Family

Thomas George and Wilhelmina Caroline Ainsley Branch

The information on this page is provided by Joyce Mitchell and the photographs by Richard Cooke. The information may differ from that provided on the William Cyril Ainsley Family Tree as Joyce has more recently (February 2003) assessed information for this family branch.

The numbering system is that of William Cyril Ainsley.

THOMAS GEORGE (117) 1855 - 1934 m 1886 Wilhelmina Caroline Hill 1861-1947
Harry Douglas (129) 1886-1901	Freda (130) 1888-1974 m. James Elmsly Mitchell 1886-1967	Alan Colpitts (133) 1890-1960 m Roberta Frances Dunbar Hutchison 1913-1998	Mary Eveline (134) 1892-1981 m Frederick Vernon Phair Perrott 1893-1961	Beryl Gourley (139) 1897-1984 m Christopher Herbert Cooke 1899-1979	Doris Joan (142) 1900-1985 m Gordon Horatio Crisp 1898-1962	Theodora Winifred (143) 1902 d. aged nearly 5 months

 

Images very kindly sent to me by Richard Cooke who may be contacted for further information richard@6cmp.freeserve.co.uk

117 Thomas George Ainsley Joyce Mitchell Revised October 2003
Thomas George Ainsley, known as "T.G." within his family, was the second son of Richard and Mary Ainsley. He was born in Stokesley and baptised at the Parish Church on 22nd July 1855. Some time during the 1860's he moved to West Hartlepool with his family. It is probable that the family moved during the early part of the decade, as Alice Mary was born there in 1866.
Nothing is known of T.G.'s schooling. He was more or less self-educated which should be seen as a source of pride. Later, when he was already preparing himself to be a doctor, his grandfather Joseph wrote to a relative in Bilsdale asking for the loan of a Latin dictionary "to help his grandson with his studies". He was working at the age of 14!
We find T.G. in the census returns of 1871 living in the house of Dr. Samuel Gourley in Church Square, West Hartlepool, described as a surgery boy. Surgery boys were employed by some doctors until the Second World War at least. They delivered medicines, as most G.P.s had their own dispensaries, and ran messages, etc. They rarely worked as such after the age of 16.
Margaret Ainsley's letter from Bilsdale dated 6th February 1965 confirms what I had long suspected, that Dr. Gourley paid for T.G.'s medical training in Newcastle. Exhaustive enquiries at both Durham and Newcastle Universities failed to provide evidence that T.G. had had a bursary, scholarship, etc. (How else could a poor boy pay for a medical training?) During the time that he was a medical student T.G. lived with the Gourleys in Church Square, according to records held at Newcastle University. One assumes that he travelled up to Newcastle by train - Church Square being close to the station.
T.G. took his registration examination for medical students in September 1873, according to records held at the University of Durham, and was attached to the College of Medicine in the Newcastle upon Tyne Division of the University. According to records held at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, T.G. registered every year until 1876/7. For some reason he ceased to be registered as a student in the University Calendar for 1877/8, and it is not clear why this was so. He continued to take classes but required a concession to take the MB Examination. (cf. letter from E.M. Bettenson to Joyce Mitchell dated 22nd April 1986.) T.G. was qualified MRCS (England) in 1877, MB from the University of Durham in 1880 and later MD (Durham) in 1887.
Following his qualification in 1877, T.G., returned to live with his parents in Scarborough Street, West Hartlepool. Here according to "Kelly's" 1879 he was described as a surgeon. (There could have been additional domestic reasons for leaving Dr. Gourley's house as his was a growing family of ultimately nine children!)
Among the many medical appointments held by Dr. Gourley were Medical Officer to the Hartlepool Pilotage Commissioners, Rural Sanitary Authority, Corporation and Urban Sanitary Authority of Hartlepool, Hartlepool Hospital and Dispensary; he was also Admiralty Surgeon and Agent and Certifying Factory Surgeon. As was apparently usual, Dr. Gourley also carried on some private practice, first in Church Square and later at Mulgrave House, York Road, West Hartlepool. He was described as a surgeon.
There is no doubt at all that Dr. Gourley played a major role in "shaping" the future Dr. Ainsley. T.G.'s years at Newcastle must have been very hard indeed; particularly, as is suspected, that he travelled daily to his studies. He would have much to catch up on as his general education would leave him with gaps in his learning. I cannot but believe that T.G. would not be helping Dr. Gourley in all sorts of ways in the surgery - and in his free time. T.G. seemed to go from strength to strength following his qualification, working in many of the areas previously the responsibility of Dr. Gourley. These would be implemented by private practice. Following his marriage in 1886 to Wilhelmina Caroline Hill T.G. lived at 106 High Street, Hartlepool, close to St. Hilda's Church. The house had previously been the home of the Sivewright family, Mr Sivewright being a bank manager. The family moved out of the house because some of the children had caught diphtheria there. The close proximity of the churchyard to the house could have had some bearing, but also the general unsanitary state of Hartlepool. A granddaughter ("Molly") died in 1991 aged 104. She lived nearby at 5 Radcliffe Terrace, where she was born and hoped to die. T.G.'s elder son Douglas used to play with Molly, and called for her on his way to Bath House School.
