Field of Dust
Page 24
‘Whether we like it or not,’ Henry replied, ‘I fear amalgamation may be the only solution to the problems facing the industry right now. There’s going to be a lot of unemployment though, Sam. Not all the works will survive, and that will affect everyone else – coopers, bargemen and the like – just as much.’
It wasn’t what Sam wanted to hear, but he sensed that Henry was right. ‘Hard times ahead, then,’ he said, banging his tankard down on the table.
On the 10th of July 1900, Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers was registered as a company. Twenty-four cement companies, owning a total of thirty-five cement plants, were amalgamated, nine of them between Swanscombe and Northfleet.
As Henry had speculated, the amalgamation wasn’t popular with riverside tradesmen, who saw the demise of the small firms as a nail in the coffin for their businesses. There was angry talk in the alehouses, though little could be done to halt the lay-offs. The fate of thousands of workers now hung in the balance.
‘So, Floss, how did you enjoy Christmas in Scotland?’ Jess asked.
‘It was beautiful, and so lovely to see the McPhersons in their own home. They made Henry and I feel very welcome.’
‘I suppose it makes sense, you going all the way up there. It must be difficult for them to travel right now.’
‘Four children and another on the way,’ sighed Flossie.
‘I can barely get to the shops and back without losing one of these,’ Jess laughed, gathering her children around her. ‘I’ll tell you what, though, let’s leave these with my ma and then we can go for a walk – just like old times.’
The two of them strolled to the Undershore, making their way through the alleyways they had roamed as children, before emerging outside the deserted Rosherville Gardens.
‘I cannot believe this,’ Floss said, pointing at the bill posted on the entrance kiosk. ‘It says it’s up for auction.’
‘It’s gone bankrupt,’ confirmed Jess. ‘Londoners can afford to go to the seaside for the day now, so they’re not coming here anymore. Who would think such a magical place would ever close? It seems impossible that we won’t see those much longer, either,’ she added, pointing to two passing horse-drawn trams. After much debate about the respective merits of gas and electricity, it had finally been agreed by the corporation to use electricity for the tramways and street lighting.
‘At least we might be able to get across the road without having to lift our skirts so high,’ Flossie laughed.
‘So tell me more,’ Jess continued. ‘Any more news of your mother and that waste of a husband she seems unable to leave?’
‘Well, it seems she has left him and retrieved her son William from the Wisbech Workhouse. They are living with a widower in Ipswich.’
‘Goodness. How old is William?’
‘Fourteen, and old enough to earn her some money, no doubt. Henry Oxer is back living with his mother in that disgusting place, Bond Court.’
‘It’s the end of an era and things will change, my dearest Floss. What with the war in South Africa and the old Queen gone, I suppose we’ll be calling ourselves Edwardians from now on.’
There had been several public processions and services in memory of the much-loved Queen Victoria, who had died on 22nd January 1901. No one was sure how her pleasure-seeking son Bertie would fare as King Edward VII.
‘Edwardians… how strange that sounds,’ Flossie repeated. ‘No, we two are definitely Victorians, but our children won’t be.’
Jess blinked and gave her a quizzical look. ‘Our children?’ she said.
Flossie blushed, aware that her slip of the tongue placed her in an awkward position. Turning to her friend, she looked her straight in the eyes.
‘I do have some news of my own, Jess, but I’ve been waiting to pick the right moment.’ Taking her hand, she pressed it against her stomach.
‘You’re not!’ Jess shrieked. ‘Florence Luck, you weren’t going to tell me, were you?’
‘I was, dearest Jess. I just didn’t know how. It’s such a surprise. We had all but given up hope, especially now I’m almost thirty-two.’
The two women hugged each other, half-laughing and half-crying.
‘A baby Luck, at last. Well, I never. About time too! I didn’t think it polite to ask.’ Jess fumbled for her handkerchief. ‘I thought you had no time for children, being so hell-bent on getting every woman in England to join a union?’
‘I shan’t be able to travel to Scotland next Christmas, that’s for sure.’ Flossie smiled. ‘And there’s a bit more news which will surprise you, too. I have given up my job as Henry is so worried about my delicate state. Since he spends all his time here, what with the unemployment over the cement combine and all that, we’ve decided to move back to Northfleet.’
Jess clapped her hands together in sheer joy. ‘Oh, Floss, I am so pleased. How wonderful! About everything, I mean. You know I was only teasing you about the job.’
‘I know you were,’ laughed Flossie. ‘The job is important and I certainly intend to continue the fight, but at the moment I think it’s best for me and Baby Luck to leave the campaigning to the likes of Elizabeth Knight. After all, she’s in a far better position than me to fight for change.’
Kissing Jess on the cheek, Flossie paused before continuing.
