Photos courtesy of Keith Whitmore
THE COPYRIGHT TO THESE ARTICLES REMAINS WITH THE WRITERS AND/OR SWANLEY HISTORY GROUP AND SHOULD NOT BE COPIED OR REPRODUCED WITHOUT THEIR WRITTEN PERMISSION.
THE COPYRIGHT TO THESE ARTICLES REMAINS WITH THE WRITERS AND/OR SWANLEY HISTORY GROUP AND SHOULD NOT BE COPIED OR REPRODUCED WITHOUT THEIR WRITTEN PERMISSION.
Great Aunt Frances
Frances (Fanny) Atkins, my Great Aunt, was born in a very small cottage in Prospect Row Swanley Village c1821 just on the brow of Highlands Hills. She was baptised Frances Allchin Atkins January 16th, 1871 at St Paul’s Church, Allchin being her mother’s maiden name.
Frances’ complete school and Sunday School career 1876 – 1884 was in the care of headmistress Miss Jane Stanley. Frances’ most pleasant memory was of the day she was presented with a silver thimble by Mrs Fanning of Parkwood, then a private house, for proficiency in needlework. Her most embarrassing recollection was of the day when the first vicar Rev M.S. Edgell entered the schoolroom and was shocked (or at least pretended to be) to find Frances standing in the corner holding up a slate inscribed “I must not talk.”
Miss Stanley and Frances both started at the school in 1876 and left in 1884. Miss Stanley left to marry and later went to Africa with her husband only to return in later life. Aged ten in 1881 Frances was living with her family at Vancouver Cottage on Highlands Hill a 16th century dwelling, quite crowded I would imagine as there were eight children. Also living there were Thomas Turner, Wesleyan Minister, and his wife Helen, James Dalton and his son Phillip and three teenage female boarders, a total of seventeen. Having seen the house, I would say by today’s standards it would be a three bed detached with small dining room, generous lounge and small kitchen. There is a small yard to the left and the elevated garden is reached via about eight steps, the front door opening directly onto the road (now unused).
Frances remained a spinster in the village and after all her siblings had married she was left to look after her father’s failing health, at the family home in Malthouse Cottage School Lane. We know she had at least one admirer from a postcard we have headed ‘Dear F’ and ending with his initial.
In the 1891 census she was described as a domestic servant. She also took in washing and ironing for the gentry of the village. Her sister Eliza’s two sons Harry and Jim from Swanley Lane would collect and deliver the laundry in wheelbarrows. A story which was passed down to all of us was of Harry and Jim walking somewhere near the church in the village, approaching them was a young lady dressed in black Victorian clothes and shoes, with brown hair. The young lady continued to walk straight through them. Stories of her have been reported over the years but no one has been able to identify her.
Frances also took over from her mother as caretaker of the Church after her mother’s death on 1901 and carried on until 1926, this was a joy to her. Edith, her niece, sometimes helped her clean the church but Frances insisted they wear bonnets in respect. Bishop Harmer once congratulated her on how well she kept the church. She was also a wizard on her Singer sewing machine, making all her own clothes and some for others too. The machine was eventually handed down to my mother and I remember whenever mum was using it my sister and I argued over who would turn the handle.
Young Frances was a favourite girl of Rev M S Edgell (the first Vicar) who built Corner Cottage, Model Cottages, Orchard and Briar Cottages in the village. Being intimately connected with the Church she knew Mrs Jane Edgell, the Vicar’s wife, well and remembered the talk the Vicar gave to the schoolchildren on his return from the Holy Land. Frances and her brothers were present in the choir at the second vicar’s wedding CJM Shaw at Penshurst. On their return home they were all surprised to see an archway of flowers had been erected for them at the top of Highlands Hill. Not surprisingly she was also in the choir at St Paul’s and wore a picturesque dress that the girls robed in when Rev J Savill became the third vicar. She remembered the joy of being a church worker during this vicariate as all were a happy band under his leadership. To her, as to others, it was the golden age of the village.
Frances was remembered in the Swanley Village Parish News in October 1962. Quote – Miss Atkins can take legitimate pride in the services rendered to the Church by three generations of her family. Her mother and her uncle laboured for it in its early days, she and three of her brothers worked for it and several of her nephews were loyal local choir boys. The parish appreciated her kindness in giving her reminiscences and congratulated her on retaining such a wonderful memory.
After her father died in 1925 Frances was on her own aged 54. Unable financially to keep the family house she acquired a position as a live-in housekeeper to two bachelor gentlemen Mr M & Mr E Wood in a large c 1835 residence 27 Central Parade Herne Bay directly on the sea front complete with a coach house. Frances was still there in 1939 aged 69. For whatever reason after this she moved to live with her sister Mary and her husband Will at Churt, Surrey, described as “Keeper’s Cottage” a 15th century property nestled deep inside a tranquil and beautiful place near The Devil’s Punchbowl.
When Mary, her sister died in 1956 Frances, quite frail by now, stayed on for a while to look after her brother in law, Will, but eventually moved back to Swanley to live with her niece Edith Wharton (my aunt). I remember going to visit with Mum on our bicycles to Hewett Place, Swanley.
It became more difficult to care for Frances at home so she went to a care home in Tonbridge in 1962 and died there in 1963, aged 91. She was interred at her beloved St Paul’s Swanley Village, together with her sister Eliza, her brothers and many other relatives and friends.