It has always been understood that T.G. met his future wife at Dr. Gourley's house where she was the guest of one or two of his daughters who attended the Manor House School in Albrighton, Shropshire, at which Juliana Caroline Hill was Headmistress. Wilhelmina Caroline ("Minnie") taught at her mother's school together with her sister Theodora Louisa ("Dora"). Caroline Hill's German origins together with several living relatives meant that the two girls benefited from visits to Wiesbaden, Germany. Minnie was talented and very intelligent. For reasons not understood T.G. and Minnie were married in London; at St. Stephen's Church, Westbourne Park Road, Paddington, W.2., on 14th January 1886. Their first child, Harry Douglas, was born in December 1886.
History does not relate what the impact of Hartlepool was upon Minnie, who had previously lived in a beautiful village in Shropshire in a house surrounded by trees and gardens. 106 High Street had no garden, was adjacent to St. Hilda's churchyard, and was surrounded by mean streets. There was charm in the fishing nets hanging out to dry on walls and fences, and in the fishing boats lined up in the harbour. The sea was only yards away from T.G.'s house and surgery. Freda, T.G.'s eldest daughter, remembers the patients waiting patiently on benches to see the doctor.
Freda always said that money was "tight" when T.G. and Minnie started their married life. Minnie's ingenuity and skill were apparent in the many pieces of furniture that she had made herself, in the "chip carving" that adorned many of the pieces, in the pictures she painted and which hung on the walls of her homes, in the bottling and preserving of fruit, in her economical cooking which skill was passed to most of her daughters, all of whom could be said to be good "homemakers". A feature of Minnie's homes, and those of her daughters, were the fires which roared in their grates. Coal was cheap and there was the added bonus of "sea coal" which could be bought from passing carts at 1d. per bucket. Later when T.G. became involved in his brother's (John Colpitts Ainsley's) cannery in California there was an improvement in T.G.'s finances, and in 1900 he was able to move his growing family across to Mulgrave House in West Hartlepool, vacated by the Gourleys on Dr. Gourley's retirement.
Mulgrave House was a large ugly house situated in York Road at a busy corner and opposite to a row of shops, one of which was a confectioners and bakery. The surgery was attached, and a pervasive smell of disinfectant filled the entrance hall, which being tiled did not appear very welcoming. There was no garden, but at the back of his house T.G. kept his ponies which he used for "doing his rounds", sometimes driven by one of his daughters, particularly Freda. T.G. purchased his ponies from his relatives at Kirby Sigston.
It could have been the absence of a garden, his growing family, or his improved finances, which led to T.G. renting a bungalow from a local builder in Castleton, near Whitby, North Yorkshire, from 1900 to 1904. This led to a "love affair" with the moors, from which no true Ainsley ever recovered. Old friends from Hartlepool now live in this bungalow, and Joyce has spent many Christmases with them there since World War II. Following its sale to a local doctor, the Ainsley family continued their holidays at Coronation House, which was later to become the Moorlands Hotel. In 1924, after the First World War, T.G. rented a house called "Langburn" from a solicitor in Stockton on Tees, which was only yards from the original bungalow.
Harry Douglas died at Castleton in August 1901 at the age of 14, following an operation for appendicitis. Winifred the baby died in December 1902. Both are buried in the churchyard of St. Hilda's, Danby-in-Cleveland. Later members of the family to be buried at Danby were T.G. (1934) Minnie (1947) Alan Colpitts (1960) and Roberta (1998).
In 1904 T.G. bought Greylands, Victoria Road, moving his family from Mulgrave House where the surgery was to remain. Greylands was a bigger house with a garden which was to become the family home until Minnie's death in 1947. It stood back from the main road and the tram lines and was approached by a flight of steps, and had, apart from a reasonable back garden, a kitchen garden at the side of the house which was worked by Minnie. There must have been some help available but Joyce cannot remember ever seeing anyone else in that kitchen garden.
