My Mum’s family were fairly long-lived and indeed, both her own mother and one of her aunts reached their centenaries. Both celebrated their golden weddings with their husbands and, indeed, my Nana Brown was married for 70 years. They lived through two world wars and much much more; how were their milestones celebrated?

Elizabeth Sarah Fage (my Nana Brown) was one of eight Fage children. The stories of the three eldest boys, Fred, Albert and Jesse, are told here. Beth was the eldest daughter; her sister Annie Vera, known as Vera, was born when she was nine years old, and was the second youngest. The other two sisters were Susie and Dot. Another son, Jim Edward Fage, died when he was 11 years old. Their parents, my maternal great grandparents, were William John Fage, a Market Gardener’s Labourer, and his wife Alice Cade.

Elizabeth Sarah Fage (1901-2002): My Nana Brown

Born on 30 October 1901, she had married Horace Brown in Sandy, Bedfordshire, on 24 February 1923 and had nine children, all of whom survived to old age. From newspaper cuttings of tributes and condolences she and her husband sent to other family members, it seems that she was variously known as Lizzie or, more often, Beth, although I don’t recall ever hearing her called that. To us as children, and even in later life, she was always Nana Brown.

The stories of her life in service before her marriage, and of raising her family in Bedfordshire, Essex and London during and after WW2, have been told elsewhere. After they retired from their hardware business in London, they moved with their eldest and youngest sons, Harold and Michael, to a bungalow in Pinchbeck, near Spalding in Lincolnshire. In February 1993, they celebrated their Platinum wedding anniversary, as reported in the Lincolnshire Free Press on 23 February that year. My Mum kept the cutting from the newspaper (below), which notes that they were hoping for an anniversary card from the Queen, to follow those received for their Golden and Diamond anniversaries.

Her husband of 71 years died on 9 July 1994, aged 93. At that time, all nine of their ‘children’ and 13 of their 14 grandchildren were still alive, with several of the latter having had children of their own. This is one of the last photos taken of Horace Brown in the 1990s:

Nana Brown was increasingly housebound during her last decade, her mobility restricted both by blindness and arthritis which affected her ability to walk far. But she still enjoyed a wicked sense of humour and interest in the family.

The photos above show her celebrating her 100th birthday with her grown up children on 28 October 2001 (see invitation below). L-R, from back row: Ron, Dorothy, Brenda, Michael, Evelyn, Vera and Veeny. Front row: Harold, Nana, Noreen (my Mum).

Beth outlived my Mother, who died a month after the birthday party. Nana Brown died the following year, on 8 December 2002, of ‘old age’.

Annie Vera Fage (1910-2011): Mum’s Aunty Vera

Growing up, I knew Nana Brown’s sister as ‘Aunty Vera’, which is what my Mum called her. Like Nana Brown, she was born in Sandy and, unlike her, lived there all her life. She was born on 4 October 1910 and made her first census appearance in 1911, aged just six months. As she was just ten years old and still at Sandy School full-time when the 1921 census was taken, I know very little about her early life.

This poor photocopy (below) is of a photo from our Nana’s collection, showing Vera Fage, probably towards the end of the 1920s, when she would have been about 18 years old.

The Biggleswade Chronicle of 6 October 1933 (below) describes the ‘very pretty church wedding’ which took place the previous Saturday, 30 September between Miss Annie Vera Fage and Mr Eric Beaumont Whiteman at Sandy’s Parish Church.

It seems both bride and groom were well-respected by their employers, who gave significant wedding gifts, including a mirror, two chairs and a tea service and a cheque. From a later newspaper cutting about their golden wedding, it seems that Vera had worked as a Parlour Maid at Cople House, Cople and later at ‘Pembley Place’, Bedford, before she married.

Cople House was occupied by the Barnard family, bankers of Bedford, for nearly a century, between 1855 and 1947, so would have been her employers in the 1920s/1930s. Hosted By Bedford Borough Council: Cople House gives details of the property at the time of its sale in 1947, with a total of 15 bedrooms for use of the family, and a further six bedrooms for use of the domestic staff. The rest of the property featured several principal living rooms, kitchens, several bathrooms and WCs, sculleries, housekeepers’ room, servants’ hall and numerous outbuildings. It was destroyed by fire in 1971, only the stables surviving, which were subsequently converted into three dwellings.

I have not been able to find anything out about Pembley Place (should this be Pemberly Place?). Pemberly Avenue in Bedford is the site of Bedford School, and there are some substantial properties there, any one of which could have been called Pembley or Pemberly Place.

