Mary Ellen Critchley, nee Melling, photographed in about 1922, reading a book. She is Mollie's grandmother and my great grandmother. Mary Ellen was a widow when Mollie was born. I have pictures of great grandfather James Critchley. He looks sad in them, or, it could be that he has quite a notable walrus moustache. In the picture below, James Critchley looks typically melancholy. Mollie's cousin Tom, sitting on Mary Ellen's lap looks angrily at his grandfather, whilst Tom's brother Ronald, sitting between them is looking at James Critchley with respect. Mollie wrote that she remembered Mary Ellen well. She wrote:
"She was a kind sympathetic person with a sense of humour. My mother said she mellowed in her old age. I never saw her in any colour but black. She wore a long black skirt and black blouse, silk for Sundays. And black cardigan, which was old fashioned even in those days. I occasionally shared a bedroom with her and I'm still astonished at the number of petticoats she wore, all tied round the waist and knotted at the front."
"When I first knew her she was living in the family home with her daughter Phoebe and Phoebe's husband Jim and two of her sons, another Jim and Seth. This house at 164 Knowsley Road was known as the "Homestead" had originally belonged to the one next door when it was occupied by the builder of the terrace. When the family took it over, a central division had been made, thus creating two houses, the larger, right hand one belonged to the Critchleys. Downstairs was a front parlour with a piano, and at the back a dining room facing on to the back yard. Under the stairs, there was a sort of small cellar with stairs leading down to it."
"The kitchen had a large range and a table under the window, with a rag mat on the floor. This kitchen led to a kind of wash place with half a door like a stable door. Outside was a garden and greenhouse with a paved path. At one time my grandmother kept hens; her favourite cock would sit on her knee, but would attack any other family member who tried to feed it. Upstairs were the bedrooms and the bathroom."
"My grandmother was passionately fond of Rugby League. On a Saturday afternoons, she would take a cushion and sit on the back bedroom windowsill to get a good view of the play on the St Helens field nearby. On Boxing Day St Helens always played Wigan on the local 'Derby' I remember her rushing out to stop the first spectators coming off the field to find out who had won. If it was St Helens, we had white and red crepe paper on the teatable. The occasion I remember well was when they lost and there was black paper round the doorway by the time the men of the family arrived home. My mother inherited this love of the game and watched St Helens on the television till her dying day. I must admit I often do the same.
"When I was nine, my two cousins came from London to visit and we were staying at the same time. Together we produced an entertainment. My grandmother put curtains across the back room and behind this was our imagined stage. Both boys were in the scouts, so we included a few sketches from their 'Gang Show' I remember it was the first time I heard the old joke "Waiter, waiter, there's a fly in my soup" We ended with a murder play called "Ten minute Alibi" I didn't understand it, but it seemed to go down well and we were rewarded by grandmother with chocolates"
Mary Ellen Critchley nee Melling 1863 to 1937. Tom Critchley 1919 to 1991. Ronald Critchley 1917 to 1959 and James Critchley 1863 to 1923.
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