Elizabeth Harrison (1885–1937)
Aka Bessie Harrison
Biography
Elizabeth was born in 1885 to Edward and Martha (née Mason) Harrison. Her older siblings were Ellen, Joseph, and John. Two more children were to come – Martha and Alice. Elizabeth’s sister Jane was born in 1878 and died of meningitis in 1882 before Elizabeth was born.
Elizabeth was born at 32 Corporation Street in the Poolstock area of Wigan, as were her older brother John and younger sisters Martha and Alice. This house was just around the corner from the Honeysuckle Inn, where her uncle Henry, Harold Harrison’s father, was the proprietor.
The family was still at the Corporation Street address when the 1891 census was taken, but shortly thereafter, in 1892, Elizabeth’s father Edward got a job with the Wigan Municipal Works, operating the Boar’s Head pumping station. Then, in 1894, tragedy struck. Edward was bitten by a rabid dog walking back from visiting his brother Henry at the Honeysuckle Inn. He died of rabies three months later in October, and his wife Martha died of breast cancer the following month. Thus, along with her brothers and sisters, Elizabeth was orphaned at an early age. Fortunately, Elizabeth’s grandfather Joseph and three of his daughters were able to move into the company-owned home to care for them, since Joseph took over the job of operating the pumping station.
Probably after Elizabeth’s grandfather Joseph’s retirement, the members of the household still living at the pumping station relocated to 130 Barnsley Street, since they were there when Joseph died in 1908. They were still there ten years later when Elizabeth’s sister Alice died. At some point after that Elizabeth, her two unmarried aunts Margaret and Ellen (aka Nellie) and her sister Martha moved to Kenyon Road.
As stated on her death certificate, Elizabeth’s occupation was “hosier worker” – a skilled trade consisting of knitting cotton stockings on a frame. This type of work was originally done by workers in their own homes, but by the time she was old enough to be employed, it is almost certain she would have worked in a factory.
Elizabeth died on 25 June 1937, at 42 Kenyon Road at the age of 52 – of cancer, like her mother before her – and was buried in the Back to the top