Interview With Great Aunt Molly Spencer
Alice (Molly) Spencer born Parkeston 1921
Molly is a younger sister to my Nanny Eileen Spencer who she does seem to have had some jealousy of.
I was born in Dovercourt on the 31st October 1921 and am now aged 84. After my heart attack I got asthma. I've always smoked loads.
My mother, Florence Maxted, was Irish (half Irish) and was in Dover (I was always told before that they met in Eastleigh). when she met my father Percy. She was a barmaid. She was born in Ireland and her father came over to Nine Elms to build the railway. She came over as a child to Nine Elms. (There is already much error here, Florence was half Irish by her mother, born in London and her father was a Londoner too). My mother's brothers and sisters all lived in Eastleigh in Hampshire. There was Norah, Mary, and Harry who married Glen. Harry and Glen had a daughter, Eileen, who still lives in Eastleigh. Their son Roy emigrated to Perth in Australia.
My mother never liked me. She named me after dad's mother Alice Spencer. My mother was a harridan. She was self centred. My dad's family didn't like her.
My sister Joyce died at the Alton Hospital in Hampshire and your nanny, my sister, Eileen, had to go and identify her. This was early in the war, in about 1943. The doctor had thought Joyce was pregnant, because her periods had stopped, but she'd never done anything. In hospital they found she was in an advanced stage of tuberculosis. She was put in an isolation hospital where she was laid out on the balcony in the cold. On April 21st she died. It was Princess Elizabeth's birthday. It was the only time my father ever cried.
My mother treated my father so rotten. She never cared about him. She doted on her daughter Eileen instead. Eileen was her God. She also spoilt Arnold the youngest. But she didn't like me or my brother George. George married Edna and was out mowing his lawn when he died from a heart attack. I was fair haired. Only Eileen was red haired. Joyce was dark haired like our father.
My first husband was Scottish, Stuart Brice, alias Jock, by whom I had Linda in Dovercourt on July 13th 1945. Linda's children were Neil, Darren and Denise by her 1st husband Michael Jones, and Nina by her 2nd husband Peter Hucklesby of Luton, after which she married Laurence Russell. Neil married Jeanette and had daughters Connie and Anna. He also had a daughter in Leeds called Danielle who is 21 now. Neil wasn't married to her mother so Danielle got no help from her father.
My second husband was James Jameson from County Mayo in Ireland. He was the love of my life but he was no good. He was a drunkard and a gambler and he hit me once after which I left him. But I did love him.
My second husband was James Jameson from County Mayo in Ireland. He was the love of my life but he was no good. He was a drunkard and a gambler and he hit me once after which I left him. But I did love him.
Eileen was always spoilt and always had new clothes from Tallyman, whereas Joyce and I got her hand me downs. I only got one new dress at Tallyman's when I insisted. Eileen was always at home. She went out to work, got something in her eye, got £100 compensation and stayed home from then on. She didn't hardly work, whereas I was the skivvy. Your other granny, Isabelle Inkster, once sewed Clive's trousers for Eileen because she hated sewing. Joyce and I worked at Bernards making naval uniforms. It was a good atmosphere there and the girls sang while working.
In the war we went to Southampton. Work there was either in a factory or the forces, so I worked in a munitions factory. Joyce worked at the saltbaths and contracted tuberculosis from there. They said she had poison in every part of her body. The poison was used in the saltbaths. Metal for planes was put in the saltbaths. I made nuts and bolts on a lathe at the factory. I was clever on the machine. Eileen didn't work because she had little David. Joyce and I wanted to join the forces but dad wouldn't let us go with all those men. He wouldn't sign anything and that's why we went into the factories.
We had a wonderful time with all the men in the war, at dances, and drinks in the pub. There were French men and many others. Everyone was desperate to have a good time because they were here today and never knew if they'd be alive tomorrow.
We had a wonderful time with all the men in the war, at dances, and drinks in the pub. There were French men and many others. Everyone was desperate to have a good time because they were here today and never knew if they'd be alive tomorrow.
In Eastleigh my mother lived at 158 Desborough Road, then moved to number 229. She had a stroke in 1975. She died in either 1975 or 1976.