Emma Elizabeth Walton was born

Emma was born in 1882

I was informed by a distant cousin I discovered through Ancestry that the Walton family were merchant people. In textiles and women’s fashion. If this were the case, then Emma’s childhood may have been privileged. Perhaps she created a chasm in the family by marrying William Francis, just as my mother did by marrying her William, my father. My Aunt Lois, Mum’s sister, could never forgive Dad for ruining my mother’s future. She told me that Mum was insanely in love with him and just as Emma’s life was cut short, so too was my mother, Norma Ethel.

Emma and William Francis were married, which I find bizarre for people so poor. Such an irresponsible comment, but one I don’t back away from. It’s looking through the lens of a modern world of science and new knowledge of the world. Emma would have no choice if her husband wished it in 1901. I wanted marriage in 1967, the white dress and veil. I used to be a devout churchgoer, taught Sunday school. Now a sceptic. Emma was a sceptic, perhaps a little bitter, but her positivity conquered that, and besides, she loved the children.

Her laughter would ring loud and as Eliza Doolittle would say, ‘Gawwww, wha a load of bulls…’ She and William Francis were both cockneys, so their language would have a dialect. Perhaps her genteel background would have rounded the edges of harshness. “Within the sound of Bow bells,” which refers to the bells of the church of Saint Mary le Bow in Cheapside, London. In the 21st century, Cockney is associated with the entire East End of London