MITCHENALL FAMILY HISTORY
Jane Mary
1864 - 1927
Jane Mary, the daughter of George and Mary, Georges second wife, was born in 1864. In 1871, at the census, she is living with her parents at 8 Caroline Cottages, just off Gipsy Road, Norwood, close to where her fathers Ironmongers was situated at 246 Gipsy Road. The Mitchenall family are not given names, just initials, but J, aged 7, must be Jane and is recorded as a scholar. 10 years later, given the name Jane, she is 17 but has no occupation. The family are now at 5 Bon Marche Terrace, at the back of the Ironmongers.
in 1891, still at home, she is employed as an Ironmongers assistant. Curiously she is now Mary J,, which confuses matters somewhat as she has an elder sister Mary Ann, her fathers eldest daughter by his first wife. His second wife is also Mary.
It is with her elder sister that the greatest confusion occurs, however, as Mary Ann's history is unclear but is also linked to her half sisters,
In 1901 Mary Jane - or Jane Mary - is at 246 Gipsy Road, although is given no profession this time.
Ten years later, her mother and father have died, and her brother George, who remained at 246 Gipsy Road, has also died. Jane Mary would have been 47 in 1911, and has moved to Eastbourne.
Mary Jane, with her sisters Agnes, Lily and Margaret, is running a boarding house at 10 Rylstone Road, Eastbourne. A visitor, Mrs WC Dubber, (for the week end) is her sister Sarah. The 1911 census shows her husband Mr WC Dubber at home with the children!
From this point on, running a boarding house in Eastbourne is what she, and her three sisters, do. Lily is totally deaf, but all are Boarding House keepers.
Jane Mary is still Mary Jane in 1928, when she died on the 16th June. 3 Cambridge Road is stated as her residence, and her effects of £493 are left to sister Agnes Charlotte.
10 Rylstone Road - now Westways.
3 Cambridge Road - just round the corner from Rylstone Road, number 3 is now combined with no 5 as a single address.
A Little more about the Boarding Houses in Eastbourne - a surmise
Why did Jane Mary move to Eastbourne with her three sisters? Agnes was a school teacher, but you may note that Lily Louise and Margaret are never recorded as in employment. Further, the 1901 census notes that Lily has deafness and Margaret, at 23, is partially blind. The 1911 census records that Lily is totally deaf at 33 years old.
So, what we know is that Jane Mary and Agnes Charlotte both took up residence in Eastbourne following the deaths of their mother and father, with their two youngest sisters, both of whom suffered disability. Further, after Jane Mary died, a niece, Clara Lavinia, joined the household. Although Lily and Margaret are recorded as boarding house keepers, their abilities would have been more restricted than Jane, Agnes or Lavinia. It seems likely that running the boarding house was a way that Mary and Agnes could care for their sisters in a situation where they could contribute in someway to the household. But is that correct?