From records at TNA, it seems that Eric’s employers Messrs Frederick Gales were ironmongers and fitters of sanitary wares. Bedfordshire Archives lists them in more detail as Builders’ Merchants, paint manufacturer, paper hangings, sanitary ware and window glass merchant. Everything you could possibly want for your home.

Eric Beaumont Whiteman grew up in Moggerhanger, not far from Sandy. He was born in 1911. In 1926, a local newspaper reported on the arrest of four men, two dressed as women, who were accused of stealing an organ from a field. ‘Eric Whiteman’, Carpenter’s Apprentice of Council Cottages, Muggerhanger (sic), witnessed the four people dancing around an organ, which he recognised as having belonged to a local man (Biggleswade Chronicle, 10 September 1926. FindMyPast).

According to an article published around the time of the couple’s Golden Wedding, they were introduced to each other by an usherette at the local cinema at a showing of Ben Hur. They ‘courted’ for five years before marrying in 1933. They seem to have set up their own home in Sandy, as electoral registers show them there in 1934.

The 1939 Register finds them at 4 Potton Road, Sandy, with their two sons and niece, my Mum, Noreen Elizabeth Brown, a nine year old evacuee. Eric Beaumont Whiteman is working as a Chauffeur/Handyman. Other records show that he was employed by Sir Percy Malcolm Stewart, Baronet, of Sandy Lodge, from around 1936, and the small family moved into the Lodge Gates free of charge in return for his labour. This would tie in with Mum’s recollections of visiting The Lodge with her Aunty Vera, and helping the latter with some cleaning. The Lodge subsequently became the HQ of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

In September 1940, Eric Beaumont Whiteman joined the Royal Army Service Corps. The Biggleswade Chronicle of 4 October of that year carried the notice, left, of the fact and of his former occupation.

He also served with the Tank Transport Company, in Belgium and in Germany, for the duration of WW2. It must have been an anxious time for his family back home. This photo of ‘Uncle Eric’ was amongst my Mum’s photo albums, dated 1945.

The end of WW2 also marked an end to Eric’s employment with Sir Malcolm and Lady Stewart. Their third son, Paul J Whiteman, was born in 1945 and their youngest son Richard J Whiteman, a year after his father returned from the War.

From an article in the Bedfordshire Times and Independent of 13 September 1946, it seems that the family were evicted from their estate cottage, the paper taking the Baronet’s side, declaring the failure of the Whitemans’ appeal as a success. The article reveals that Eric was employed by him from April 1936 and “was given possession of a cottage on the estate known as Lodge Gate. No rent was charged”. When he left to join the Army, his wife and two children moved into another cottage (18 Kings Road) at “the wish of Lady Stewart”. By now he had three children and was employed as a motor mechanic at Sandy, but it had been impossible to find another house when the family were asked to leave. The judge was sympathetic to the family’s plight, but acknowledged that Sir Percy Stewart should repossess the cottage for one of his workers, and gave them until 1 December (just over two months) to find somewhere else to live.

The electoral registers of 1949 find them at 28 Cambridge Road, Sandy, which was to be their home for at least four more decades. The couple were much involved in the local Sandy community and celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary on 30 September 1983. They were joined by many friends and relatives for a party at Sandy Village Hall the following evening. The article (below) from The Biggleswade Chronicle of 30 September that year reports on the planned event and provides much detail of their long married life together.

Other local newspapers articles record that, from the 1960s, Eric was heavily involved in the annual Sandy Show, was Secretary of the local British Legion and Chair of Sandy Albion Football Supporters’ Club. ‘Aunty Vera’ was also involved in the local community, acting as ‘tea lady’ for the supporters’ club, and being a member of the Women’s branch of the British Legion. On 4 June 1982, she was presented with a poppy brooch and certificate to mark her 15 years as a poppy seller for the local Royal British Legion. She received them at a special dinner for officers from USAF Chicksands.

Eric Beaumont Whiteman died the following year, as reported in the same newspaper on 7 September 1984, just a couple of weeks before their 51^st wedding anniversary. The headline read ‘Eric’s death will be mourned by many’. The obituary says that, although he had been ill for some time, not really having recovered from the removal of a kidney, his death in Bedford Hospital still came as a shock to his family.

This photo from my Mum’s collection shows her mother, my Nana Brown (right), with Aunty Vera, possibly around the time of Nana’s 100th birthday.

On 19 June 2009, Aunty Vera attended the wedding at Old Warden of her nephew Michael William Charles Brown, my Uncle, and Shirley. My Dad took the photos.

L-R: Annie Vera Whiteman, Shirley and Michael Brown, 2009

Annie Vera Whiteman died, aged 100, in Bedford Hospital on 9 March 2011, and was buried at St John the Evangelist, Moggerhanger, alongside her husband.