Greylands became the family focus and a refuge. It had its own life and its own rhythms. Alan and friends spent leaves there during the First World War when he won an MC. Vernon Perrott returned from Russia to join up, and he too won an MC. Freda and Bay were married from Greylands. Beryl stayed regularly on leave from India with her children. Bay stayed with her family when she returned from California for the last time. Joan often came with Gordon. In the early part of the Second World War she went for a short time with her children to the USA. On her return she arrived at Greylands in the blackout! Freda called in daily, and Joyce spent much time with "Gran". She was sent to Greylands when her only brother was born, and given a tricycle to celebrate the occasion. Later she said that she would not have that new baby "tricycling on her tricycle"! Joyce also was sent to Greylands when she developed whooping cough, which in 1922 meant incarceration for at least six weeks. Later when Alan married Roberta in the middle of the Second World War, they made a flat for themselves, which served the purpose of keeping Minnie company. Both were working extra hours, so it worked out very well.
From the chapter on John Colpitts Ainsley in Jeannette Watson's book "Campbell: The Orchard City", it would appear that T.G. was deeply involved in the business of the cannery from the beginning at least of the 1890's. It would seem that, apart from his skill as a surgeon, T.G. demonstrated considerable business acumen. By 1904, when he moved his family to Greylands, everything seemed to be going very well. Douglas and Alan were both sent to private preparatory schools in Yorkshire and to public schools; Douglas to Loretto and Alan to Malvern. (Douglas was a pupil at Loretto when he died.) Freda and Bay were sent to "Granny" Hill's school in Albrighton at quite early ages, (in view, I think, of the lack of a garden and the general insanitary state of Hartlepool,) where they were taught "accomplishments". Bay in particular was very musical and in the fullness of time was awarded her LRAM in both piano and violin. The two younger girls, Beryl who spent her early years at Albrighton, and Joan, after a spell at a private school in West Hartlepool, were sent to a newly opened public school for girls at Harrogate - Queen Ethelburga's, a Woodard School with a strong religious bias - where they made many friends. Another pupil was Peggy Gibb from Hartlepool whose father took over the Ainsley-MacGill practice in Hartlepool and who herself became a doctor, working in her father's old practice. She became Veronica's godmother.
By the beginning of the Second World War the house was beginning to run down. Minnie was sent to stay with Bay and Freda when air raids were imminent; Alan married and lived in a flat in the house. "Nurse Gorton" who had lived in the house to care for T.G. prior to his death in 1934 (he became grossly arthritic) returned to live with Minnie while following up her own career as a nurse at the Infirmary. This happy interlude came sharply to a full stop when "Nurse" developed a particularly virulent form of arthritis which left her bedridden until the end of her life, cared for by her daughter who was also a nurse.
During her final ten days Minnie spoke German, something she had not done for about 70 years. The house was sold to the convent next door and for a short time was part of a school. It was later sold, demolished, and became part of a complex consisting of old peoples' apartments, a health centre and a car park.
Mulgrave House remained with the family until after the Second World War, when "Uncle Harry" and "Aunt Alice" retired to Stokesley where their elder son, another Harry, was in general practice with his wife, Dr. Elizabeth (née Nairn). They died in Stokesley in the 1950's. A window in Stokesley Parish Church is dedicated to their younger son Ian Ainsley MacGill, who was killed in action while serving with the Home Guard in the Second World War. His name is also inscribed on the War Memorial in Victory Square, Hartlepool. Ian was unmarried.
" Uncle Harry" (Henry Moncrieff MacGill) was a true gentle-man about whom only good can be said. He was originally from Scotland and married T.G.'s sister Alice Mary. "Aunt Alice" was a tiny person with bright black eyes. She was Joyce's godmother. Her sister, Jane, ("Aunt Ginny") lived with her at Mulgrave House. She lived in one room and was even tinier than Aunt Alice. She was very old when Joyce visited her but was always welcoming. She died at the beginning of the Second World War. She was unmarried. She had looked after her widowed father following Mary's death in 1904 at Heighington.
Following Uncle Harry's retirement, Alan Colpitts was the only surviving partner, and he joined the practice of his brother-in-law James Elmsly Mitchell at Havelock House, Victoria Road, West Hartlepool. In the fullness of time, Mulgrave House became offices.
