Edith Elizabeth Swinfield (1884-1976)

My grandmother "Gran", Edith Elizabeth Worsfold, was born on 30th March 1884 at Mayes in the parish of Warnham in Sussex as the daughter of James Worsfold (1852-1926) and his wife Mary Baker (1851-1929). They had married on 24th August 1874 in the church of St Nicholas in town of Guildford, Surrey. James was a domestic servant all of his life, progressing from footboy in 1871 to groom at his marriage and culminating in being a coachman by 1881. His career resulted in him moving about in the south of England wherever he could find employment. After working at Winchester, Guildford and Tunbridge Wells, by 1880 he was at Elmswell in Suffolk. Moving on to Warnham with his wife and three sons, his fourth and fifth children, both daughters, were born there in 1882 and 1884. Gran was baptised in the parish church on 27th April 1884.

When Gran was only two, her brother Horace Reginald died at the age of just 8 as the result of a tragic, and what must have been a very traumatic, scrumping expedition to gather apples. It took him two days to die from choking on a core! Fortunately, Edith would have been too young to remember it. He is buried in Warnham churchyard and his broken gravestone is still there to commemorate his very short life. Edith's son, my father Reg Swinfield can still recall taking two buses each way every year, and being entertained with the purchase of new crayons for the long journey from Camberley in Surrey to Warnham, to visit his uncle's grave.  

Warnham National School admission register 1887/8

Gran and her four siblings all attended Warnham National School, which is today a private house. She was enrolled on 9th April 1888 and she left the school and village on 26th April 1889 when her family moved to Frimley in Surrey. By 1891, her father had found a new position as a domestic coachman and they lived at Barossa Lodge, York Town, part of Camberley, where her youngest brother was born in 1889.

In 1901, her father James Worsfold, now a fly driver with a livery stable, his wife Mary and only their youngest son George were living at The Staff Hotel, York Town. Three of the older four surviving children had been found positions in service in large houses in London. Ernest was a married man of 25, who worked as a coachman groom and lived at 2 Gordon Street, St John's Westminster, and Minnie was the 19 year-old nursemaid to the children of William E.M. Tomlinson, M.P., J.P. and barrister, at 3 Richmond Terrace, St Margaret's Westminster. 

Amazingly, Edith was also in the Westminster area of London at the time of that census. Aged only 17, she was second housemaid to Henry R. Madocks, retired judge of the Bengal Civil Service, in a grand house at 32 Eaton Place, St Georges Hanover Square. Looking at the house today, one wonders if her bedroom was behind one of those windows in the attic. I can picture her day of lighting fires very early in the morning, carrying water around the house, followed by many hours of cleaning and drudgery. She must have had days off when she could meet or visit with her siblings in the same part of town or perhaps catch the train back home to Camberley.

1901 census of 32 Eaton Place, Westminster

By 1911, Harry, Edith and George were back at home with their parents at 29 London Road, Camberley. James Worsfold was a jobbing gardener whilst Mary ran a boarding house of eight rooms. Her sister Minnie also left service in Westminster by 1907 when she married George Collins, a chauffeur, at St Michael's church. Her father James was one of the witnesses. By 1911, they had settled at Portsmouth, Hampshire where she remained the rest of her life, dying in 1970.

Edith already knew her future husband by Christmas 1906 as Arthur Swinfield was a witness at the wedding of her brother Harry Worsfold to Louisa Boyce at nearby Bagshot church in Surrey. They did not marry for another seven years until their wedding was solemnised at St Michael's, York Town, on 4th August 1913. She recorded that they became "betrothed" on 20th July 1912. He was then a waiter of Camberley. Gran's father and two of her siblings, Minnie and Harry, were witnesses. It is known that in late 1901, Arthur had joined the Leicestershire Regiment and my father believes that he was in India at some point during his service. Certainly, by 1911, he had left the regiment and was working as a footman in the household of Charles Matthew Griffith, a retired Major General, who was born at Poona, Bombay. He was then an Army reservist.

Arthur Swinfield worked as a butler at the Royal Military College, located in Camberley, from 1912 to 1946 whilst he and Edith Elizabeth lived at 9 St Mary's Road, which was her parents home. He re-enlisted for the First World War serving with the Lincolnshire Regiment where he saw action at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle from 10th to 13th March 1915 where there were 7,000 British and 4,200 Indian casualties. Arthur was listed as one of the casualties in a list of 21st March.

Camberley News
17 December 1926

In January 1925, at the age of 40, Gran gave birth to her only child at Bagshot Nursing Home. Reginald Ernest Swinfield was to become my father. 

Her father, James Worsfold, then aged 74, fell in the bathroom of 9 St Mary's Road on the evening of 28th November 1926 whilst his wife Mary was trying to get him ready for bed. James was practically a cripple, according to the evidence given to the inquest held in the house, suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and chronic bronchitis. He struck his head on the bath causing a wound and concussion. Sadly, he lingered for a further seven days before he succumbed and died on 5th December. He was buried with great ceremony at St Michael's, York Town, where he had been a member of the choir for more than 21 years.

Mary Worsfold survived for a further two years before she too died at home at 9 St Mary's Road on 24th December 1929 from stomach cancer. One can only imagine how painful it must have been for Edith to care for both her father and mother in the last days of their lives. Both are buried in a grave very close near to St Michael's church.

Edith & Arthur Swinfield with other Worsfolds

By 1939, Arthur and Edith were living at 9 St Mary's Road, Camberley, Surrey. 

Arthur was working as a butler at the Royal Military College. The redacted member of the family would be young Reg Swinfield, then aged 14.    

Edith Swinfield (front row right) &
Arthur Swinfield (4th from left at back)
about 1950 at "Sunnymeade", 
Frimley Green, with members
of the Bird family    

After her husband Arthur died at home in 1956, Gran continued to lived there for many years. I remember visiting her weekly from my infant's school in York Town. We usually had "yellow fish" (smoked haddock) for lunch. She and I attended Camberley Congregational Church, just round the corner from her home, most Sunday mornings. She smoked Park Drive cigarettes and always had a bottle of sherry for the entertainment of her visitors. Gran spent Christmases and special occasions in her later life with her daughter-in-law's family at "Sunnymeade", in nearby Frimley Green. Edith had a lovely sense of humour and loved to be teased by my mother's brother Fred Bird.

Arthur, Evelyn & Edith Swinfield
with young Geoff about 1955 
at 33 Park Road, Camberley

Reg & Evelyn Swinfield (back row)
Edith & Arthur Swinfield (front row)
& Geoff Swinfield in 1952 
at 9 St Mary's Road, Camberley

Evelyn, Gran & Reg Swinfield
with Fred Bird at "Sunnymeade"
in 1974

Gran's 90th birthday
at Ballard Court, Camberley

For the final few years of her very long life, she moved into sheltered accommodation at Flat B1, Ballard Court, in Camberley. The Mayor visited to mark her 90th Birthday in 1974 and she died there on 24th August 1976. She and Arthur are remembered on a simple stone in St Michael's churchyard, York Town.