There were four girls and six boys in my grandfather’s family. They were the children of a Victorian vicar who had married into the landed gentry. It was unthinkable that these women had any role other than daughter or wife.
Edith (Edith Emma Sale 1867-1963), the eldest girl, found a role as companion to her childless aunt and uncle, inheriting their considerable estate on their death.
Evie (Frances Evelyn née Sale 1874-1949) and Grace (Mary Grace née Sale 1880-1954) were the two youngest girls. Both married and moved to South Africa and Canada respectively.
But what of Mabel (Alice Mabel Sale 1873-1951), the girl in the middle?
Her personality resonates through her correspondence, and her actions speak of an outgoing, competent woman with a strong sense of duty.
Mabel was the fifth child and second daughter of the Reverend Thomas Walker Sale (1835-1900) and his wife Emma Grace née Little (1844-1910), born on 4 February 1873 in Sheffield, where her father had been the vicar in the suburb of Attercliffe.[1]
Reverend Sale was then appointed to the living at Skendleby, Lincolnshire, where the family lived for the next ten years and where four more children were born. Their father was then appointed Rector of St Andrews at Halton Holegate, also in Lincolnshire. One last child was born here, the family’s home for 16 years.
The boys were all sent to boarding school and launched into careers of their own. The girls were taught by governesses and expected to help their mother with the household and parish activities. Edith was sent to her aunt when she was 23, leaving the 17-year-old Mabel the oldest to help her mother with the duties that fall to the Rector’s wife, supported by Evie (16) and Grace (11). Mabel developed excellent organisational skills.
Mabel was 26 when her father retired in 1899. He died of bowel cancer on 5 November 1900 at Brownshill Court, a house on the estate of Emma’s brother, John Caruthers Little (1915-1905), near Pitchcombe in Gloucestershire.[2]
In 1901, Mabel was living at Brownshill Court with her mother, three sisters, two visitors and six servants.[3] The girls were involved in family life with several uncles living locally, and were mentioned in the newspaper social pages at community events and balls. They clearly enjoyed high social standing.
Sister Evie married Edward Mason Grantham on 20 May 1903, and the couple made their home in South Africa.[4]
In 1906 Mabel’s brother Bill (William Wykeham Sale 1868-1929) visited from Australia to introduce his new wife Daisy (Daisy Evelyn née Dalzell 1885-1979). Brother Ted (Edward Little Sale 1871-1920) also visited from his home in India. While they were all at Brownshill Court, Mabel witnessed Daisy’s signature on the transfer document for a block of land in Queensland from Ted to Daisy.[5]
Mother Emma died of breast cancer at Brownshill Court on 27 May 1910.[6] Mabel was the informant for her mother’s death registration, and she was likely her mother’s carer for some time before her death.
Mabel had set up her own home by 1911, living with her youngest sister Grace and two servants in Little Holme, Atcombe Road, Woodchester, about five miles from her former home at Brownshill Court.[7]
There was joy in February 1911 when Grace married William Frederick Croome (1879-1918). The happy couple left soon after to build a life in Canada.
Emma’s death had released capital from Mabel’s father’s estate to be divided between his children. With no family responsibilities, Mabel left Liverpool for Bombay on 19 September 1911 on board the City of York to visit her brother Ted.[8]
In April 1912 she continued her trip from Bombay to Sydney, where she was reunited with Bill and Daisy and met their three boys, Bill jnr (William Arthur Sale 1907-1977), Gurney (Thomas Gurney Sale 1909-2004) and the baby, Peter (John Peter Little Sale 1912-1969). They travelled together by train via Brisbane and Rockhampton to Bill’s home, a sheep station 95 kilometres north-east of Longreach.[9] Mabel could also spend time with another of her brothers, John (John Caruthers Sale 1877-1964), who owned a sheep station about 70 kilometres south of Longreach.
In May, newspapers reported the sale of Durrandella, a 97-square-mile cattle station located about 40 km south of Alpha (about 250 km east of Longreach), and on 1 July, its transfer from the previous owner to Alice Mabel Sale for £4,500.[10] Mabel was to own Durandella for 13 years, receiving an interest in the pastoral business that her brother Bill ran on the property.