Langburn was ultimately sold. It was offered to the Ainsley family for £2,000 by the Archer family of Stockton on Tees who owned it. As the younger members lived in Kenya and had no further use for it, the Ainsleys had first refusal. Unfortunately it was not a practical proposition as the family had now scattered and only Freda was "on the spot" to supervise. The family had enjoyed eight very happy years there; Joan had married from the house; T.G. was able to relax there, and as his arthritis worsened, borrowed a pony from Tom Boyes at Conn House, only a short distance away, and enjoyed his beloved moors "in the saddle". His favourite mount was "Trixie", a little cob with a docked tail. Hamish (Joyce's brother) broke his arm at Tom Boyes' farm while jumping in the hay; a break which required further treatment when he was in his 'teens and which left him with a crooked arm for the rest of his life. That same year (1927) Elmsly nearly died from a virulent pneumonia and convalesced at Langburn. Minnie was happiest when in the garden, which had magnificent views towards Westerdale. She did much to redesign it. Now (2003) the house is no longer hidden from the road but is still visible through the tall conifers which in 1927, the year of Joan's wedding, were saplings.
Summary/Post Script
T.G., or Tom Ainsley, was a very remarkable man. Recognised by Dr. Gourley as a "bright little boy", he worked as a surgery boy for him; and from what can be deduced from the census returns, lived with the family. Dr. Gourley saw him through medicine at Newcastle, which at the time was part of the University of Durham. This was suspected but confirmed by a letter dated 1965 from Margaret Ainsley at Spout House. It must have been a very hard time for T.G. as his general education would be "patchy" to say the least, and most probably he would be travelling to Newcastle daily by train. It is most likely that he would be helping Dr. Gourley in different capacities. He qualified MRCS in 1877, took his MB in 1880 and later MD (University of Durham) in 1887.
From what I learned from Freda, T.G.'s early years in practice were hard. In Minnie he had a helpmate who was not only gifted intellectually and socially, but who was also very practical and who was nothing if not a good home maker. T.G. would not only be obliged to pay back his debts to Dr. Gourley but he was also responsible for a growing family (Harry Douglas 1886, Freda 1888, Alan Colpitts 1890, Mary Eveline ("Bay") 1892, Beryl Gourley 1897, Doris Joan 1900 and Theodora Winifred 1902, who died in infancy.)
It was in 1888 that T.G. was visited by John Colpitts on holiday from California. Already he (John Colpitts) was deeply involved in the canned fruit industry and it would seem that from this point T.G. became a business partner to his brother. There are varied accounts of the financial help that John Colpitts received from his family. Roberta Ainsley said that T.G. had borrowed £1,000 from his bank to lend to John Colpitts. Katherine Burroughs said that Richard Ainsley had settled £1,000 upon each of his three sons. Cyril Ainsley said that John Colpitts had borrowed £100 from Ruth Arcoat "to go to America" which he paid back in full. (Many members of the family received crates of canned fruit in future years which are still part of the Ainsley folklore in Bilsdale.) It was therefore very right that David and Georgie Bowen should visit Spout House in 1988 on a visit to England and meet William Ainsley and Madge, the present incumbents of the Sun Inn. Since then both sisters (Georgene and Geraldine, grand daughters of John Colpitts,) have visited Bilsdale several times, together with their families.
From that point too, T.G.'s financial position improved. He had quite outstanding business skills. Up until his death in 1934 he wrote weekly to John Colpitts. The letters fortunately have been preserved and form the basis of Jeannette Watson's chapter on John Colpitts Ainsley in her book "Campbell: The Orchard City".
In West Hartlepool however T.G. was remembered for his great kindness and for his surgical skills. As the visiting Medical Officer at the 'workhouse', later to become the Howbeck Infirmary, TG introduced a number of innovations, including fresh air! He kept in touch with developments in orthopaedics, visiting Lord Mayor Treloar's Hospital in Hampshire to update his skills. A ward was named after him at Howbeck, and he became a JP. His many private patients sought out his help in many ways, and Joyce remembers patients who were grateful for his help and advice. He was a very quiet man and spoke very little within the family. In later years he developed a particularly severe arthritis, and spent much time in his room cared for by Nurse Gorton. He died on 7th March 1934, the same day and within hours of his elder brother Frederick William who lived in West Hartlepool. T.G. was buried at Danby in the churchyard looking out on to his beloved moors.
To the end Thomas George Ainsley remained a simple man which is why, I think, he endeared himself to his patients and his colleagues. He never lost the "common touch". "A workman that needeth not to be ashamed" - II Timothy - Ch. 2, v. 15.
References
Jeannette Watson - "Campbell: The Orchard City".
Durham County LHS - "Durham Biographies", Volume 2 (edited by G.R. Batho).
Also, thank you to Fred Ainsley for his information concerning Ian Ainsley MacGill.

