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Ethel Rowley 1880 - 1978 Ethel Rowley was born in Stourbridge, the daughter of Richard Ghent Rowley and Mary Kimber. In later life she used the name, and was known to her family, as 'Connie.'
Ethel (wearing black hat) pictured in later life |
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From a Bible found amongst her possessions at her death it is known that she attended Wollaston Road Presbyterian School in Stourbridge. Why this was the case is a mystery (as are many events in her long and colourful life) as her grandfather was the proprietor of a school at which her own mother was a teacher up until 1875.
Surviving correspondence shows that she had many 'suitors' up until the time she married. At the time she secretely married Edgar Percy Pearson in Birmingham she was already pregnant, for her eldest son was born barely six months after her marriage.
Percival Roy Pearson was born in Islington, London, presumably at the home of Ethel's older sister Mary who had married Charles Vernon - probably the birth was unknown to Ethel's mother (her father had died in 1904), although the circumstances of her marriage and motherhood must have become apparent soon after for letters survive from her husband addressed to Mrs E P Pearson, and not Miss E Rowley as in earlier letters. Another son, John William Thomas Pearson was born in 1908, although his baptism did not take place until 1910 - this event being at St. Thomas's Church in Stourbridge. 
Percival Roy Pearson (standing) and John William Thomas Pearson (on chair)
By this time Ethel's husband was extremely ill, and after spending some time in the Corbett Hospital, Stourbridge, died in 1910 from the effects of Tuberculosis. He is buried in Stourbridge Borough Cemetary - four years later his brother John Reginald Francis Pearson was buried with him.
Shortly after this tragic effect Ethel, widowed and with two young children, moved to Birmingham (an inexplicable question is why she and members of her immediate family had this connection with this city - were some as yet untraced relatives living there?) where, in 1912, she gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, also Christened Ethel. The father of this daughter remains a mystery to this day. Her birth certificate records her father as... Edgar Percy Pearson! but this is obviously wrong had Edgar had been dead for two years. In later years Ethel Junior asked her mother about her father, being worried about tuberculosis, but was told by her mother 'don't worry, Percy Pearson wasn't your father.' Further questioning was only to receive the vague answer that your father was named 'Coren' (or some similar sounding name.)
For reasons unknown Ethel moved to Dudley shortly after her daughters birth, leaving her daughter in the care of neighbours. Some years later when she went to retrieve her daughter these former neighbours refused to give her up, and the younger Ethel spent her life up until she became an adult as a member of her 'adopted' family.
The enigma of the younger Ethel's father will almost certainly remain a mystery, as all members of the family with any knowledge are now deceased. Certainly her younger half-brother 'Owen' Thompson went to his grave believing that Ethel shared the same father as him, as did presumably their older half brothers Percival 'Roy' Pearson and John William Thomas ('Jack') Pearson.
After her move to Dudley Ethel lived in Wolverhampton Street and St. James Road, although around the time of the First World War she was living in Ivanhoe Street with her two young sons. Some time afterwards she met John Thompson, the father of her last child, Horatio 'Owen' Thompson. It seems that John Thompson was as capable of generating as much mystery as Ethel: family legend tells how Ethel recounted telling in later years how he had shown Ethel the factories belonging to his namesake, John Thompson (no relation) in Pear Tree Lane, Dudley, proclaiming them to be his own - presumably in an effort to impress!
Ethel and John Thompson were never married. It seems, although this needs to be further researched, that John Thompson may have already been married. Around the time of his marriage to his second wife their son, 'Owen', took her to an an address in Gornal to see his 'other' family - inferring that these were children (ie his half-brothers/sisters) of his father John Thompson. When she died a form for changing her name by Deed Poll was found among Ethel's effects, although she had not signed it - probably she felt disinclined to pay the fee for registering this and simply assumed (as is perfectly legal) the surname Thompson. This is the name under which she lived her life for over half and century and under which she died and was buried.
Ethel standing in the doorway of the house in Blowers Green Crescent where Ethel lived with her son 'Jack' and his family. This is a very early photograph of the house (early 1930's) as in later years (around 1970) there was an enormous Poplar tree where the fence is in this picture. Ethel's 'colourful' life has been referred to and contains many amusing anecdotes. One of these was recently recounted by her relative Reverend Nigel Jackson Stevens (currently (2003) Vicar of Ilfracombe in Devon) who told how she introduced him to smoking: Ethel was very fond of of visiting her relatives. Nigel told of how he was at the home of the Davis family in Chawn Hill, Stourbridge, when Ethel 'breezed' through the front door. He had not, at that time, ever met his 'Aunt Ethel', but she sat down and asked if he smoked ( the author does not remember her ever smoking) and offered him a cigarette. Nigel, being about 14 years old at this time, and in deference to this overwhelming character, accepted a cigarette, and still smokes a pipe to this day!
The authors recollections of his great grandmother stem from childhood visits to his grandfather, John William Thomas Pearson. At this point I thought that 'Jack' and Ethel were my grandparents. It was not until I began my family history research research that I realised that Ethel was actually Jack's mother. Weekends were the occasion of regular visits to my grand'parents' in Blowers Green Crescent. Often, we would take our bicycles in the family car and ride them on the large area of grass at the rear of the house. When Jack died Ethel moved to live with my uncle 'Owen' next door to us in Wellington Road. She came to have Christmas lunch with us every year - being very young at the time my major recollection is of how very old she appeared: the veins in her hands stood out against the bones! - very unnerving to a small child. Also, on these visits, my mother always got out the old silver cutlery - I think she still (2003) has it - that Ethel had given her when my parents married.
When the authors family history research began Ethel had gone to live in a home, having become unable by this time too look after herself, even with family members to help. It was here that I really learned how she was related. Although her short term memory was poor by this time she was able to relate that her fathers name was Richard and her mother had been Mary Kimber - 'father always called her Polly' . Of the relatives of her husband Percy she had no recollection. Sadly, she died soon afterwards at the age of 97 years, and was buried with John Thompson in Dudley Cemetery, having expressed the wish to be buried with her second husband (even though, it later turned out, that they were not legally married).
Pearson/Rowley/Parrish/Batham/Gauden
Steve Pearson
PO Box 2483, Dudley, West Midlands, England, DY2 0YH
Tel: +44 (0)1384 241010 E-mail: Steve Pearson
©S Pearson 2002
