South Yorkshire Times, October 23rd 1943
Last Oak’s “Orphan”
Wombwell Memories Flood
This is a picture of five generations. The great-great-grandmother of the group is Mrs. Ann Field (93), of 103, Blythe Street, Wombwell; her great-great-grandson is six weeks-old Richard Joseph Grainger, son of Sgt.-Major Joseph Richard Grainger, whose young, wife (Marjorie) is holding him, Joseph Richard’s great-great-grandmother is over 800 times older than he is. Mrs. Grainger’s mother is standing behind her. She is Mrs. Dorothy Laing (43) wife of P.c. Laing, of Low Bradfield, Sheffield. Mrs. Laing can say with truth, “I am a grandmother and I have a grandmother.” Behind the old lady is her twin-daughter, Mrs. Annie Littlewood (67), widow of Mr. Theodore Littlewood, and Mrs, Laing’s mother. Mrs. Littlewood’s twin sister is Mrs. Janet Lindsay, New Row, Brierley. Mrs. Littlewood is looking after her aged mother in one of the Council bungalows in Blythe Street The old lady is feeble and handicapped by deafness, but she takes a keen and intelligent interest in all that is going on around her.
Mrs Field is a remarkable person, not only because of her great age (incidentally she is the oldest person in Wombwell) but all because she has been places and done things. She is a survivor of the great Sheffield flood of March 11th 1864, and is the last surviving “orphan” of the Great Oaks Colliery explosion of December 1866.
Mrs. Field was born in Jump in 1851 and as a girl went to work for an aunt at 4 Court, Broad Street, Park, Sheffield
She was there when the flood occurred. and still has a clear recollection of the havoc in The Wicker. It must have been something like the aftermath of the air attack three years ago. She remembers seeing men pumping water out of the cellars and dumping heaps of mud on the edge of the pavement. And how small things stick in the memory! Shel recalls how her aunt retrieved a box of currants that had been washed out of a provision shop and sent it as a souvenir to Mrs. Field’s mother. Later Mrs. Field worked as a weaver for Messrs. Pigott and Wainwright, at Hoyle Mill, Barnsley, and she was 15 when her father was killed in the Oaks Explosion, which cost 334 lives. Mrs. Field’s mother was left with five children, find another to be born three months later. Mrs. Field has been a hard worker all her life, and even now is never happy unless her fingers are busy. She thinks women have had a “good time”” in recent years, but she considers they have redeemed themselves by a “grand effort” in much aimless “walking up and down the streets.” She is fully convinced that happiness and contentment are relative, that life is only really enjoyed in proportion to the service you give to it. Mrs Field has a brother (84) still living.
This is a picture of five generations. The great-great-grandmother of the group is Mrs. Ann Field (93), of 103, Blythe Street, Wombwell; her great-great-grandson is six weeks-old Richard Joseph Grainger, son of Sgt.-Major Joseph Richard Grainger, whose young, wife (Marjorie) is holding him, Joseph Richard’s great-great-grandmother is over 800 times older than he is. Mrs. Grainger’s mother is standing behind her. She is Mrs. Dorothy Laing (43) wife of P.c. Laing, of Low Bradfield, Sheffield. Mrs. Laing can say with truth, “I am a grandmother and I have a grandmother.” Behind the old lady is her twin-daughter, Mrs. Annie Littlewood (67), widow of Mr. Theodore Littlewood, and Mrs, Laing’s mother. Mrs. Littlewood’s twin sister is Mrs. Janet Lindsay, New Row, Brierley. Mrs. Littlewood is looking after her aged mother in one of the Council bungalows in Blythe Street The old lady is feeble and handicapped by deafness, but she takes a keen and intelligent interest in all that is going on around her.
Mrs Field is a remarkable person, not only because of her great age (incidentally she is the oldest person in Wombwell) but all because she has been places and done things. She is a survivor of the great Sheffield flood of March 11th 1864, and is the last surviving
“orphan” of the Great Oaks Colliery explosion of December 1866.
Mrs. Field was born in Jump in 1851 and as a girl went to work for an aunt at 4 Court, Broad Street, Park, Sheffield
She was there when the flood occurred. and still has a clear recollection of the havoc in The Wicker. It must have been something like the aftermath of the air attack three years ago. She remembers seeing men pumping water out of the cellars and dumping heaps of mud on the edge of the pavement. And how small things stick in the memory! Shel recalls how her aunt retrieved a box of currants that had been washed out of a provision shop and sent it as a souvenir to Mrs. Field’s mother. Later Mrs. Field worked as a weaver for Messrs. Pigott and Wainwright, at Hoyle Mill, Barnsley, and she was 15 when her father was killed in the Oaks Explosion, which cost 334 lives. Mrs. Field’s mother was left with five children, find another to be born three months later. Mrs. Field has been a hard worker all her life, and even now is never happy unless her fingers are busy. She thinks women have had a “good time”” in recent years, but she considers they have redeemed themselves by a “grand effort” in much aimless “walking up and down the streets.” She is fully convinced that happiness and contentment are relative, that life is only really enjoyed in proportion to the service you give to it. Mrs Field has a brother (84) still living.