129 Harry Douglas Ainsley was born in December 1886 at 106 High Street, Hartlepool, (now known as The Headland); the home and surgery of his father T.G. Ainsley. Douglas ('Dicker') was educated at Bath House School, Hartlepool, Aysgarth and Loretto, and died on 19th August 1901 aged 14 from appendicitis while on holiday at Castleton, North Yorks. Fred Ainsley said that there were several reasons given for this premature death, but it was certain that his father did not operate, being in too close a relationship, and the operation was handed to another surgeon. Douglas was buried in the churchyard of St. Hilda's, Cleveland, the first of several Ainsleys to be interred there.

130 Freda Ainsley ('Little Womany') was born on 12th August 1888 at 106 High Street and baptised at St. Hilda's Church, Hartlepool on 24th October 1888. She was educated at her grandmother's school in Albrighton, near Wolverhampton, where Juliana Caroline Hill (née Schmidt) had been an assistant mistress, according to the census returns of 1871, before becoming the headmistress, and where her daughters, Wilhelmina Caroline ("Minnie" - Freda's mother) and Theodora Louise ("Dora") were governesses at some time. The Manor House School at Albrighton was long remembered for the beautiful gardens and fine trees, heaven for the young Ainsleys whose home bordered on to a churchyard and mean streets and the house was without a garden. As a young girl Freda was not only a hockey player but also a horsewoman, riding side-saddle and attending meets of the South Durham Fox Hounds. It is understood that T.G.'s horses and ponies were supplied by James Ainsley at Kirby Sigston, and Joyce has a copy of a letter from Freda (1910) written to cousin Hannah at Kirby Sigston concerning the various horses known to both of them. On leaving school Freda attended Madam Osterberg's Institution at Dartford in Kent, which was to become the Dartford College of Physical Education. Little is known of this period in her life other than some poems written in a battered exercise book dated 1906/7. Returning home, Freda became 'the little mother' to her numerous younger siblings, and there are photographs of her in the pony and trap in which she drove T.G. on his 'rounds' to visit patients. Illness intervened and Freda spent many months bedfast. On 1st July 1914 Freda married James Elmsly Mitchell (1886-1967), a young Scottish doctor from Aberdeen who ultimately practised in West Hartlepool for fifty three years. Freda's marriage was disturbed within months by the outbreak of World War I and the shelling of the Hartlepools from the sea. Freda sheltered underneath the dining room table. Her home was let for the duration when Elmsly was called up for service in the RAMC, while Freda and Joyce (born on 8th December 1915) spent the remainder of the war staying with relatives. On his return, Elmsly rejoined the practice of Dr William Ross in Victoria Road, West Hartlepool. Alan Hamish Elmsly was born on 10th June 1920 at 4, Grange Road.
Freda helped Elmsly at home with his medical practice; accounts, telephone, reception of patients, not unusual in pre-NHS days. On the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Freda's house became the focus of activity. By this time Elmsly and Freda had moved to 59 Hutton Avenue, West Hartlepool. An air raid post was set up within the house and Joyce remembers nightly vigils with the Air Raid Wardens, waiting for the all clear and sitting round the dining room table with cups of tea. Freda was further involved in other war work, including the WVS. Later she became a JP. A long period of ill health dogged her last years, and Freda died on 7th January 1974 in the General Hospital, West Hartlepool, where a ward had been named after her father T.G. Ainsley. Her funeral service was held in the side chapel of St. Paul's Church, West Hartlepool, where she was married, and her remains buried in Stranton cemetery with Elmsly, following cremation.

