Elizabeth   (Betty) Jane Land

• General Notes
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    Hello Charles,
    I believe that the lady I knew was born in South Shields. Her birthday was 28th April 1898.
    She used to tell me of living in a shop, ...general groceries etc I think and of time spent with aunts... I don't know which side of the family.
    She told me that she never knew her father because '...when I was 9 months old, the sea took him'
    I tried to find out more about this for her, without success, but she used to recall that her mother never stopped waiting for him to return. I don't know that she ever remarried.
    From census records I think that probably this is the marriage of Elizabeth Jane's parents...
    
    Marriages Sep 1887
    Land William Frederick S.Shields 10a 849
    WHEATLEY Jane Selkirk R South Shields 10a 849
    
    Elizabeth Jane., was known in later life as Betty. She had worked in a hospital, ...nursing?possibly Stoke on Trent area and it was there that she met her husband who had visited to make some sort of survey of the buildings. He had been living for a while in Australia, (with brothers ?) but had returned to UK His name was Arthur SIDLEY
    
    Name: Elizabeth Land
    Spouse Surname: Sidley
    Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1931
    Registration district: Leek
    Registration county (inferred): Staffordshire
    Volume Number: 6b
    Page Number: 723
    Find Spouse: Arthur Sidley
    
    I never knew Arthur, but at some time after their marriage they decided to move from The Potteries area to Kent, where he had relatives living. They decided to buy a bungalow and the story goes that Arthur would be round every day watching progress on the new estate and insisting that foundations etc were done to the right specifications. This would be in mid to late 1960s.
    I think she told me that Arthur called her Jane,... but to others she was Betty Sidley.
    She was a strong character, who knew her own mind. She had a strong faith and was a supporter of the local C of E church. She absolutely loved flowers. Her front room was sometimes like a flower shop.In later life she couldn't move from her chair without help and the flowers were a great joy to her. Some were gifts, but she regularly bought many for herself.
    She stayed living on her own in her bungalow,after Arthur died even when she became frail and could only just about walk in the bungalow with the support of a walking frame. Her mind was so sharp though. I remember one day that she fell and pressed her Lifeline call aid. The ambulance men wanted to take her to hospital for a check up, but not her! She wouldn't go and was thankfully only bruised. She stayed on many months and eventually had her wish to die at home in her bungalow in Hythe, Kent on 25th January 1998, just a few months before her 100th birthday. She was cremated at Hawkinge Crematorium, after a service at the church where she had worshipped in Hythe.
    
    . ELIZABETH JANE LAND, b. April 28, 1898, South Sheilds, Co Durham (10a 832)2nd qtr; d. January 25, 1998, Shepway, Kent; m. ARTHUR SIDLEY, 1931, Leek, Staffordshire(6b 723) 3rd Qtr.; b. January 23, 1897, Burslem, Staffordshire (6b 147) 1st Qtr; d. 1983, Shepway, Kent (16 1494) 4th Qtr.
    Notes for ELIZABETH JANE LAND: 1901 census Lived at George Polto St, & 56 Ada Street, with mother and 4 siblings aged 2 years. Known as Betty in later life. Her father was lost at Sea when she was 9 months old, and her mother never stopped waiting for him to return. She had worked in a hospital in the Stoke on Trent area where she nursed and possibly met her husband there. Her husband called her Jane but most people called her Betty had a great love of Flowers and her front room was akin to a Flower Shop. She died 3 months before her 100 birthday, living at a home in Hythe which is where she died. At some time in her life was living over a grocer's shop. She married in Staffordshire at a place called Leek.
    More About ELIZABETH JANE LAND: Burial: Hawkinge Crematorium, Hythe, Kent.