Edith Mary Ball was born in Peterborough in 1872. She was the first child of the Reverend Charles Ball (later a canon) and Mary Eliza Saunders. Her grandfather was Augustus Page Saunders, the Dean of Peterborough Cathedral and one of her aunts was Florence Saunders, the woman who would later bring district nursing to Peterborough. Her family were exceptional people, and as the first-born child of two very loving parents, Edith was given the skills and support to do extraordinary things herself. This blogpost reveals what life was like for a prominent vicar's daughter at the turn of the twentieth century and how much could be achieved by one woman.
Edith was educated at home with her sisters Mildred Mary and Dorothy Mary in her early years, when the family were living in St Mary’s vicarage where her father was the vicar. However, despite having three servants in the 1881 census, they did not have a live-in governess and still had a nurse. This is almost certainly due to the young age of the girls – 8, 6 and 2 – but could also suggest the girls, or at least Edith, had visiting specialist tutors. Edith was 18 by the time of the 1891 census and has so far proved elusive in the records. She was almost certainly at a boarding school and has had one or several of her details mis-transcribed. She may even be known under a nickname (something that was evident in the census records at Laurel Court) and has therefore not been discoverable in any searches.
By the
1901 census Edith was living at home at All Saints' vicarage, Peterborough, with her parents and three younger
siblings. They also had three domestic servants and a sick nurse in the house,
and unusually we know why. Edith’s father Charles had been taken ill will
bronchitis and had spent a few weeks in bed. The sedentary time in bed had
caused a blood clot to form in his leg and he was forced to undergo emergency
surgery to remove his leg above the knee. He survived, but he had been
perilously close to death and was left with quite a severe disability. All of
this had taken place in the few weeks prior to the 1901 census, which is why a
sick nurse was still in place to provide round the clock care whilst Edith and
her family slept. Their nurse, Jessie M Clarabut, was from Sussex and might
have been hired through connections at Peterborough Infirmary or more likely through
the advice or contacts of Edith’s aunt Florence, who was running her district
nursing service by the point. No indication was given in the census of any
occupation that Edith or her siblings were undertaking, despite her youngest
siblings, Richard and Cisely Mary both being of school age. So what did Edith
do? Being the eldest child of a high-profile Canon, Edith had grown up in a
world of compassion and duty. Her life was to serve others and make life better
for those who could not help herself.
She was
also occupied with the duties of a large family, being a witness at her sister
Dorothy’s wedding to Rev. George Godfrey at All Saint’s Church in 1899. Her
large family included several aunts and cousins too, who lived close to their
family home Madeley House on Park Road (now part of King’s School). Her
mother’s cousin Wilhelmina Blanche Saunders (more of an aunt figure) lived on
Park Road and so did her father’s sisters Hannah and Susan Ball, all of whom
had never married. Hannah and Susan lived next door shortly before their deaths
in December 1897 and February 1898. So not only was Edith surrounded by a large
and loving family, she was also surrounded by wealthy independent women who had
never married. It’s therefore not too surprising that Edith didn’t marry
either.
Edith’s desire to do good in her life and specifically to help the poor was planted in her at a young age by her parents. Her father was not afraid to preach to his congregation on the subject of helping the poor and was himself inspired by the ‘City Guild of Help’ in Bradford. In a speech in early January 1907 he attempted to inspire his audience to come together to create a ‘City Guild of Help’ for Peterborough, which was an early form of social work to help the most needy and provide targeted support tailored to their needs. His wish for Peterborough was that ‘no one in our city shall starve, or go ragged, or shall look in vain for a friendly helping hand in his time of need.’[1] His words seem as relevant as ever over a hundred years later.
Edith
was closely involved in her father’s work and the 1911 census shows Edith visiting
a clergyman with her father in Aylestone, Leicester (her father was a curate in the area). She’s 38 and single and her father is 78. We know at this point
that she was still living at home with her parents, and she was almost
certainly there to provide her father with any care that he needed, given his
age and disability. It’s also very likely that they were travelling to visit Edith’s
sister Mildred (married to Rev. Cornelius Carleton) in Leicester and meet her four-month-old
baby Margaret, the youngest of four.
By this
point in her life Edith was at her most productive. Her father’s desire to create
a better life for the poor had made a profound impact and she pushed to build
the first compassionate social housing in the city – a form of model housing. The
Daily News (London) featured an article in May 1912 with the headline
‘Pensioners’ Houses, Lady’s Novel Scheme at Peterborough’ that began:
Peterborough
is shortly to be the centre of a novel housing scheme for Old Age Pensioners,
originated by Miss Edith M Ball, granddaughter of the late Dean Saunders, of
Peterborough, and eldest daughter of Canon Ball, until recently Vicar of All
Saints’, Peterborough. At present, however, there is a delay in the
construction of the tenements, due to the fact that the Town Council at their
last meeting referred the plans back, to enable the architect to make the rooms
“a little more airy and healthy.”[2]
Edith’s
plans were rather grand, and she explained in an interview that she hoped to
build ‘five houses, all opening on to a central lawn, with trees, comfortable
seats, and flower borders.’ The houses were small tenements containing a total
of eight rooms, four smaller rooms for single people and four larger for
couples. She planned to build one house initially ‘as an experiment’ and if it
was successful the others would be built. She also had a little name drop and
mentioned that Octavia Hill herself had endorsed the idea! Praise indeed.