133 Alan Colpitts Ainsley was born on 4th July 1890 at 106 High Street, Hartlepool. He was educated at Aysgarth School, North Yorkshire and Malvern College, Worcestershire. Following in his father's footsteps he studied medicine both at Caius College, Cambridge and at the London Hospital. He qualified MB Ch.B. in 1915 before joining the RAMC (Territorial Force). He was attached 1/1 South Notts. Hussars, 1/1 Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, 66th C.C.S. and 74th C.C.S.
It is understood he arrived on 28th March 1916 at Salonika, served in Greek Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, the islands of the Aegean Sea and with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force from 27th May 1917 to 31st October 1918. He was wounded and awarded an MC. Family myth tells of Alan marching into Jerusalem with Allenby. His widow, Dr Roberta Ainsley, presented a valuable album of photographs of the campaign to the Liddle Collection, World War I Archives, University of Leeds.
After World War I Alan returned to civilian life and was casualty officer at the Poplar Hospital in London. He was there for two years during which time he took his FRCS. Returning to the North East he worked for a short time at the Newcastle Maternity Hospital before settling in to his father's practice together with T.G.'s brother in law H.M. MacGill - 'Uncle Harry'. He inherited a number of public health appointments previously held by his father and was appointed honorary surgeon to the Cameron Hospital and to the Howbeck Infirmary, later to become the General Hospital, thus carrying on the family tradition. At some time he became president of the local BMA, following both his father and H.M. MacGill.
Alan married Dr Roberta Dunbar Hutchison in 1943. She was the middle sister of a trio of sisters, all of whom qualified as doctors from Edinburgh University. Roberta ultimately qualified in psychiatry. She continued at 'Howbeck' until Alan's death in 1960, later moving to West Yorkshire to continue her speciality at High Royds Hospital, Menston. She died in 1998 and her remains were interred in the churchyard of Danby-in-Cleveland next to Alan.
By the second World War Alan was working 'flat out', not only in his speciality, surgery, but in general practice, T.G. Ainsley having died in 1934. He had extra duties thrust upon him including Public Health. This led to his poor health in later years, not unconnected with his excessive smoking. He died from cancer of the oesophagus in 1960. In the late 1940's following the retirement of H.M. MacGill, Alan joined the practice of his brother in law J. Elmsly Mitchell (Mitchell and Nicholson). His involvement in so many branches of medicine was not unusual prior to the NHS.
Alan differed markedly from his father in temperament and tastes. He was very sociable and had many friends. He excelled at all games including bridge and chess. His holidays were spent in Scotland fishing and playing golf in the West Highlands. Fortunately Roberta shared his passion for Scotland and for his love of animals. There was always a dog at his heels or a cat in the house.
Alan died on 16 th February 1960 in the RVI, Newcastle upon Tyne, and his funeral took place at St. Paul's Church, West Hartlepool, followed by cremation at Stranton. His ashes were interred in the churchyard of St. Hilda's, Danby-in-Cleveland, together with his parents and younger siblings, later to be joined by Roberta.

