Lizzie Dewey
(1880-1949)
Sarah Jane Dewey (also known as Elizzie Dewey, and later as Lizzie Taylor) was the second of the nine children of John Freeman Dewey, and the third of the ten children of his wife Elizabeth Boulter of Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.
In 1899, when Lizzie was 19, she fell pregnant. She was not married, which would have caused a great shame or embarrassment towards the family, and therefore when her son was born, he was taken in by Lizzie's parents (the child's grandparents) and brought up as if was one of their own. Their own youngest child was just 4 years old at the time and the arrival of Lizzie's baby son would have appeared to be another of their own children.
Lizzie's parents would have been very understanding though, as her father was illegitimate, and her mother had also given birth to a son illegitimately.
Whilst Lizzie's younger siblings may not have known the true identity of her son, Lizzie was back at work as a Domestic Cook at a Nursing Home in London by the time of the 1901 census. She married foreman and milkman Allen Pumfret Taylor in 1904, and together they had become parents to two sons by 1911.
All this time, her illegitimate son was growing up completely un-aware that his 'brothers and sisters' were really his uncles and aunts.
On the 1911 census, where the number of children born and living are recorded for the first time, it has even been written that Lizzie only had two children (her two Taylor sons). Whether this was a further attempt at a cover-up, or whether even her husband knew nothing of her earlier child, remains unknown.
Life Events
Born:
- 1879 at Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.
Baptised:
- 12th December 1880 at St. Andrew's Church, Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.
Married:
- Allen Pumfret Taylor (1885-1945) on 26th December 1904 at St. Andrew's Church, Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.
Children:
- Herbert Percival Dewey (1900-1971) married Beatrice Lily Money (1894-1964)
- Wilfred Taylor (1905-1981) married Gladys Boyd (19??-?)
- Reginald Taylor (1908-1974) married Mary Sparrow (19??-?)
Census and Residence
- 1881: 6mths, Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.
- 1891: 10yrs, Main Street, Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.
- 1901: 22yrs, 10 Montagu Place, Marylebone, London, England.
- 1911: 30yrs, Witchford Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
Employment
- 1900: Domestic Servant
- 1901: Domestic Cook for Annie Alloway (Nursing Home Proprietor) at Marylebone.
Death
- During November 1949 at Tower House, Cambridge Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, aged 69 years.
Burial
- 22nd November 1949 at Ely City Cemetery, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.