Eleanor Elizabeth (normally called Nell) Pickett, was born 28 November 1881 and died in the early 1960s. She was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Grummitt and was born in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, but probably brought up in north London.

After her birth certificate, the next time we find Nell in official documents is the 1891 census. We think the family was living in north London at this time, and to search the north London census, with all its millions of names is not easy. However, Nell's father William, was born and brought up in the village of Clophill in Bedfordshire. In 1891 he still had a sister living in Clophill (his two brothers had emigrated to Australia during the previous 10-12 years). William's father James had died in Clophill in January 1891. We would probably never have found William and his family in the 1891 census, because of the difficulties of searching the whole of the north London area, if it hadn't been for the fact that on census night, William was visiting his sister in Clophill. There, in the High Street in Clophill is 42 year old William, 45 year old Elizabeth and nine year old "Nellie". Nellie's aunt, Mary Ann Grummitt had married George Hare, so also in the household were this couple and their three girls, Bertha, Alice and Ada, who were all younger than their cousin Nellie. The Grummitts are listed as visitors, and Nell's father William's occupation was carman. (A carman was a man who delivered goods in a covered wagon or cart.)

When she was 13, Nellie's mother died in Finchley in north London. Her father remarried and had two other children, Ethel and Frank Cecil.

Before she was married, one of Nell's jobs was at the Mayfield Laundry, north London, as ironer. Ted Scales was in charge of the boilers. He said Nell was always late, her boots not laced properly. He always had a cup of tea waiting for her. (About 30 years later, Ted Scales' daughter became Nell Pickett's daughter-in-law.)

On 1st October 1905, Nell Grummitt married Albert Edward Pickett (usually known as Albert) at St. Ann's Church, Tottenham.

We have a receipt for a furnishing company in North London, dated about three weeks before they got married. It is for Mr A E Pickett, 14 Rowley Road, South Tottenham. It's fascinating to see what they bought to furnish their first home together, and the prices they paid. We couldn't read all of it, but these items give you some sort of indication of what was important in furnishing their first home together:

• 12 Sqr Yds Lino 24/ 1d
• 9 pce leg (or peg) suite £8/19/6
• 1 3x4 Carpet - 50/.
• 1 2' Rug 12/6
• 1 Cocoa Mat 3/.
• 1 Rug 4/.
• 1 2'6" Palm Wal Bedroom Suite £8/8/.
• 3' Kitchen Table 14/.
• 1 Round Table 25/.
• 4 Secondhand Windsors 12/.
• 1 SH Windsor 9/6
• 1 4' Kit. Tender 8/6
• 1 S.H. do. 7/.
• 1 Oak Tab. Stand 7/6
• 1 Rim Lino 12/6
• 1 D.E. B/R Tendy & Brasses 17/6
• 1 Hearthrug 4/.

Settled Sept. 16th 1905 £35.16.6
With thanks
B & J Tate

During the 1st World War Albert was away at the front. Nell had four small children to look after (with another one born in 1915). Even so, she got a job as cloakroom attendant at The Bohemia Dance Hall in Church End, Finchley, on the men's side. The other cloakroom attendant on the ladies side used to complain that Nell got more tips from the officers than she did. Even though they were still very young, her children used to take it in turns to walk home with her after midnight.

William, Nell's father, always used to visit her on Saturday afternoons in the 1920s, and gave her a packet of 20 Players cigarettes - she loved to have a cigarette. Apparently, William and his son-in-law Albert didn't see eye to eye.

Nell had two brothers. Herbert Grummitt had married a lady called Edith, but by the 1910s or 1920s they had separated. She went to become head cook at Otterbourne Grange, near Eastleigh in Hampshire and Herbert came to live with Nell and Albert at The Cottage (2 Chestnut Cottage, Prospect Place, East Finchley).

Later on, Nell's other brother, Alfred, was ill and needed somewhere to live. There was no room at The Cottage with three adults and six children already living there, but the Picketts offered him the use of the pigsty in the back garden - cleaned up, of course, where he lived for a while. Alfred died at Whittington Hospital, Holloway.

Nell and Albert's third child, Horie remembers distant cousins coming to visit. He thinks they were on his mother's side of the family (all her family came from Bedfordshire). The father was called F G Masters (Uncle George) and they came from Wilsted (Wilshampsted near Cardington/Bedford). They were well off. He made a lot of his money in WWI buying up old bikes and removing rust and doing them up, baking enamel on them. He rented them out to RAF personnel and soldiers at the Cardington air base. He invested some money in gold mines in Canada. According to Horie, everything he touched turned to gold. He had a son and daughter, Oswald and Dora who were twins.

At the start of the second world war, Albert and Nell were stilll living in north London. Albert was involved in bomb clearance for quite a while - see his story for more details. When the bombing eased up a little, the Powers-That-Be, gave them a cottage at Dane Hill in Sussex, where Albert looked after 40 Italian Prisoners of War doing farm work. When the people in the area of London where he did bomb disposal, heard that he was leaving, they had a collection for him, and arranged a slap up dinner party for him. At the end of the war, the Italians were repatriated and were replaced with Germans until 1947.

In 1947, Nell's daughter in law, Rene Pickett, went into hospital for several months to have a thyroid operation. Rene and Horie's two children were taken down to stay with Nell and Albert at Dane Hill. Rene's daughter, Gillian, remembers this as being an idyllic summer. Every morning, they had to go up the road to the farm and collect the milk in a can. Back at the cottage, this was put into a screw top jar and shaken till it turned into butter. Nell always ate this butter - no-one else, not even Albert, was allowed to have any. On their way to Dane Hill, they'd stopped at Turner's Hill and bought white plimsolls. Nell made them whiten these every night. There was a bath in the cottage but this was never used for bathing - it was always full of rubbish. As well as Rene and Horie's two children there was also one of their cousins staying for the summer. Every night they stood in a basin on the kitchen floor and had to wash themselves down. They often found this a hilarious occasion. The children were allowed to roam freely about the countryside, either by foot or on bicycles. This is a lovely area of Sussex, on the edge of Ashdown Forest, with deep valleys and wooded hills. They weren't put into the village school, but sometimes they went and sat on the wall when the other children were at playtime and the headmaster came over and talked to them.

Nell's daughter, Belle, had taken a cottage about a mile away. It was her son who was also staying at Nell's cottage. Sometimes all the children used to cycle over there to visit Belle. Belle's husband, Jock, took the children on the bus into Hayward's Heath, to the toy shop and the park.

Albert and Nell stayed in the cottage for several years after the war, before moving to a flat in East Barnet. They had been pensioners for some years.

Nell Pickett died of throat cancer at about the age of 80 in the early 1960s.

Sources and acknowledgements

GRO Indexes
1891 census for Clophill RH12/1259 folio 88

I would like to thank Nell's children and grandchildren who have helped me to fill out these details of Nell's life.