My great-grandmother Annie is the most mysterious person in these family history records. All I knew about her when I started researching was that she ran away. To be more precise, that she "ran off to London with a drummer called Jack". Which is obviously not particularly precise, and not a lot for an amateur family history researcher to go on.
Annie Higinbotham was born on 9 January 1890, at Castleton Nearer, Rochdale. She was the daughter of Jane Higinbotham (formerly Howarth) and William Higinbotham. Her birth certificate shows that at the time of her birth her parents were living at 5 Mills Street, Rochdale.
The 1891 and 1901 census returns show her living with her mother (and in 1901 also her brother Fred). In 1891 they're in Gateshead, and in 1901 in Hull, at 11 Salisbury Crescent, Sculcoates, Hull.
The family seem then to have settled in Hull, where Annie met Martin James Lamb. They married at St Thomas's Church, Hull, on 2 March 1908. The marriage certificate gives her name as Annie Helena Higinbotham - I'm not sure where her middle name comes from, as it's not included on her birth certificate.
On 18 June 1908 Annie gave birth to my grandmother, Doris. In 1911 the couple had another daughter, Annie, and then daughter Jane, in 1913.
All quite normal then, up to this point. But in 1913, when her youngest daughter was only a few months old, Annie left her husband and children, so the story goes. A sudden abandonment, with the children alone in the house when their father returned from work. That's the handed-down account of things. Hard to know, nearly 100 years later.
As anyone who has researched family history knows, things are rarely as straightforward as family lore presents them. The stories are often simplified, great chunks left out, because of shame, embarrassment, or because people prefer to forget. Likewise here, I think.
A child was born to Annie, in 1916, at 160 Beverley Road. At that time, this was the Sculcoates Union Workhouse. Hull City Archives have the workhouse records, and an archivist there was able to confirm that the birth of Alfred Lamb was included in their registers.
The workhouse was just around the corner from where many of Annie's in-laws were living, and not far from where her parents lived. Her husband's family at Abbey Crescent could probably see the workhouse buildings from their windows. Whether the older members of the families knew she was there, we shall never know.
The records also show that Alfred Lamb, the child born in the workhouse, died on 24 November 1916, at 14 Hall Street, Hull. When he died, Annie must have had some reconciliation with her parents, as he was buried in the Higinbotham family plot. Yet no one spoke of it, and the family story remains that Annie left in 1913 and didn't return to Hull for decades.
When she did return, once, in the 1940s, her granddaughters were understandably not welcoming her with open arms. Written recollections record that they found her rather odd and rather manly. She stayed a while and disappeared again.
A small piece of information recorded from that visit is that Annie said she had worked as a volunteer driving ambulances in the war. As her visit was just after the second world war, it was assumed this was the war referred to, though I realise that by this time she would be in her 50s.
It's quite strange to have a great-grandmother who apparently abandoned her children and ran away.
The simplified version of events - history as told to children, by the adults who were around at the the time - leaves many questions. A little research has already revealed some of its complications and details. I hope that with further investigation, some more information can be found.