‘You know, we’ve come such a long way, but women like us don’t have the choices that women like Elizabeth have, let alone the freedom that men enjoy by not being the child-bearers. That’s why for now, I’m going to concentrate my energies on giving my child all the love and security I can.’
‘We didn’t have a bad childhood here, did we?’ Jess asked.
‘No,’ Flossie replied. ‘It could have been a lot worse.’
Author’s Postscript
With no bidders, Rosherville Gardens, the place Londoners went to spend a happy day, closed in 1902.
Following the amalgamation of the largest British cement manufacturing companies of the time, Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers Ltd eventually closed down its entire Northfleet works, with the exception of Bevan’s. After modernisation in 1925, Bevan’s Portland Cement Works became the largest of its kind in Europe.
On Thomas Bevan’s death in 1907, his three sons took over the business. For reasons of his own, he bequeathed to his daughter, Mary Pauline, forty thousand pounds on the condition that she did not marry a clergyman. On 24th September that same year, she married the Reverend Ernest Watkins Grubb at Christ Church, Westminster. A newspaper report, entitled Heiress’s Love Match, described it as a real love romance.
Elizabeth Knight, the wealthiest woman doctor of her time, became a prominent campaigner for women’s suffrage. She was sent to prison for calling at 10 Downing Street to ask Prime Minister Asquith why he had promised more votes for men, but not for women. She was imprisoned twice more for refusing to pay taxes while supporting the ‘No Vote, No Tax’ campaign. Dr Knight died in 1931 after being hit by a car in Brighton. Unwilling to go to hospital, she succumbed to internal injuries two weeks later.
Mary and Henry Oxer never got back together after Mary retrieved her son William from the workhouse. Private William George Allen Oxer of the 2nd Battalion, the Suffolk Regiment, was killed in action in Flanders during the Great War. Mary died shortly afterwards.
Andrew and Lottie McPherson remained in Scotland. They lost their beloved son to diphtheria, but went on to have four more girls. Like their mother, they all knew how to get their own way.
After the birth of her only child, a daughter named Emmeline, Flossie never went back to work for the union, though she remained committed to the cause of women’s suffrage and continued to support Henry’s fight for working people. The Lucks continued to live close to their devoted friends Jessie and Stanley Bull.
Sam and Lizzie Gant carried on producing children. Sam acknowledged having fathered fourteen in
all, including the boy born to Mary Oxer. The list, however, did not include Flossie.
Maud Eliza Gant, their fourth girl, born in 1893, was my grandmother.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks go to Chris Manning and Kevin Scott – members of the Essex Gant family – who helped solve some early mysteries and set me on the right track.
I am also particularly grateful to Ken McGoverin, chairman of the Northfleet History Group, for allowing me access to his personal research on the area’s cement industry.
Useful Sources
Genealogy, Family Trees and Family History Records
(www.ancestry.co.uk).
Medway Archives & Local Studies (www.medway.gov.uk/libraries).
Gravesham Borough Council
(www.discovergravesham.co.uk).
The Northfleet Harbour Restoration Trust
(www.northfleetharbour.org.uk).
Memories of Northfleet by the Riverside (2010) and Memories of Northfleet High Street (2007), booklets by Alex Pavitt.
The Place to Spend a Happy Day by Lynda Smith, Gravesend Historical Society, Northfleet Press (2006).
Rags and Bones: A Social History of a Working-Class Community in Nineteenth-Century Ipswich by Frank Grace, Unicorn Press Publishing Group (2005).
The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin, HarperCollins Publishers Inc. (2004).
London’s Lost Riverscape by Chris Ellmers and Alex Werner, Penguin Books Ltd (1988).
For the Sake of the Children: Inside Dr Barnardo’s, 120 Years of Caring for Children by June Rose, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd (1987).
History of Gravesend by F. A. Mansfield, reprinted by Rochester Press (1981).
An Historical Walk Through Gravesend and Northfleet by Robert Heath Hiscock, Gravesend Historical Society, Phillimore & Co. Ltd (1976).
The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon by W.T. Stead, Pall Mall Gazette (1885).
Victorian London by James Greenwood, Diprose & Bateman (1883).
Street Life in London by John Thomson and Adolphe Smith, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington (1877).
A Month at Gravesend 1863 by Elizabeth Jane Brabazon, Kessinger Legacy reprints (2010).
About the Author
Angela Jean Young grew up in Gravesend, Kent. Her family has lived and worked on the River Thames for generations - which is what inspires her writing. Her autobiographical novel Hollow Victory (2014) charted a teenager’s coming-of-age journey through the Swinging Sixties. Angela worked as a researcher in London’s dynamic advertising scene and now concentrates on writing and historical research.