Rhoda Shackleton
Nursing, St. John's Ambulance Brigade
Rhoda was born on 4th October 1883 in Bingley, one of seven children born to Alfred and Margaret Ann Mitchell nee Redman, also of Bingley. Her older siblings were Hary and Richard, her younger siblings were Hiram, Sarah Ann and Alice. There was another sibling who appears to have died in infancy.
In 1891 the Mitchell family lived at 18 Hermit Hole. Alfred worked as a worsted drawing overlooker. The children who were old enough were at school.
By 1901 they had moved to 24 Damems Road. Alfred was working as a warehouseman at a mill. Harry was in work, as a labourer and Richard was an apprentice (though I can't decipher the handwriting enough to say in what). Rhoda was 17, and a worsted spinner. Margaret's mother was living with the family also, meaning nine people were in the household at the time!
The Mitchell family on the 1901 census
Rhoda married William Shackleton in the second quarter of 1911 in Keighley. A search on ancestry shows a descendent who has recorded this as taking place on 3rd June 1911 at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel on Temple Street, though I haven't seen the record itself.
They had a son, Thomas, born in 1912 though he sadly died the same year.
Rhoda worked with the St. John's Ambulance Brigade, and joined the VAD service as a nurse, working at Spencer Street Auxiliary Hospital from 1915 until May 1916. She did this work without pay. Her husband William served with the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment though I am unsure of the battalion or dates.
In 1917 Rhoda and William had a daughter named Lucy.
Electoral registers show them as living at 32 Malsis Road in Keighley, as well as the 1939 England and Wales Register. At this time William worked as an engine tenter in a combing mill, Rhoda was in 'unpaid domestic duties', a common 'occupation' for women then!
The 1939 Register of England and Wales
Their daughter Lucy was an artificial silk weaver. She later married a Norman Hodgson and had children.
Rhoda died on 15th November 1950 and William on 14th August 1963, both in Keighley.
Sources:
England and Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
1891 England Census
1901 England Census
1911 England Census
England and Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915
UK, British Army World War 1 Service Records, 1914-1920
West Yorkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1922
1939 England and Wales Register
England and Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
England and Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995
