Chapter Eleven: ‘Liverpool: August, 1916’
Three months after arriving back at her father’s house, Mary and her two infants travelled to Dublin to catch the ferry across the Irish Sea to Liverpool. Nancy accompanied them to Dublin in order to see them off. Her father cried at her departure.
As Mary left her family abode, her father embraced her without saying a word and turned away to prevent her seeing his silent tears streaming down his cheeks. Mary left, not knowing that she would never see him alive again.
Nancy travelled to Dublin by train with Mary and the infants and saw them safely onto the ferry. Mary cried bitterly as Nancy waved them off and for the first time in her life, she felt very alone and without any support.
She started to fear the fact that she would step off the ferry with two small children and just over seven pounds and a few shillings in her purse, knowing just one person who might be in England; her husband Paddy!
As Mary left her family abode, her father embraced her without saying a word and turned away to prevent her seeing his silent tears streaming down his cheeks. Mary left, not knowing that she would never see him alive again.
Nancy travelled to Dublin by train with Mary and the infants and saw them safely onto the ferry. Mary cried bitterly as Nancy waved them off and for the first time in her life, she felt very alone and without any support.
She started to fear the fact that she would step off the ferry with two small children and just over seven pounds and a few shillings in her purse, knowing just one person who might be in England; her husband Paddy!
It was August 3rd, 1916 when Mary Fanning and her two infants landed off the ferry in Liverpool docks. The weather was warm and having no pram with her, Mary carried Nellie and Nora, snuggly wrapped and placed inside a large woven hand basket.
It was eleven in the morning and as Mary left the quayside, she had never seen so many busy people in one place before. All around her, she could hear the hustle and bustle of Liverpool workers waking up for the day. On one side, she heard the noise of ship pulleys hoisting cargo off and onto the many ships that transported food and other merchandise across the sea.
As she walked off the quayside towards the more populated part of the city, Mary could still hear the life of the docks loud in her ears as workers’ clogs clanked their footsteps on the wooden flooring of the harboured sailing vessels as they went about their daily work.
“Penny for a cuppa, Misses,” a very young boy said to Mary as he tugged on her coat.
Mary looked upon the boy and seeing his dirty torn clothes and heart-wrenching look, she immediately took pity on him and went to open her purse, which she had concealed in her child basket, beneath the covering of her infants. The boy had pleading eyes of innocent blue placed within the centre of his mucky and grimy face and didn't look a day older than five or six years of age. He held his hand outright as a silent plea to Mary’s generosity and Mary placed a thru-penny bit in it. The boy smiled and flung his arms around Mary in an embrace of gratitude as he profusely replied, “Thank you, kind lady, oh thank you, thank you!”
Then the beggar boy smiled at Mary and asked to see the lovely babes, a request that Mary thought harmless, so obliged. The boy looked closely at the infants in their basket, then returned to Mary, and started hugging her in appreciation again.
It seemed that minutes passed by before Mary was able to get the street urchin to withdraw his hugging arms from around her waist. The boy left, continuing to thank Mary profusely for her generosity as he walked away.
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Mary looked upon the boy and seeing his dirty torn clothes and heart-wrenching look, she immediately took pity on him and went to open her purse, which she had concealed in her child basket, beneath the covering of her infants. The boy had pleading eyes of innocent blue placed within the centre of his mucky and grimy face and didn't look a day older than five or six years of age. He held his hand outright as a silent plea to Mary’s generosity and Mary placed a thru-penny bit in it. The boy smiled and flung his arms around Mary in an embrace of gratitude as he profusely replied, “Thank you, kind lady, oh thank you, thank you!”
Then the beggar boy smiled at Mary and asked to see the lovely babes, a request that Mary thought harmless, so obliged. The boy looked closely at the infants in their basket, then returned to Mary, and started hugging her in appreciation again.
It seemed that minutes passed by before Mary was able to get the street urchin to withdraw his hugging arms from around her waist. The boy left, continuing to thank Mary profusely for her generosity as he walked away.
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Over the next four hours, Mary searched high and low for some suitable accommodation for herself and babies, but each place she tried, refused to accommodate women on their own and particularly, an unaccompanied woman with a child. The notices in most house windows that put up boarders frequently stated ‘No Irish, No Blacks, No Prostitutes, No Dogs, No Children, and No Single Women!’
