Jane Betsy's story is fact not fiction

I am going to unravel the myths and legends which surround the tragic circumstances and fall in fortunes of Jane Betsy and her children in stages.
   This part of her story starts in Tunstall, surrounded by her family (above), in comparative gentility. It finishes in a terraced house in London with, what must have been, an enduring sadness for lost loved ones and the well-remembered life-style which went with it. Tragedy of Dickensian proportions struck her in 1870 and 1871. Her tear-stained letter to her daughter Emma Jane bears witness to the first 'heavy blow to the heart' as she puts it herself.
   The death of her husband, shortly afterwards is beginning of more pressing problems. It was followed in the summer of the death of her 16-year-old son, Thomas, this was another 'heavy blow to the heart,' for her.
   Thomas had been ailing, as Harry writes to James Charles the previous autumn. Harry says they have been sitting up with him "all night" and unconsciously repeats "all night" as if to emphasise it. The tone of Harry's letter is optimistic. Harry also knows his brother, James Charles, has been poorly, but is glad to hear he is better. His father, he writes, is much the same, but Harry tries to suggest both his father and his younger brother will improve.  It is also notable Harry is the one who sends the money, in the form of a postal order, demanded by the Fever Hospital for his brother's board in the short time he was there.
   Jane Betsy is a survivor though, and takes over the running of the farm with the help of her surviving children. Her youngest, Rosa May is only six and Laura, 11, is boarding at school in Yarmouth.
   Jane Betsy's oldest daughter Louisa is 26. Louisa travelled to London with Jane Betsy when James Charles died at the Fever hospital in Islington. They both own black dresses which Jane Betsy asks Emma Jane to air and have delivered to Reedham station, so they can wear them to accompany "dear Charles remains" back to Tunstall. Jane Betsy has already written to her younger sister Charlotte Allard to buy lengths of suitable black material for Emma Jane, Polly (Mary Ann), Laura and Rosa May. She lists black stocking, gloves and hats to be bought for those of her daughters who need them as well.
   Shocked by the turn of events, Jane Betsy nevertheless turns to her Wesleyan Christian faith to sustain her. She busies herself with the practicalities of buying the necessary mourning clothes for her girls. We have to assume her husband James Pollard, sons Harry and Thomas already have black suits.
   A hat has survived, carefully wrapped in tissue paper and a pair of lace fingerless gloves. Jane Betsy left Tunstall where her loved ones are buried, but kept the hat and gloves she wore in mourning for them. Her queen, Victoria, had set a precedent. The queen stayed in mourning for her beloved Albert for years. I will put pictures of the hat and one of the gloves, which are being carefully looked after by my sister, below.
 

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