Daniel

As far as this blog goes, this is my first foray into the family Carter. My sister did a (long lost) primary school project on family history, which prompted mother to assemble various pictures and notes, largely gained from her auntie Gertie. For a long time I had given these up for lost, but, as is so often the case, I was looking for something else and happened upon an envelope that had somehow been shuffled to the back of a bookshelf.

I will come back to this, but, for now, I will focus on a news cutting. It is unfortunate that it is not attributed, but it still has some value in understanding the life of my great grandfather Daniel Carter (1865-1950). It is also a reminder that we should not believe everything we read in the press!  A transcription follows this somewhat faded image.

Source unknown

DEATH OF WELL-KNOWN GARDENER
Founder member of Brownhills Society

  Well known as an exhibitor at local flower shows and a founder member if Brownhills Horticultural Society, Mr Daniel Carter of [45] Chapel-street, Brownhills, died on Wednesday week, after a short illness.
Mr Carter, who was 85, was born at Walsall Wood, and began work at the local colliery, where he stayed for 50 years, most of his time being spent on the bank.
He retired 15 years ago and devoted a great deal of his spare time to his hobby of gardening, and continued to grow both flowers (especially crysanthemums) and vegetables.
He was a member of the Walsall Wood Darby and Joan Club , and of the Brownhills club.
His second wife died five years ago and he leaves two sons and four daughters. There are also 18 grandchildren.
The funeral service at Ogley Hay parish church on Saturday was conducted by the Rev. A. Halse (priest in charge of St. John’s, Heath Hayes).
The mourners were Mrs. Jones (daughter), Mr. Brown (son-in-law), Mrs. Scholey (daughter), Mr. and Mrs. Hastilow, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor (sons-in-law and daughters), Mrs. Spendlove (stepdaughter), Mrs. Micock and Mrs. Jackson.
The bearers were Leslie, Lawrence, Kenneth and Derreck Jones (grandsons).
Floral tributes were sent from the family and from friends.

The mourners in more detail:

Mrs Bertha Jones, Mr Edwin Brown (my maternal grandfather), Mrs Winnifred Scholey, Mr John and Mrs Gladys Hastilow, Mr William “Bill” and Mrs Gertrude “Gertie” Taylor, Mrs Mycock (this would be a relative of Daniel’s second wife, Louisa), Mrs Spendlove would be her daughter, and Mrs Joan Jackson was a next door neighbour.  The bearers were sons of Bertha Jones.

Daniel died at 45 Chapel Street, where he shared the home of his daughter Florence and her husband Edwin Brown. The causes of death were (a) myocarditis and (b) senile decay. Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle, which can have a range of causes, but Daniel was an old man who lived a hard and energetic life.

Daniel Carter at 45 Chapel Street, Brownhills, Staffordshire (at the time).

Correction

Daniel was in fact born at Balsall, Warwickshire on 5 Jan 1865. At the time of the 1871 census the family was at Stechford, Warwickshire, where Daniel’s father and two older brothers were agriculural labourers. By 1881 they had moved to Howdles Cottages, Brownhills, Staffordshire, where they lived in a row of semi-detached cottages. I remember the old cottages as a child; they were demolished in about 1967. Even then there was no running water; that had to be pumped from a borehole.