NB I have looked at Alan Colpitts Ainsley's officer records in the National Archives and information from them is included in Military History. Alyson Jackson

134 Mary Eveline Ainsley ('Bay') was born on 21st May 1892 at 106 High Street, Hartlepool, the second daughter of T.G. Ainsley and his wife 'Minnie'. She was educated at her grandmother's school in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, showing early promise of musical ability. Although four years younger than Freda, their period at Albrighton together meant shared friends and mutual interests which endured during their lifetime despite their mixed fortunes. After leaving school Bay returned home and took up her music again, studying both piano and violin at Newcastle Conservatoire of Music and gaining an LRAM in both instruments. She played the violin in two orchestras, and played hockey (and perhaps tennis also) for Durham County. She helped T.G. with his accounts, took a complete course in car maintenance, and drove him in his motor car on his rounds - then seen as being an advance of women's suffrage! She was also very active in church affairs, and became engaged to Frederick Vernon Phair Perrott (1893-1962) after his return from France after World War 1.Vernon's father David Perrott was curate of St. Paul's, West Hartlepool and later vicar of Kirk Merrington, Co. Durham. After her engagement Bay followed a course in domestic science at Strathearn Domestic College, Edinburgh. Vernon and Bay were married at St. Paul's Church, West Hartlepool, on 25th January 1922, afterwards travelling to California, USA, where Vernon was employed in Bay's uncle's fruit cannery in Campbell, following a distinguished war service when he gained an MC. There were three children of this marriage all of whom were born in San José, California; namely Katherine Noel Perrott on 22nd December 1923, Christopher Hugh Perrott on 30th May 1929 and Barry David Perrott on 26th July 1932.
Bay and Vernon returned to England in 1934 following the sale of the cannery. They settled in Jesmond, Newcastle on Tyne, where Vernon had an office, moving to Durham City in 1940 where they were to remain for seventeen years. During this period Vernon was the owner of an oat mill at Berwick-on-Tweed. Times were hard but both boys attended Durham School and Bay kept 'open house' and will always be remembered for her warm hospitality, good food and large fires burning in her grate despite wartime restrictions. Yet she had time to work for the Samaritans in Durham, becoming the honorary secretary, and to take part in church and cathedral activities. She followed 'Minnie' as a good housekeeper, and indeed for some time during the war Minnie lived with her, West Hartlepool having suffered air raids. Katherine was married to David Burroughs in 1946 at St. Cuthbert's Church, North Road, Durham, following their demobilisation from the Forces.
In 1957 Bay and Vernon moved to a cottage at Wolsingham in the Durham Dales, which was easier to run and still accessible to Newcastle by train. Vernon died in December 1961 aged 69 in Wolsingham. His funeral was held there in the Parish Church of St. Mary and St. Stephen, and he was cremated in Durham. His ashes were scattered at Wolsingham. By then the railway link to Newcastle was severed, and Bay with Christopher returned to Newcastle where they shared a house in Sanderson Road, and were yet able to accommodate Bay's grandchildren from abroad. Bay joined Katherine in Essex for the last few years of her life and became increasingly immobile with arthritis. She died in Coggeshall on 18th July 1981 and her ashes were interred at All Saints Church, Feering, Essex, where her funeral took place.

