Ampthill, Bedfordshire, Record 3: The Smith Household

Record 3: The Smith Household 

The third record, showcasing 2 Shakespeare Villas (now 6 Dunstable Street) is the Smith Household.

Head: Harriet Tailby Smith (nee King)

Harriet Tailby King was born in 1849 in the village of Great Glen (or Glenn) in Leicestershire. Her parents were Charles King (1816-1891), a framework knitter, and Ann Muddimer (1815-1882). Harriet was the fifth of eight children, her siblings being Henry (1839-1889), Martha (1841-1908), William (1843-1912), Ann (1845-1869), Mahlah (1853-1922), Louisa (1855-) and Emma (1858-). 

Harriet was lucky enough to receive an education before it became mandatory for children, although she never actually worked. In 1874 she married 22 year-old railway porter Alfred Smith. The couple had five children, Bertram, Arthur, William, Emma and Mona. The family moved twice during this time. First to Rawmarsh in Yorkshire around 1880, where Alfred worked for the Midland Railway which passed through the nearby colliery. Then again seemingly due to Alfred's work for the Midland Railway in around 1884 when the family moved further south to Bedford. By 1902 the family were in Ampthill (which the Midland Railway passed through) in 2 Shakespeare Villas. 

2 Shakespeare Villas, built 1886
Image copyright Google © 2016

The family settled here happily until Alfred (who by now had been promoted to signalman) passed away on the 10th of June 1909, aged 57. By this time only one of Harriet's children, 7 year-old Mona still lived in the house so Harriet, now widowed at 59, purchased some apartments in the village which she rented out, thus ensuring they still had money. Harriet continued this until her death on the 19th of April 1915, aged 65.

Daughter: Mona Margaretta Smith

The last of Harriet and Alfred's children, there was a notable gap between Mona, who was born on the 13th of July 1901 in Bedford and her youngest sibling Emma, born in 1889. She like the rest of her family moved to Ampthill around the time of her birth and she attended either the Wesleyan or National School in the town from approx. 1906 to 1913.

In 1925, she married 28 year-old Joseph William Greenwell Jennings. Jennings had served as a Private with the Bedfordshire Regiment during WW1 and later served as branch manager for the Ministry of Defence. The couple had at least three children, Sheila (1926-), Michael (1934-), and Alan (1942-).

Joseph eventually passed away on the 26th of November 1960, aged 63. The now widowed Mona moved to Bury St Edmunds in her later years, and she passed away on the 17th of May 1991, just under two months short of her 90th birthday.