[BMD] [Biography] [Photo Gallery]

BMD

Born: Father: Mother: 26 April 1882 in Whitstable, KEN Edward STREATFIELD Agnes Ward PACKMAN Married: Spouse: 09 November 1901 in Boughton-under-Blean, KEN Stephen ANDREWS Died: Burial: 06 July 1915 in Wingham, KEN 10 July 1915 in Wingham, KEN

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Biography

Agnes Annie Streatfield was born on the 26 April at her grandfather Thomas Streatfield’s farm, Bog’s Hole near Whitstable, Kent.  Today the farm, now known as Bogshole or Bogsole, would be considered a desirable residence in spite of its proximity to the main A299 and Tesco’s. No doubt in the days prior to reliable roads and indoor plumbing it was rather less idyllic and rather more isolated. (see photo gallery)

Agnes was the eldest child of Edward Streatfield and Agnes Ward Packman. Her father Edward is listed as a farmer on her birth certificate, but has become the rather more modest (and probably honest) agricultural labourer by the time her sister Gilliah May arrived in September 1884. By then the family had moved to Clapham Hill,  Whitstable. The 1891 census finds the family living in Wingham Well area of Wingham, Kent. The two girls had been joined by four year old Edward, born in Whitstable and two year old George, born in Wingham.

Agnes Annie had left home by the time of the 1901 census and was working as a general domestic servant for William J. Benstead and his apparently invalid wife Emily at Valley Farm, Throwley. The other female servant was a domestic nurse but there is no sign of any newborn baby to suggest she was a lying-in nurse. Agnes Annie was married to Stephen Andrews in the parish church at Boughton-under-Blean on the 09 November that year, both being of the parish. The ceremony was conducted by the vicar, J.A. Booth, with Agnes’s father Edward Streatfield and May Streatfield listed as witnesses. The latter was most probably her sister Gilliah using her middle name. Agnes’s father is listed as a farm bailiff on the marriage certificate, though he appeared as a general labourer in the census of that year. It must have been a fairly recent promotion!

Agnes first child Caroline Elizabeth Agnes was born on 06 November 1902 in South Street, Boughton-under-Blean. There is a long gap until the next child is registered, George Stephen born 19 January 1907, also in South Street. Had Agnes Annie had to endure one or more miscarriages or stillbirths? We may  never know. Her last child, Edith May was born in South Street on the 07 January 1909.

At some point after Edith’s birth the family moved to the hamlet of Twitham near Wingham. Perhaps Stephen worked at Twitham Farm or Lower Twitham Farm?  Life must have been hard for Agnes Annie, with three small children and the poor, seasonal wages of an agricultural labourer to depend on. Especially as Twitham was just a two cottage, two farm hamlet and a hefty walk from the village of Wingham, where Agnes would have had to do all her shopping. When she died on 06 July 1915 the doctor recorded the cause of her death as a combination of pulmonary tuberculosis and exhaustion, although she was just 33 years old! Agnes was buried at the church of St. Mary The Virgin in Wingham.

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Photo Gallery

nb: Additional photographs of the church at Boughton-under-Blean, South Street and Twitham can be found on the page of Stephen Andrews.

Agnes Annie Streatfield The Children c.1910 The Modern Gate to Bogshole Bogshole Farm Bogshole Farm

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