Sarah Ann Lamin (Annie)

(Click on any image to enlarge)
Annie was regularly mentioned in Harry's letters.  It would seem that Ethel's sister-in-law provided much needed support while Harry was otherwise engaged in the war. Some of her story, although a diversion from the main plot, may be interesting to the reader.



Sarah Ann was born in 1874 and so was 13 years older than Harry, 4 years older than Kate. Like Harry and the rest of her siblings, she attended Awsworth Board School. The sampler was produced as part of that education. Spot the deliberate mistake? I wonder if Annie ever noticed. 


For Annie, I also have a certificate from the School Inspector. Level 5 is, I believe, the standard that was needed at the end of schooling. As she was aged 13, that would be about right.




I can't find what happened next to her. She doesn't seem to appear in the 1891 census and  she wasn't at home with Harry, Kate and the rest of her family. At 17 she was  probably away working as a domestic servant, as by December 1896, that is the occupation recorded on the birth certificate of her son George. No father on there. George was illegitimate.

Update! Frances has found Annie on the 1891 census. All the details age, birthplace and, if read carefully, the name (Transcribed as Lamm, not Lamin) are correct. She was a servant living with the Hutchinson family at number 70 Wilson Street, in the centre of Derby, about 12 miles from her family. Well done Frances.


A "cold call" to the next door offices of AB Consulting found a very helpful Linda, who went out and took a photograph of number 70 for me. Some people are just so helpful. Thank you Linda. I can imagine Annie and Ada,  the other servant, in the top room.


By 1901, the census tells us that Annie is working as a " cook domestic", one of two servants, in one of the big houses in Lucknow Road, Mapperley in the city of Nottingham (still, a "posh" area of the city). Little George, aged 4, was living as a "nurse child" with the Lacey family in Radcliffe-on-Trent 7 miles away. This is terribly sad. Of course, Annie (recorded as that  - not Sarah Anne) - couldn't work with a baby son in tow, so some arrangement had to be made.  That is all I know for quite a while. I know that George did some service in The Great War. His son Ken told me that he thought he was in the Engineers but I can't identify him on any military records. 
Another update; George's birth was registered by "E. Lacey - Present at the birth Ratcliffe on Trent." Almost certainly Kate E Lacey of the family that was "nursing" George at the time of the 1901 census. 


We know Annie married a Mr Enoch Hartshorne in the summer of 1919 but I can't recall any mention of the man from family members.


 George married  in 1920 and , in the summer of 1929 emigrated to Australia with his wife and young son Ken. He visited England in the 1950s, I can just remember his visit. 
Ken, now in his 80s has visited quiet recently, staying with sister Anita.

Annie became the Auntie Annie that I can remember staying with when quite small. She lived about half a mile (a Km) from my family home. She died in 1954, aged 80 and is buried in the same cemetery as Kate and Connie. The picture shows Annie at the terraced house she lived in when I visited. The sharp-eyed readers may spot that, in the book, she's wrongly identified in the photograph of Willie's wedding.


I'll be packaging up the originals of these images and sending them off to Ken in Australia.


Next week Ethel.