HENDERSON-PALING-WHITE FAMILIES

Agnes Henderson was born in 1885 at Maryport, Cumberland, the daughter of Robert Henderson and his wife, Mary Ann (nee Allen). Robert Henderson was Foreman in the blastfurnace at Maryport. Not much is known of her early life except that she was considered a delicate child and on leaving school was initially sent to be taught cooking and dressmaking with a view to becoming a lady’s maid. At some point she entered the service of Colonel Palethorpe and his family, well known manufactuers of sausages and other meat products. Exactly what her post with the family was I do not know, but it seems that she was well liked by the family and was very well treated, almost as a companion to Mrs Palethorpe. What caused her employment with the family to terminate I do not know, but she subsequently went to work as a cook at the Metropole Hotel in Whitby, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. There she met Arthur Paling, who was, at the time training as a cook in the Merchant Navy. The couple were married. Arthur continued at sea, whilst Agnes ran a Guest House in John Street, Whitby for many years, until the couple moved to South Wales to live with their daughter and son-in-law, Annie & Ernest White. Agnes died suddenly in 1959 at St.Davids Avenue, Llantwit Major, Glamorgan, from a heart attack. She is buried with her husband at Boverton Cemetery, Llantwit Major. Although I did not know her for very long I remember her well as a lovely lady with a strong North Riding accent, who did most of the cooking for the family, and gave me many an excellent meal when I was courting her grandaughter. She was always welcoming and friendly and enjoyed a good talk and a laugh.

Annie was born in 1914 at Whitby, Yorkshire, the daughter of Arthur Paling and his wife Agnes (nee Hndeson - see above). She was brought up in Whitby and worked for her mother in the Guest House that the family kept in John St., Whitby. She married Ernest Denison White at St.Mary’s Church, Whitby, in 1938, climbing the 199 steps up from the town to the church in her wedding gown, as was the tradition in the town. She and her husband lived in Whitby until the outbreak of the Second World War when he got a job with the Ministry of War and they moved to South Wales, living in Barry and then in Llantwit Major, Glamorgan. They had two children, Agnes, born in Barry, and Ernest Arthur, born in Llantwit, but her husband died suddenly in 1948. She then started to work as a dressmaker, working at home, an occupation which she continued until her death in 1987 from a heart attack. She was my mother-in-law, and a great one ! She was always full of fun, and we got on well from the first time I met her. Outside her dressmaking which seemed to take up much of her time, she liked embroidey, knitting, reading and watching TV.

Ernie White was born at the Cragg, Whitby, Yorkshire in 1911, the son of Ernest Denison Becket White, a fisherman, & his wife, Hannah Mary Hill. The family was a very old Whitby one, connected with the sea for several generations. Ernie, however, did not go to sea, he initially became a butcher. When the Second World War came he applied for the Royal Navy but was rejected on medical grounds, having had a problem with his ears. Instead he contributed to the war effort by obtaining a job with the Ministry of War (Air) as an air-frame fitter. He was sent to Letchworth, Herts. for training and then posted to Llandow Airfield, Glamorgan, where he soon became chargehand fitter. After a short period living in Barry the family moved to a house provided by the Ministry in Llantwit Major, Glamorgan. He used to cycle to the beach to collect wood for the fire and then walk home with the wood attached to the bicycle. In 1948 he was found dead of thrombosis in Ham Lane, Llantwit Major, by a member of the Turnbull family of shipowners, who lived close by, and who also came from Whitby. I never knew my father-in-law, but I understand that he was an excellent carpenter and model maker. He use to make models of schooners, galleons etc from wood, but his widow and children had none of his models when I knew them. My mother-in-law used to say she wished I could have seen them because I was interested in making models too. Some years after her death, whilst in Whitby on holiday, a cousin of Annie produced for us to see, one of his models which she had rescued from destruction after the death of a relative. An excellent model it was too.