139 Beryl Gourley Ainsley ('Soley') was born on 26th March 1897 at 106 High Street, Hartlepool. She spent her early education at the Manor House School, Albrighton, where her grandmother, Juliana Caroline Hill had been the headmistress, and where increasingly her aunt Theodora Louisa ('Aunt Dora') had 'taken over the reins'.
Juliana Caroline died in 1912. Beryl's education was continued at a new independent school in Harrogate, North Yorkshire - Queen Ethelberga's - a Woodard foundation with a strong church tradition. Situated on the edge of the town and in an exposed situation the school was nothing if not 'hardy'. Beryl was one of its first boarders. She remembered the shame of being driven up to the school in an open landau with her mother on her first day!
Leaving school before the end of World War I Beryl did war work in an office before moving to Oxford in order to study economics as an Oxford Home Student (her college later became Lady Margaret Hall). Here she met her future husband, Christopher Herbert Cooke (1899-1979) destined for the Indian Civil Service. Although he joined the Army after leaving school the War had ended before he finished his training. In view of his comparative youth (22) he was not encouraged to marry for at least five years, and in fact they were not married until 5th January 1929. The wedding was held at St. Clement Dane's, Strand, London WC2. One bridesmaid was a grandchild of Dr Samuel Gourley, who was T.G. Ainsley's mentor and friend. Beryl and Christopher travelled to India as servants of the Raj. Together they spent eighteen years in its service, experiencing the 'highs and lows' of Colonial life. It was largely due to Beryl's tenacity and flexibility that the marriage survived. Absence from her children, Christopher Richard Beames Cooke, born on 29th August 1930 in West Hartlepool, and Angela Rosamund Cooke, born on 6th November 1931 in India, was a constant strain. 'Home' leave was granted for a period of six months in every third year, and while Christopher was in India Beryl used to spend six months of the year with him there and six months in England with her children. Because of the outbreak of war in 1939 Christopher missed his leave in that year and thus did not return 'home' on leave between 1936 and 1945. He returned finally from India when that country obtained independence in August 1947. Beryl spent the entire war period between 1939 and 1945 in India. Beryl and Christopher lived from 1948 in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, with a break when Christopher accepted a post in the Colonial Service in the Gold Coast (West Africa) for a few years and until it, too, acquired independence. Returning 'home' for the second time Christopher and Beryl threw themselves into the life of their church and village with enthusiasm. Blessed with an outgoing personality, Beryl had many friends and became a bridge player of some repute. She died on 6th April 1984 and her cremated ashes are interred in the churchyard of the Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Great Missenden, next to Christopher's.

142 Doris Joan Ainsley ('Tiny') was born on 4th February 1900 at Mulgrave House, York Road, West Hartlepool. Her father T.G. Ainsley had moved his family into this house vacated by Dr Gourley on his retirement and move to Harrogate. Mulgrave House incorporated T.G.'s surgery which was to remain the family practice until post-World War II when 'Uncle Harry' retired and Alan joined Elmsly Mitchell in his practice. Joan was baptised at St. Paul's Church, West Hartlepool. She attended a private school in West Hartlepool run by two maiden ladies, but later joined Beryl at Queen Ethelburga's School, Harrogate, where she made many friends. Joan had inherited a love of the countryside from her family and underwent a course in farming at Studley Royal, near Ripon, after leaving school. Later she joined Beryl in Oxford where she studied art at the Oxford School of Art. While in Oxford she met a friend of Christopher Cooke, a fellow Cliftonian and an ex-prisoner of war, Gordon Horatio Crisp (1898-1962), who was reading medicine. They married in 1927, but not before Joan had stayed with Bay in California to 'think things out'! Their wedding was held at St. Hilda's Church, Danby-in-Cleveland, where 'Dicker' was buried. T.G. Ainsley had for several years rented a house ('Langburn') nearby in Castleton, where the reception was held. Friends from the Farndale Hunt accompanied the wedding car to Langburn, where hounds mingled with the guests, not to everybody's delight.
Joan and Gordon settled in Oakham, Rutland, where Gordon became a GP in Dr. Clapperton's practice, moving on to Lancing with the headmaster of Oakham School when the latter became headmaster of Lancing College. Gordon became the school doctor, and a very beloved member of staff. World War II broke out in September 1939 and the school was evacuated to Ludlow, Shropshire, while the college buildings became HMS King Alfred and part of the naval training scheme. Joan took their two children to the United States (Geoffrey Gordon Ainsley Crisp born 19th January 1929 and Veronica Ann Crisp born 30th May 1930), a not altogether popular move. On their return to Lancing following the end of hostilities, Joan and Gordon lived at Hoe Court, Lancing College, for several years prior to Gordon's retirement, Joan becoming active in local affairs including the Women's Institute, and becoming a bee-keeper. In 1955 Gordon and Joan joined Geoffrey at Woodside Farm, near Alton. Gordon died in 1962. After his marriage Geoffrey moved to a larger farm in Suffolk, Joan keeping an eye on Woodside Farm with the help of a manager. Later she was joined by Veronica who took responsibility for the farm. Joan died at Woodside Farm on 21st July 1985 and was buried next to her husband in the churchyard of the Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene, West Tisted, Hampshire.

143 Theodora Winifred Ainsley was born on 9th July 1902 in West Hartlepool, and died on 1st December 1902. She was buried in the churchyard of the Parish Church of St. Hilda's, Danby-in-Cleveland, near her brother 'Dicker'.

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