount Pleasant in Darlington.
By 1851 the family have moved to Paradise Terrace and Edward, now aged 43, is listed as a Currier and Leather Merchant employing 20 workmen (a Currier is a specialist in leather processing) Eliza is now 9 and at school with her three sisters.
The family lived at the same address for some years, but Eliza’s mother sadly died at the beginning of 1862, aged 60, leaving Edward, by now a prosperous local businessman, a widower with four daughters.
In June 1866 the Durham County Advertiser announced Eliza’s marriage at Paradise Chapel in Darlington to John Thomas Booth, eldest son of Thomas Booth, Esq. of Harelands, Rochdale. Thomas Booth was a cotton Spinner, co-owning a firm which, according to an earlier Census, employed 45 men, 87 women, 39 boys and 76 girls!
The 1871 Census finds Eliza and John living in Hare Street, Castleton, Rochdale. John is also listed as a Cotton Spinner so has presumably gone into his father’s business. They now have a son, Edward Kipling Booth (2) and two young daughters, Charlotte (1) and Mary, aged just 4 months. Eliza also has two live-in maids to help with the household.
During the late 70’s and early 80’s however, it appears that the family business was struggling. Articles in the local and national press show that there was an application for liquidation of the company in 1877. They seemed to have survived this however – (it is tempting to wonder whether Eliza’s father helped his son-in-law out financially?)
In the 1881 Census, John – listed as a Yarn and Commission Agent – is living with his family at Castleton Villas, Rochdale, he is 37 and Eliza 39. They now have six children, Edward is 12, Charlotte 11, Mary 10, Thomas 8, Rachel 6 and Francis 4.
Sadly the family’s financial difficulties hadn’t gone away and in 1888 he was declared bankrupt. Eliza’s father, Edward Kipling had died in 1880. He was described in the Darlington local press as ‘ . . .a Borough Magistrate and Alderman and one of the earliest Mayors of the town . . .a leading member of the Methodist church and a director of the local Bank . . ‘. Eliza had also lost her 10 year-old son Thomas in an accident in October,1882 – a Coroner’s Inquest recorded the stark fact that he died at home of ‘Concussion of the brain, crushed by the fall of a flag stone’.
The accident and bankruptcy must have been traumatic for the family and certainly split them physically. At the 1891 Census Eliza is still living at Castleton Villas, but without John (though she still lists herself as ‘married’) . Her son Edward (23) and daughter Mary (20) are living with her and she is listed as ‘living on her own means’ so her father had presumably made provision for her. Her 16 year-old daughter Rachel and 14 year-old son Frank had been sent away to Boarding School in Lancashire and daughter Charlotte (21) had married John C. Yewdall in 1890
By 1901 Eliza is still in Rochdale, living at 161 Manchester Road, but now listed as a widow. She is 59 and her unmarried daughter Rachel (26) is with her. Also staying there is her daughter Mary (30), Mary’s husband Herbert Taylor and 9-month old son Herbert Geoffrey. Herbert is listed as an Engineer and the baby was born in Argentina, presumably while he was working there?
At some time before the next Census the family re-locates to Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, perhaps keen to make a fresh start? In 1911 Eliza and her daughter Rachel are living at Cross Oak Road, Berkhamsted – Eliza is 69 and Rachel 35. Her eldest son Edward is living with his wife and two children in Aldenham and his brother Francis married Rosetta Footner of Berkhamsted in 1912. Francis served as a 1st. Lieutenant in the RASC from 1914 to 1922 and later also went out to Argentina where he died in 1934. Mary and her husband were presumably off on their travels again, though their young son had been left in boarding school in England. Eliza’s daughter Charlotte also subsequently moved to Cross Oak Road.
Eliza’s daughter Rachel passed away in April 1914 at the early age of 39. Eliza herself died on 28th. February 1924, aged 82, after a long and eventful life, and joined her daughter in rest at Rectory Lane Cemetery.