Great Aunt of
W.P. 'Bill' Richardson
Annie Richardson was
born in the third quarter of 1875, the fifth child of
Robert Richardson and his wife Margaret (nee
Pallister). She was the second of the two girls they
had.
Annie was baptised on 19th July 1875, her baptism was
recorded in the register for the Primitive Methodist
South Shields Circuit. The entry says her Dad was a
miner and the family lived at Usworth Colliery.
She was recorded on the 1881 census, as a scholar aged 5, living with
her family at number 51, Railway Terrace in Little Usworth, Co. Durham.
Four years later in 1885 her father, Robert, was killed
in an explosion in Usworth Colliery.
Ten years later in 1891 when she was 15 she was not
recorded in the family home on the census and was to be
found in Newcastle at 4, Saville Place
"Clapham Institute" in Newcastle and was a housemaid. This
address is listed in Ward's Directory of Newcastle 1890
as Young Women's Christian Association. The
superintendent was Elizabeth Royce and her assistant was
Margaret Tait. Annie would have been 'in service' and
employed by the association as part of the live-in
household staff along with a cook, another housemaid
and a kitchen maid. There were 30 boarders listed, all
young women from various areas of the country who lived
there and worked in Newcastle.
In 1896, at the age of 20, Annie married Ralph Middleton
who she would have known from home as he was born and
raised in Washington.
The 1901 census listed Annie and Ralph living in
Washington Village, next door to her sister Isabella who
was also married. The address is given on the census as
2, Cooperative Freeholds, (that second word is
unclear on the census image). Annie was 25 and Ralph was
26, he was a bricklayer. They had two children:
Robert Richardson Middleton (named for his maternal
Grandfather), who was 3 and John who was 8 months old.
Annie and Ralph had four more children (that I know
of), Ralph was born in 1902, Annie Richardson was born in 1903, Margaret
Pallister was born in 1905 and William Pallister was
born in 1907.
Great sadness for Annie, as her sons John and Ralph
and her daughter
Margaret died during 1906, John was six, Ralph was four
and Margaret was one. Then in 1909 her husband
Ralph died, he was only 35 years old.
The census of 1911 showed Annie, aged 35, living at 6
Manor View, New Washington with her three surviving
children, Robert (13), Annie (7) and William (3). She
was listed as having a Confectionery Shop and working
from home on her own account.
There was also a woman called Annie Carr, aged 20, listed
as a domestic servant, I believe from her age and
birthplace that there is a strong possibility that she
was the sister of Frances Carr who had married Ralph
Richardson in 1905.
The 1914 Kelly's Directory of Durham listed Annie as
a shopkeeper in New Washington.
More sadness for Annie when her youngest son,
William, died in 1926. He was only eighteen years old.
Annie died in the second quarter of 1944, she was 68
years old and her death was registered in the Durham
Northern Registration District.
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