Ancestral Trails 2016 » Elsie GOLDSMITH (1893-1969)

Persönliche Daten Elsie GOLDSMITH 

• Sie ist geboren am 4. Juni 1893 in Pirton, Hitchin, Hertfordshire.Quellen 2, 3, 4, 5
• Sie wurde getauft am 3. September 1893 in St Mary the Virgin, Pirton, Hitchin, Hertfordshire.Quellen 4, 5

  Age: 0

• Beruf: im Jahr 1911 Housemaid in 4 Bloomfield Road, Highgate.
• Wohnhaft:
• im Jahr 1915: 39 Martin Road, Finsbury Park.
• Pirton, Hitchin, Hertfordshire.Quelle 4
• im Jahr 1915: 39 Martin Rd, Finsbury Park, London N.Quelle 1
• Sie ist verstorben Juli 1969 in Pirton, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, sie war 76 Jahre alt.Quellen 3, 6, 7
• Ein Kind von Frederick GOLDSMITH und Prudence Elizabeth TITMUSS

Familie von Elsie GOLDSMITH

Sie ist verheiratet mit Albert John TITMUSS.

Sie haben geheiratet am 20. März 1916 in St Mary the Virgin, Pirton, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, sie war 22 Jahre alt.

Notizen bei Elsie GOLDSMITH

1901 aged 7, living at Cromwell Terrace, Pirton with her mother, Prudence Goldsmith, and siblings Grace, Frank, George, Lillian and Effie. Father working in Islington, London.

1911 aged 17, living at 4 Bloomfield Road, Highgate, Hornsey in the employment of physician Gerald Fitzgerald 46 and family. Also working here was her 2nd cousin Margaret Lizzie Abbiss 18.

When Albert and Elsie married on 20th March 1916, they probably had no time to make a family home, delaying that until the War was over. Albert was away at war most of the time and his young wife may well have gone on living with her own family. With war deaths soaring into the hundreds of thousands, Albert left England for France in May 1916, less than two months after his marriage to Elsie. By now he was Corporal Albert Titmuss, L/37084, of B Battery 169th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. No doubt Elsie and Albert wrote to each other as often as they could, their first wedding anniversary passed with them having shared so little married life together.

In September of that year he was back on leave in the peacefulness of Pirton, away from the horrors of the trenches. When he returned to France on 7th October, he had seen his home village and young wife for the last time. Two weeks later he was dead, Elsie a widow. On 23rd October, his battery had been getting their guns in action when a shell exploded nearby. Colleagues got him to a place of safety, but he died before they managed to get him to the dressing station. The grief to Elsie must have been intense. A young Pirton wife receiving the news that she dreaded; the end to dreams of a family life carved together when this terrible war was over. It is unlikely that she even received much comfort from the letter that she received from a Sergeant Gay: ´´ We respected him as a brave and fearless man. He had not been long with us in the battery, but we found him a true and honest comrade, respected by all the NCOs and men in the battery´.

He was buried at the Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Leper, Wrest-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Ref VI.J.7 Albert Titmuss´ war and life was over, but Elsie´s grief was to last a further 53 years....the distress shown by Elsie on learning of the death of her husband was profound. ``She seemed to turn white overnight and would not leave her room for days and meals, mainly uneaten, were taken to her

She continued to live in the same house with her parents, her brothers and sister moving on elsewhere in the village and beyond. The rest of the family felt so sorry for her tragedy and allowed her to help choose the names of her brothers´ and sisters´ children. It was her choice that Janet was so baptised.

In 1941 her mother, Prudence died and her father, Frederick, five years later. Elsie then lived on alone in the house where she had received the news of her husband´s death so many years earlier.

She never remarried and so brief was her marriage, that she was still known by some of her friends as Elsie Goldsmith. But whilst not having the life of which she must have dreamed of when she married in 1916, Elsie lived a life of great service to the community. She became a tireless worker for the St. Mary´s and, often working with her closest friends Minnie & Millie Walker, did great things for the village church and other groups, not least the W.I. She played a great part in raising money for the present blue carpet that runs down the full length of the aisle. This she helped choose and, with Cyril Goldsmith her nephew, subsequently purchased it. It was said at the time that `Elsie left her own memorial´ in the form of the carpet. She was also a teacher at St. Mary´s Sunday School in the 1930´s & a Bishop´s Messenger (an emissary of the Bishop to raise funds for the Diocese) in the 1940´s After a lifetime of village service, Elsie died in July 1969, aged 76.

Ensuring that the house in Walnut Tree Road stayed in the family, it was purchased by Janet and Bill Brown and Janet still lives there; the house in which the tragic news had reached her aunt nearly 90 years ago.

In the Parish Magazine of September 1969, the Rev. Canon Arthur Suffrin wrote: The death of Mrs Elsie Titmuss after a long illness which she fought bravely, removes from our sight a faithful worshipper and worker in church and village. She was a widow for half a century, and kept flowers on the war memorial window throughout the year in memory of her husband and other Pirton men who lost their lives in war. This was only one of a long list of good works which could be compiled, and the beautiful blue carpet in the church was one of the many money-raising efforts into which she, with others put much energy. May she rest in peace.

In St. Mary´s Garden of Rest there is a stone marking where the ashes of Elsie Titmuss were placed. Not far away in the churchyard is a gravestone on which is inscribed: George Titmuss died 16 Nov 1916 age 62, also son Albert killed in action in France 23 Oct 1917, aged 32, also Mary Wright died 20 January 1929 age 52, also Emma Juliana Titmuss died 1 Feb 1909, age 53. SOURCE: Janet Brown, Clare Baines, Michael Newbery, Brenda Dawson, Linda Smith, Denise Marshall and Jonty Wild ° The words `Thou leavest me to grieve´, Shelley 1816

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