In my previous blogpost I looked at the life and legacy of Edith Ball. The daughter of Canon Ball, she had followed his desire to provide care and support for the poor by creating The Haven, a scheme that had been applauded by none other than Octavia Hill! I thought I had discovered another building that she had helped to create, but it was part of the Co-op depot. But in my research I discovered that Edith wasn't the only person inspired by Canon Ball. A new social housing project began in 1927 spearheaded by Mrs Shipley Ellis and I was curious as to who she was and what her link to Edith was, so I started to research her and came across a fascinating life story with some impressive legacies.
Hilda
Anne Bristow was born in Fletton on 7 September 1873. She had been born into a
wealthy family and lived in the manor house in Fletton in her early childhood
years, the youngest of twelve children. Her father James was an auctioneer at
the time of the 1881 census.
The 1891 census is the most illuminating and gives the fullest picture of Hilda’s childhood. By then Hilda was 17 and her mother Jane (née Lambert) had sadly passed away; she had died five years earlier when Hilda was only 12. Hilda was living at home with her sisters Edith and Ethel, as well as her father James and a couple of servants. They also had a visitor, a 16-year-old girl named Jenny (her surname is illegible), who was a scholar from Zwickau in Germany. My interest was instantly piqued and I immediately made a connection to Laurel Court School – was Hilda a pupil? I checked my database of the school pupils and confirmed that older sister Edith had been living at Laurel Court in the 1881 census. It looked incredibly likely that Hilda was home from school for the holidays and had invited her friend Jenny to join her.
By this point Hilda's father had founded a brickyard at Fletton and they were very well off. The only place fitting for the upwardly wealthy family was Fletton Towers, which is where they were captured in the 1891 census. The family did not live there for a particularly long time, her father and a few sisters having moved away together by the 1901 census. Hilda, however, stayed in the city along with several other siblings who had married, including Edith. In a beautiful snapshot of the Bristow sisters' lives, there was a description of the outfits they wore at Edith’s marriage to Thomas Corby Wilson in February 1894. Edith’s wedding dress was ‘a rich ivory moire silk dress’ and Hilda, along with her sisters Ethel and Minnie wore ‘heliotrope Bengaline silk dresses, trimmed with cream lace. They also wore black velvet picture hats.’ Ignoring the fact they would have been frozen in such thin material, they would have looked quite the picture in their silk dresses and large hats, and would have brought a touch of glamour to wintry Fletton. I include this fact to labour the point that these were a wealthy, glamourous family. It is also very unusual to find a description of clothing worn by the subject of such posts, so it adds an extra layer of detail to our understanding of Hilda and her family. Perhaps it was also that silk dress and black velvet hat that drew the eye of Hilda’s future husband…
Hilda
married John Shipley Ellis (of Ellis and Everard) at the same church in 1896,
aged 22. They went on to have three children: Margery, Jane, and Francis John.[i] In
the 1901 census John, Hilda and Margery were living on London Road in Fletton in
a house close to Saxon Villas. It was a road of impressive Victorian villas and
having a residence there showed they were people of substance. John was
labelled as a ‘Grain (coal) Merchant’ suggesting his primary income was from
selling grain, but he was also providing coal. By the 1911 census the whole
family were living in ‘Abbey Fields, The Park’ which was another select
location to live: the address is now on Park Crescent. John was a coal company
director, and they were also rich enough to afford a governess for their
children. Hilda and John remained there for the rest of their lives and took a
very active role in the life of the city including John becoming a city
magistrate.
Hilda was
known best for her philanthropy, which filled her married life. She helped to form Canon Ball’s ‘Guild of Help’ (see the Edith
Ball blogpost) and was also involved with the Florence Saunders Nursing
Association from the start, along with her husband (they were both present at
the 60th anniversary). I think it very likely that Hilda and Edith were friends and it's possible they were at Laurel Court together. It could have been this close friendship that led
Hilda to engage in Edith’s father’s scheme and Edith’s aunt’s association. Newspaper accounts reveal that Canon Ball preached his social schemes to his congregation, but Hilda attended St Margaret's in Fletton and then St Mark's on Lincoln Road, so she must have been influenced by him personally. To remain devoted to the causes over decades strongly suggests a personal relationship with the extended Ball/Saunders family, a factor that would explain why she took up the baton on social housing after Canon Ball's death and Edith had left the city for Oxford.
In 1928 work began on The Pantiles, three two-storey blocks of flats that sit around a grassed courtyard at the bottom of All Saint’s Road. The flats were designed to provide comfortable homes for widows and unmarried women, of whom there were many after the Great War. Hilda had been the driving force behind the new homes through the National Council of Women branch in the city, of which she was president; she wanted to ‘mark her term of office with a practical achievement of definite social value’.[ii] Just like The Haven, the original plan was to build one block of four flats initially to gauge interest, and they were designed to be run as a self-supporting venture. By the December 1927 meeting of the NCW the plan was to build all three blocks at a cost of £200 and they had decided that the company overseeing the housing would be known as the ‘Pan-tiles Housing Association’, a company that Hilda would be the chairperson of until her death.[iii]
Each
flat was lit by electricity (which was exciting!) and was going to contain ‘two bedrooms,
sitting room, kitchenette, bathroom and lavatory,’ along with the use of a
‘coal bunker’ and gas too. These were a big improvement from the flats of The
Haven and very modern in their style. In addition, the central courtyard and foyers were planned to be lit by an electric light all night, offering safety to the women as they came and went. This in itself is a remarkable
detail; how many other buildings in the city have been designed specifically
for the safety of women at night? Lighting entrances for safety is commonplace
now, but there is a very good chance that this was the first and only building
to consider the safety of women for many years. For anyone wondering who these forward-thinking
architects were, they were Messrs Traylen, Lenton and Warwick.