The
article had followed one in the Peterborough Standard which stated Edith’s
‘philanthropic works are well known in the city.’[3] It
also explained that the five houses or blocks, would be built on Alexandra Road
and that the rent would be ‘as low as possible.’ She was also hoping for the
scheme to be ‘self-supporting and NOT a charity.’ The furnishings for the room
do sound rather old fashioned, so it is worth remembering that this was 1912:
Each
room is to have a large window, a ventilated food cupboard, a china [sic] cupboard, kitchen range with boiler, seat combined with coal box, and dress
cupboard. The four rooms on each floor are to share a lavatory, and a scullery,
the latter containing a sink and wash tub. Each tenant is to have the use of
the wash tub one day in the week.
The
trail goes cold in the newspapers and you’re probably trying to recall the
street, wondering where these tenements are on Alexandra Road, or if they were
ever built. Indeed they were, but only the first block.
Map: OS
six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952 from maps.nls.uk
Edith’s
model house, known as ‘The Haven’ sits above the D at the end of ‘Alexandra
Road’ and has a long narrow garden. There is space in the plot to the west of
the house to build more tenements, but they were never built. I have yet to
discover why the remaining tenements weren’t built, but it was likely deemed
unsuccessful – too expensive to run for the peppercorn rents that were going to
be charged.
But
Edith wasn’t happy with only one Haven in Peterborough and pushed for
more. In 1920 she spoke passionately on the creation of a Public Utility
Society which would oversee the building of three more Havens to provide a
total of 24 new homes. She had had two meetings with the Housing Commissioner
and correspondence by letter. Her hard work had secured the support of the
government and the promise of financial subsidies towards the cost of the new
houses. They created a deputation consisting of Edith, Mrs Clayton, and Sir
Richard Winfrey, M.P. who were going to approach the Ministry and ask what money
was available. However, there is no evidence for any further model houses built
in the city. It is possibly because in the same year in October the council
were building their own social houses in St Paul’s Road and at Westwood Grange,
so the impetus for the creation of her houses was unnecessary.
The 1921 census should have been an excellent indicator of where she was living, but she appeared to have gone on holiday with her family. Her father had passed away in 1918, so it was an all-female holiday. Edith and her mother Mary were staying in a house named ‘Kilbreen’ on Austin Street, Hunstanton (which is a most beautiful street) and they had been joined by Edith’s married sister Mildred, and Mary’s cousin W Blanche Saunders.
Austin Street, Hunstanton by Rob Johnson via georgaph.org.uk
Edith was one of the founder members of the Peterborough Association for the Blind in 1911, signing her name on the first minutes as their chairman. By 1914 we
know that Edith was the ‘secretary of the Peterborough Committee of the Midland
Counties Blind Association’ and was in communication with the Free Library
Committee.[4]
She requested that the ‘volumes of braille type’ in the library were ‘increased from five to
eight per month’ suggesting there was a real need and desire for such
literature. She was still working as the secretary in 1922, her name appearing
in the paper as she organised a January party for blind Peterborians at the
Bedford Coffee Tavern on January 17th. She remained on the
committee, although no longer the secretary, from 1924 to 1927 where
a notable fellow committee member was Miss (Enid) Hartley of Fletton Towers. Edith had
connections to all of the great and the good in the city.
In her
later years Edith moved to Oxford, close to family members, which is where she
was captured in the 1939 census. She had made a special trip back to Peterborough
in 1932 to celebrate the 21st birthday of the Peterborough
Association for the Blind. Edith not only continued her
tireless work for the blind in Oxford, but she frequently corresponded with the
Midland area organiser on matters of the blind, such was her commitment to the
cause. I can’t help but wonder if she was also involved in the provision of a
wireless radio for Miss Gibson in 1925 as she became increasingly blind in her
latter years.
Edith
died on 17th November 1951 in Oxford around the time of her 79th
birthday. Recollections of her life in the ‘Old Scarlett’ section of the
Peterborough Standard claim she was born at St Paul’s vicarage (not the current
building at the Triangle) where her father was the first vicar, before they
moved to All Saints, where he was again the first vicar. It’s a reminder that
Edith was born at a time of great change, as Peterborough grew from a small population
to a vast one, and she was perfectly placed to make her mark on the city
through her philanthropic deeds, providing homes for the elderly poor and
comfort to the blind of the city through decades of work.
Her
legacy lies in The Haven on Alexandra Road (owned by the council by the time of
her death) and in the many lives she improved in the city. Her aspirations were big, and I’d like to think that if she had built the additional houses on
Alexandra Road that there might already be a plaque up remembering her good
deeds, but you don’t win accolades for not finishing a job! I suspect there are some more buildings in the city that owe their creation to the work or inspiration of Edith Ball, but for now, building the city's first model housing is enough. My next blogpost will be on the building I suspect she helped to create, but that is for another day...