Mabel stayed with Bill and his family for almost a year, participating in the district social life and accompanying them on beachside holidays to Southport. In March 1913 she sailed from Sydney for England on the Frederich der Grosse.[11]
The outbreak of war in 1914 saw several of her brothers and a brother-in-law enlist, and Mabel’s quiet rural world changed irrevocably. Duty called for Mabel as the war dragged on and, despite now being 44 years old, she volunteered with the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service from 27 July 1917 to 24 February 1919.[12]
The husband of Mabel’s sister Evie was killed in 1915. In 1920 Evie returned to their sugar farm in Zululand, South Africa to settle its management. Mabel visited her in 1921, returning to England with her and her children in September.[13]
By now, Mabel was living at Atcombe Court, about half a mile from her 1911 home, with her uncle Arthur (Frederick Arthur Little 1852-1931), a retired solicitor whose wife had died in 1917. Horrifically for Mabel, on 20 August 1931she found her uncle dead in his bedroom having committed suicide with a shotgun.[14]
Unsurprisingly, Mabel soon moved, remaining in Woodchester at Oakley House in Church Road. She remained there during WWII, taking in evacuee children and sheltering from the air raids on nearby Quedgeley and Tetbury in her cellar. Older sister Edie joined her there from her home in Bournemouth for some of the war years.[15]
Mabel was 78 when she died in 1951, leaving an estate of more than £34,000.[16]
Born into a time when unmarried women were seen and not heard, Mabel created a life filled with family, social life, travel and rural country life. She contributed to her family, her community and her country, driven by her strong sense of duty and, I suspect, boredom at ‘sitting around’. She is a favourite aunt in my family tree.
[1] Sheffield Daily Telegraph, “Birth”, 5 Feb 1873, p 4. Findmypast digital image (www.findmypast.com.au ), citing The British Library Board.[2] General Register Office of England and Wales, death registration (image) for Thomas Walker Sale, 5 Nov 1900. Original data: GPO, Year 1900, Qtr Dec, District Stroud, Vol 06a, Page 215.
[3] Ancestry, 1901 England Census, Ancestry digital image (Ancestry.com), entry for Alice M Sale. Original data: The National Archives, Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901, Class: RG13; Piece: 2435; Folio: 40; Page: 11.
[4] Gloucestershire Echo, “Births, Marriages, and Deaths,” 23 May 1903, 3, Findmypast digital image, (www.findmypast.com.au ) citing The British Library Board.
[5] Queensland State Archives, Lands Department, Dead Farm Files, “MORGAN, Leopold Henry Charles; SALE, Edward Little; SALE, Daisy Evelyn.” Item ID ITM3580719.
[6] General Register Office of England and Wales, death registration (image) for Emma Grace Sale, 23 April 1910. Original data: GPO, Year 1910, Qtr Jun, District Stroud, Vol 06a, Page 181.
[7] Ancestry, 1911 England Census, Ancestry digital image (Ancestry.com), entry for Mabel Sale. Original data: The National Archives, Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911, Class: RG14; Piece 15389; Schedule no 62.
[8] Ancestry, UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960, (https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/2997/ ), Record for Miss A M Sale. Original data: The National Archives; England; BT27 Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and Successors: Outwards Passenger Lists; Reference Number: Series BT27-119100.
[9] The Brisbane Courier, “ROCKHAMPTON ITEMS.” 5 June 1912,17. (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19739441).
[10] Queensland State Archives, Lands Department, Pastoral Holdings (Run Files), “Durrandella – 01/01/1911 – 30/06/1938”, Item ID ITM27578.
[11] The Sydney Morning Herald, “SAILING BY FREDERICH DER GROOSE.” 19 March 1913, 20. (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15406146 ).
[12] Ancestry, “WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920,” online database, (https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/5119/), entry for Alice Mabel Sale. Original data: TNA, “Ancestry, WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls”, Class: WO 329, Piece Number: 2353.
[13] Ancestry, “UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960”, database with images (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1518/records/27382862 ), entry for Mabel Sale. Original data: The National Archives of the UK (TNA). Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists, Series BT26.
[14] Gloucester Citizen, “Woodchester J.P.’s death from gun wound,” 21 Aug 1931, 11, Findmypast digital image, (https://search.findmypast.com.au/) citing The British Library Board.
[15] Sale family correspondence, held by the author.
[16] Ancestry, “England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995,” database (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1904/), Record for Alice Mabel Sale.
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