The Pantiles. Author's photograph
The construction was quick and the
first women had moved in by the beginning of June 1928. A comment piece
known as Old Scarlet in the Peterborough Standard took a critical look at the
new flats. Looking past the ‘half-grown grass and the unplanted flowerbeds’ he
noted ‘it is obvious that the buildings will assume in their maturity a beauty
and homeliness which is quite attractive’ – how many modern buildings can that
be said about?![iv] Sadly,
the correspondent could not resist making a dig at the homes for women
declaring: ‘I hope the residents to be will live happily together so that when
mere men do visit them in their Adamless Eden, they will find an example of
harmony and content.’ Given that Mrs Shipley Ellis vetted every applicant and that a couple of the
flats would be provided furnished for visiting lady teachers, I think we can safely
assume that there were not the sort of fights that the correspondent had
suggested. Hilda was not content with the building of the flats and remained
devoted to the administration of the association for many years.
The
Pantiles was not the only legacy that Mrs Shipley Ellis provided the city with.
In 1945 she purchased an oak door for the cathedral in memory of her sisters
Hannah, Martha, and Ethel.[v] It
is interesting to note that this was during WW2. We saw similar memorials to
women during WW1 at a time that grief was ever present but almost entirely (and
understandably) directed at the horrendous loss of men fighting abroad. The
grief of losing women at this time still hurt, so women with money and
connections created memorials carefully, expressing their loss through quiet
giving and discrete memorials. The oak door is in St Kyneburgha’s Chapel in front
of a staircase. I’ve sadly been unable to find an image of the door (although
there are lots of neighbouring St Oswald’s), so if anyone has an image and/or
can confirm the door is still in place, do let me know.
Hilda
was also treasurer of the local branch of the RNLI for many years, taking both
secretary and treasurer roles in the early 1940s when need dictated. Lady
Winfrey said of Hilda ‘much of
the success of the branch is down to her untiring efforts.’[vi] She
was also an enduring supporter of the Conservatives, being a founding member of
the local women’s branch, of which she also became the treasurer. In addition,
she was engaged with the Red Cross, most notably during the Great War. And it
would be remiss of me not to mention the copious number of fetes, church
functions and school events that she either opened, judged, or spoke at. She
supported as many causes as she could and was always welcomed and appreciated
for her hard work and kindness. Some of these she attended with her husband,
and later her daughters, but many of them she supported in her own right as a
wealthy and influential woman.
Hilda
Shipley Ellis died on 1 May 1951 aged 77, her death being announced on the
front page of the Peterborough Standard, such was her importance to the city.[vii]
Her life and legacy was celebrated, along with her family history, and most touching
of all, the article featured a photograph of her and her husband John, who had died in February,
beaming at each other. at their 50th wedding anniversary. The couple had been married 55 years at the time of his
death, which appears to have been the catalyst for her own demise. She became
very ill after he died, being unable to attend his funeral at St Mark’s in
March. She began to recover but a ‘seizure’ (potentially a stroke) caused her
to relapse and die a few days later. A memorial was erected to the couple in St
Mark’s church by their children in 1953. Margery Shipley Ellis, their eldest
daughter, took on many of her parents’ roles, including becoming a magistrate,
continuing the legacy that she inherited.
The Pantiles still sit on the corner of Park Road and All Saints Road and are nearing their 100th birthday. As you can see from the images, the 12 flats remain largely as they were built, which is testament to the forethought of the planners and architects. Next time you find yourself in the area do take a moment to admire the first social housing specifically for women and the ‘practical achievement of definite social value.’ There aren’t many people who can claim to have left such a legacy, and far fewer who were women! Perhaps this is another contender for a Blue Plaque?
[i] The
family surname was actually Ellis, so Hilda was occasionally known as Mrs Ellis.
Shipley was the middle name for John and their children, but they incorporated it
into their surname.
[ii] ‘Flats
for Single Ladies’, Peterborough Standard, 22 July 1927, p.7.
[iii] ‘Mrs
Shipley Ellis and Flats for Women’, Peterborough Standard, 9 December
1927, p.7, ‘Flats for Bachelor Ladies’, Peterborough Standard, 17
February 1928, p.12.
[iv] ‘Notes
and Comments’, Peterborough Standard, 6 July 1928, p.6.
[v] ‘Oak Door for the Cathedral’, Peterborough Standard,
30 March 1945, p.1.
[vi] ‘Social
and Personal Notes’, Peterborough Standard, 13 March 1942, p.4.
[vii]
‘Death of Mrs Shipley Ellis, a Great Social
Worker’, Peterborough Standard, 4 May 1951, p.1.