It seems that all her life Frances was looking after relatives, never having a proper home or many possessions to call her own after her father died. Her one long lasting love was for the church and especially St Paul’s Swanley Village.
Copyright Keith Whitmore 2018
Frances (Fanny) Atkins, my Great Aunt, was born in a very small cottage in Prospect Row Swanley Village c1821 just on the brow of Highlands Hills. She was baptised Frances Allchin Atkins January 16th, 1871 at St Paul’s Church, Allchin being her mother’s maiden name.
Frances’ complete school and Sunday School career 1876 – 1884 was in the care of headmistress Miss Jane Stanley. Frances’ most pleasant memory was of the day she was presented with a silver thimble by Mrs Fanning of Parkwood, then a private house, for proficiency in needlework. Her most embarrassing recollection was of the day when the first vicar Rev M.S. Edgell entered the schoolroom and was shocked (or at least pretended to be) to find Frances standing in the corner holding up a slate inscribed “I must not talk.”
Miss Stanley and Frances both started at the school in 1876 and left in 1884. Miss Stanley left to marry and later went to Africa with her husband only to return in later life. Aged ten in 1881 Frances was living with her family at Vancouver Cottage on Highlands Hill a 16th century dwelling, quite crowded I would imagine as there were eight children. Also living there were Thomas Turner, Wesleyan Minister, and his wife Helen, James Dalton and his son Phillip and three teenage female boarders, a total of seventeen. Having seen the house, I would say by today’s standards it would be a three bed detached with small dining room, generous lounge and small kitchen. There is a small yard to the left and the elevated garden is reached via about eight steps, the front door opening directly onto the road (now unused).
Frances remained a spinster in the village and after all her siblings had married she was left to look after her father’s failing health, at the family home in Malthouse Cottage School Lane. We know she had at least one admirer from a postcard we have headed ‘Dear F’ and ending with his initial.
In the 1891 census she was described as a domestic servant. She also took in washing and ironing for the gentry of the village. Her sister Eliza’s two sons Harry and Jim from Swanley Lane would collect and deliver the laundry in wheelbarrows. A story which was passed down to all of us was of Harry and Jim walking somewhere near the church in the village, approaching them was a young lady dressed in black Victorian clothes and shoes, with brown hair. The young lady continued to walk straight through them. Stories of her have been reported over the years but no one has been able to identify her.
Frances also took over from her mother as caretaker of the Church after her mother’s death on 1901 and carried on until 1926, this was a joy to her. Edith, her niece, sometimes helped her clean the church but Frances insisted they wear bonnets in respect. Bishop Harmer once congratulated her on how well she kept the church. She was also a wizard on her Singer sewing machine, making all her own clothes and some for others too. The machine was eventually handed down to my mother and I remember whenever mum was using it my sister and I argued over who would turn the handle.
Young Frances was a favourite girl of Rev M S Edgell (the first Vicar) who built Corner Cottage, Model Cottages, Orchard and Briar Cottages in the village. Being intimately connected with the Church she knew Mrs Jane Edgell, the Vicar’s wife, well and remembered the talk the Vicar gave to the schoolchildren on his return from the Holy Land. Frances and her brothers were present in the choir at the second vicar’s wedding CJM Shaw at Penshurst. On their return home they were all surprised to see an archway of flowers had been erected for them at the top of Highlands Hill. Not surprisingly she was also in the choir at St Paul’s and wore a picturesque dress that the girls robed in when Rev J Savill became the third vicar. She remembered the joy of being a church worker during this vicariate as all were a happy band under his leadership. To her, as to others, it was the golden age of the village.
Frances was remembered in the Swanley Village Parish News in October 1962. Quote – Miss Atkins can take legitimate pride in the services rendered to the Church by three generations of her family. Her mother and her uncle laboured for it in its early days, she and three of her brothers worked for it and several of her nephews were loyal local choir boys. The parish appreciated her kindness in giving her reminiscences and congratulated her on retaining such a wonderful memory.
After her father died in 1925 Frances was on her own aged 54. Unable financially to keep the family house she acquired a position as a live-in housekeeper to two bachelor gentlemen Mr M & Mr E Wood in a large c 1835 residence 27 Central Parade Herne Bay directly on the sea front complete with a coach house. Frances was still there in 1939 aged 69. For whatever reason after this she moved to live with her sister Mary and her husband Will at Churt, Surrey, described as “Keeper’s Cottage” a 15th century property nestled deep inside a tranquil and beautiful place near The Devil’s Punchbowl.
When Mary, her sister died in 1956 Frances, quite frail by now, stayed on for a while to look after her brother in law, Will, but eventually moved back to Swanley to live with her niece Edith Wharton (my aunt). I remember going to visit with Mum on our bicycles to Hewett Place, Swanley.
It became more difficult to care for Frances at home so she went to a care home in Tonbridge in 1962 and died there in 1963, aged 91. She was interred at her beloved St Paul’s Swanley Village, together with her sister Eliza, her brothers and many other relatives and friends.
It seems that all her life Frances was looking after relatives, never having a proper home or many possessions to call her own after her father died. Her one long lasting love was for the church and especially St Paul’s Swanley Village.
Copyright Keith Whitmore 2018