Rose A Midgley
Superintendent, General service
Rose Annie Midgley was born on 11th February 1868 in Sheffield, to Joseph and Mary Midgley nee Slater. She was the oldest of at least seven children. Joseph was a railway goods clerk originally from Seacroft, Mary was from Braithwell in South Yorkshire.
In 1871 they lived at Bramall Lane. Rose was three years old and had one younger brother, Joseph N who was one year old, at this time. In 1881 the family had moved to 19 Grouse Street in Nether Hallam. Rose (now 13) and Joseph (11) had been joined by siblings Eliza (9), Joshua (8), John W (6), Richard S (2) and Samuel I (6 months).
The Midgley family on the 1881 census
I haven’t been able to locate Rose on the 1891 census, however by 1901 she had moved to Keighley and was a boarder with a family called Davies at 63 Devonshire Street, working as an elementary teacher (incidentally she was living opposite Emily Myers who she would later serve as a VAD with).
In 1911 she had moved to 76 Mannville Road, where she was boarding with a retired head teacher and her family. Rose herself was still working as a teacher.
Rose joined the VAD service in May 1915 and worked voluntarily as a Superintendent at Spencer Street Auxiliary Hospital. She worked one hour daily, which I assume she fit around her teaching job and had worked 1,000 hours when the records were compiled, she was recorded as still serving.
She never married, and appears to have spent the remainder of her life in Keighley. She was on the electoral register of 1930 at 89 Devonshire Street, and at the time of the 1939 Register was boarding with a Thompson family at 120 Malsis Road, she was described as a retired teacher by then.
The 1939 England and Wales Register
Rose passed away the following year on 4th August at her Malsis Road address. Her probate record gives this address as well as Vernon Lodge, Chatsworth Road, Totley Rise in Sheffield which I have found to have been the address of one of her brothers, Richard Slater Midgley.
Sources:
England and Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
1871 England Census
1881 England Census
1901 England Census
1911 England Census
1939 England and Wales Register
West Yorkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1962
England and Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
England and Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995