As she read these lists of different 'undesirables' in the windows of the boarding houses, Mary started to think that were she ever to find a place to stay in Liverpool, she knew in advance the type of other guests she’d find staying there alongside her; white English men of single status with no pet!
It had started to grow cooler as evening approached. Mary had not eaten since yesterday or had so much as had a cup of tea since she had stepped off the boat, and she needed to find a roof for the night. The only break she had taken all day had been to breast feed the two infants twice in the public shelter of a bus stop.
It was six pm when Mary, by now weary and close to exhaustion, walked up the three steps of number 33, Silk Street and rapped the metal doorknocker which was fashioned in the shape of a lion. As Mary awaited another rejection by the property owner, her stomach rumbled with lack of food.
The door opened and Mary made her request with eyes cast down, as if awaiting an immediate refusal, accompanied by the usual excuses she'd heard trotted out all day. Just then, one her babies stared to cry and the crying of one got the other one crying also. “Shit!” thought Mary as she lifted her eyes to meet the property owner looking back at her.
“I arrived off the boat from Ireland this morning with my two infants,” Mary said, adding, “and I need a place to stay. I can pay the rent for a week in advance. We will be moving inland to meet my husband Paddy next week in Wakefield. He came over to England six months ago and hasn’t seen his children yet.”
The proprietor was Doris Storey. Doris was around the same age as Mary, somewhere in her mid-twenties. She gave Mary the once over before replying, “I have a small attic room if that would suit you and the children which you can have for £5.10 shillings per week, up front. It’s not big, but is very clean and it's large enough for you and your bairns…....and if they cry during the night, none of the other three lodgers on the floor below will hear them.”
Mary was so relieved not to be turned away again and went to get her purse and pay the rent. Mary placed her hand beneath the children’s blanket cover, but felt nothing there, apart from the tiny foot of one of her infants. Lifting the cover up, she saw that her purse had vanished. It had gone! Suddenly, Mary remembered the street urchin who had begged the price of a cup of tea off her earlier that morning and his hugs of lengthy gratitude and close inspection of her daughters in their Moses basket.
“I arrived off the boat from Ireland this morning with my two infants,” Mary said, adding, “and I need a place to stay. I can pay the rent for a week in advance. We will be moving inland to meet my husband Paddy next week in Wakefield. He came over to England six months ago and hasn’t seen his children yet.”
The proprietor was Doris Storey. Doris was around the same age as Mary, somewhere in her mid-twenties. She gave Mary the once over before replying, “I have a small attic room if that would suit you and the children which you can have for £5.10 shillings per week, up front. It’s not big, but is very clean and it's large enough for you and your bairns…....and if they cry during the night, none of the other three lodgers on the floor below will hear them.”
Mary was so relieved not to be turned away again and went to get her purse and pay the rent. Mary placed her hand beneath the children’s blanket cover, but felt nothing there, apart from the tiny foot of one of her infants. Lifting the cover up, she saw that her purse had vanished. It had gone! Suddenly, Mary remembered the street urchin who had begged the price of a cup of tea off her earlier that morning and his hugs of lengthy gratitude and close inspection of her daughters in their Moses basket.
“He robbed me!” Mary exclaimed. “The little shit robbed me!” she said as she started to cry. As she nursed one crying daughter, the other daughter in the basket cried louder.
Having at last found a place to stay, she no longer had the means to stay there! Turning around in tears, Mary thanked the proprietor and started to leave.
“Come back,” the proprietor replied to Mary as she started to walk away down Silk Street. “Come back here now with those two little bairns, you foolish woman.”
“You can stop the night, and in the light of morning we’ll decide what’s to be done. Never let it be said that Doris Storey had it in her heart to turn away a mother and two small infants from her door back onto the streets of Liverpool at night for want of a few shillings, when there’s an attic going spare!” Doris said to Mary as she ushered her and her infants inside the house.
Having at last found a place to stay, she no longer had the means to stay there! Turning around in tears, Mary thanked the proprietor and started to leave.
“Come back,” the proprietor replied to Mary as she started to walk away down Silk Street. “Come back here now with those two little bairns, you foolish woman.”
“You can stop the night, and in the light of morning we’ll decide what’s to be done. Never let it be said that Doris Storey had it in her heart to turn away a mother and two small infants from her door back onto the streets of Liverpool at night for want of a few shillings, when there’s an attic going spare!” Doris said to Mary as she ushered her and her infants inside the house.
