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Mary Elizabeth Carter (1887-)


Munitions worker at Elswick lived in Dipton


A newspaper report from the Stanley News (6 July 1916) gives us a glimpse of the life of Mary Elizabeth Carter, a munitions worker living in Dipton. She was called before the magistrate for non-payment of rent. She was called upon to pay the arrears in instalments or to vacate the premises. In turn, she complained of the condition of the house, argued that she has had other debts, sick children and hadn’t been able to work full-time. She offered to pay what she could, but the Magistrate deemed it was not enough and ordered her out of the house within 21 days.

The article mentions that her husband was named Robert and had joined the Army in August 1914. It seems likely that this was Robert Carter, regimental number 12927, of the 10th Battalion Durham Light Infantry (DLI). According to “Soldiers Died in the Great War”, Robert had been resident in Dipton when he enlisted and that he originated from Blackhill. Robert died on 9 April 1917, the first day of the Battle of Arras, and was buried at Hibers Trench Cemetery, Wancourt, France. He had first set foot in France almost two years earlier as his medal card records that he disembarked on 21 May 1915. The Army register of soldiers’ effects notes that his wife, Mary E, was his sole legatee. An edition to the entry, made in 1919, notes that Mary’s surname had changed to Clifford.

Clifford appears to have been the third of Mary’s married names. She married Richard Clifford in the Lanchester registration district in the third quarter of 1918, after being widowed. She had married Robert Carter in the same district in 1909 and on the 1911 census states that they had only completed one full year of marriage. The names of Mary’s children on the census indicate that she had been married previously: her five-year-old and two-year-old sons both had the surname Gladders. It has been possible to trace a marriage between John William Gladders and a Mary Elizabeth Marshall in 1904, in the Lanchester registration district. Mary’s eldest daughter’s name appears as Hannah Gladys Marshall on the 1911 census, but as Hannah Gladders A Marshall on the General Register Office birth indexes. A possible explanation is that John William was the father of Mary’s first child, hence using his surname as a middle name, but that they were only married before the birth of her two sons.

Civil Parish: Collierley

Birth date: 1887

Armed force/civilian: Civilian

Residence: White-le-Head (birthplace, 1911 census)
Medomsley (1911 census)
Hill Top, Dipton (1916, Stanley News Article)

Employment: Elswick Works (1916, Stanley News Article)

Family: Husband: (1) John William Gladders, married 1904, (2) Robert Carter, married 1909 (3) Richard Clifford, married 1918
Children: Alice Carter, Hannah Gladys Marshall, John Geoge Gladders, Cuthbert Gladders (1911 census)

Gender: Male

Contributed by Durham County Record Office