19th May - my Nanny's birthday (and Queen Victoria)

Nanny Povey, all dressed up with hat and gloves.  Maybe on an "outing"




I loved my Nanny Povey (the only grandparent I knew/  My family has but this  one photo' of her
/As I child I was confused by the fact that her name was Sarah, but she was also known as Sally. That did not make sense to me!

I know that her birth name was Sarah Bennett and that her father had been a coal miner in the Easton district of Bristol (where until recent years there was a pub called "The Pit Pony"

She married my grand-father Henry George  (or George Henry) Povey.  They had but one child, my Dad, Henry John Povey (always known as Jack).  

Grandfather Povey died in 1939  Nanny lived in semi-poverty after that, eking out life on a Widow's Pension.

I am certain that she was born on May 19th because I was always tickled pink that her birthday was exactly one week before mine (and that of my twin sister),

But I cannot be sure of the year of her birth.  I suspect that it was in about 1890 (or a year or two before) because she loved to tell that as a school-girl she saw Queen Victoria on the latter's visit to Bristol.  Nanny, as a school-girl was given a penny and a sticky-bun as a reward for her "loyalty" in lining up to see the Queen.

I can find records that Queen Victoria visited Bristol in 1899 - so that would "gel" with my thought that Nanny was born found about 1890 -  for in those days Nanny would not have been educated much beyond the age of ten or twelve.

It also gels with the fact that my Dad was born in  1911, when Nanny would have been about 21 years of age.

Nanny died when I was fifteen or sixteen years old. I know that I had to take a day off from school to attend her funeral.

Of course I loved Nanny dearly.  Apart from that, I am tickled pink to note that, via her memories, I have a link in this 21st Century to a Nanny who was born in the 19th Century, a Nanny who saw Queen Victoria.

My guess is that some of my readers have similar memories of their encounters with family members or friends who were born in the 19th Century.

 In some ways that makes "history" to seem like yesterday!

 If you have 19th to 21st Century stories or memories.  please publish them on Facebook/

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