Mary thanked Doris profusely. About half an hour later, Mary had settled down in the attic room and was breastfeeding both infants when she heard a knock on her room door. Before she could get up, Doris opened the door and entered. She was carrying a warm mug of tea and a plate of spam sandwiches.
“After you’ve fed the bairns you can feed yourself. You’ll sleep a lot better on a fuller stomach, dear,” the kind host said.
“After you’ve fed the bairns you can feed yourself. You’ll sleep a lot better on a fuller stomach, dear,” the kind host said.
The following morning, Doris offered Mary breakfast in her downstairs living quarters. As Mary ate a few slices of toast and a boiled egg, she placed her two children on the floor beside her in their Moses basket. Doris came back into the room with a second pot of tea and a cup for herself to drink from. She sat down at the breakfast table to talk to her nonpaying lodger.
“Now then…..,” Doris started to say before searching for a name with which to address Mary.
“Now then…..,” Doris started to say before searching for a name with which to address Mary.
“Mary, my name’s Mary Fanning,” Mary replied, “and these two young ladies in the basket are Nellie and Nora, aged four months.”
Before Mary would allow herself to impose farther upon the good wishes of the proprietor who had already been too kind to her, she needed to set the record straight and come clean about her real circumstances.
“Before you say another word,” Mary said, ‘I need to come clean with you. I wasn’t entirely honest with you yesterday on your doorstep. Yes, I did have my purse stolen and my husband Paddy is in England … but …. he’s not the father of my two children and I haven’t the slightest intention of meeting up with him ever again, since he walked out on me over a year ago!”
Before Mary would allow herself to impose farther upon the good wishes of the proprietor who had already been too kind to her, she needed to set the record straight and come clean about her real circumstances.
“Before you say another word,” Mary said, ‘I need to come clean with you. I wasn’t entirely honest with you yesterday on your doorstep. Yes, I did have my purse stolen and my husband Paddy is in England … but …. he’s not the father of my two children and I haven’t the slightest intention of meeting up with him ever again, since he walked out on me over a year ago!”
“Nay, lass,” Doris replied, “You’re not the first unaccompanied woman to turn up on my doorstep with children in tow and you’ll not be the last. I don’t know where my man Patrick is at this precise moment, as I haven’t heard from him in over six months now. He could be a prisoner to the Germans or even dead in a ditch in the corner of some muddy trench in a Flanders field. But, I’ll tell you this, Mary Fanning from Ireland; if he is standing at the doorstep of some French farmhouse on a cold and lonely night, hungry and wounded and in need of shelter, I pray that the householder is Christian enough to recognise his plight and will not turn him in to the enemy or away from her door empty handed! My mother always said, ‘What goes around comes around!”’
Over the next two hours, Mary and Doris talked and by the time they had done talking, Mary knew she had been come into contact with one of God’s earthly angels and felt less anxious than she’d been since she had boarded the ferry in Dublin, bound for England.
Both women, having been born within a few years of each other, found conversation easy and in some respects, they had much in common. Each was highly attractive. Mary did wonder though how one so young could have managed to have acquired so large a house and a steady income stream.
Doris agreed to put her and the children up and to look after the infants during the day as soon as Mary started feeding them by bottle instead of breast. This would allow Mary the opportunity to pursue some work. Doris indicated there would be no additional weekly charge for this babysitting service, as being childless and always having wanted children, she would consider it a pleasure to look after the two girls in their mother’s absence. As regarding the payment of their rent, until she started to earn, Doris agreed to let Mary work it off at the boarding house washing, ironing, and generally helping in whatever area of work needed doing to keep the establishment running smoothly.
Both women, having been born within a few years of each other, found conversation easy and in some respects, they had much in common. Each was highly attractive. Mary did wonder though how one so young could have managed to have acquired so large a house and a steady income stream.
Doris agreed to put her and the children up and to look after the infants during the day as soon as Mary started feeding them by bottle instead of breast. This would allow Mary the opportunity to pursue some work. Doris indicated there would be no additional weekly charge for this babysitting service, as being childless and always having wanted children, she would consider it a pleasure to look after the two girls in their mother’s absence. As regarding the payment of their rent, until she started to earn, Doris agreed to let Mary work it off at the boarding house washing, ironing, and generally helping in whatever area of work needed doing to keep the establishment running smoothly.
