My grandfather's sister : Mabel Edith Bourne Sands (1906-1972)

Mabel and Fred with their mother, Edith Grace Bourne nee Sands - this must be just before her death in 1918, when Mabel was 12 and Fred 4. Edith is possibly dressed in black in mourning for her husband, who died 3 months before she did.

MABEL EDITH BOURNE SANDS was born on 13th July 1906 in Hastings (All Saints), Sussex (source : short birth certificate. Her birth was registered a month and a half later on 20th August 1906 (source : short birth certificate). She was therefore born several years before her parents' (Edith Grace Sands and Walter John Bourne) marriage, on 3rd March 1912 in Christchurch, Ore, Hastings, Sussex.

On the 1911 census, she is listed as Mabel Sands, aged 4, at her grandparents' home at 104C High Street, along with her unmarried domestic servant mother and uncle.

For much of Mabel's childhood, her father was ill - he died after three and a half years' illness in 1918. Tragedy struck again just a few months later when her mother also passed away, leaving Mabel, aged 12, and her brother Fred, aged 4, orphans. Fred was adopted by his aunt Kate (his mother's sister).

 In 1921, aged 15, she was living at 22 Hardwicke Road, Hastings, Sussex (source : family letters).

Mabel and Bert

She married HERBERT VICTOR PRIVETT .at St Clement's Church in Hastings on 3rd January 1932. He was 32, a linesman for the GPO (General Post Office), living at 7 West Street, father (deceased) Benjamin John Privett, a goldsmith. Mabel, 25, no profession, address 17 Hardwicke Road, father (deceased) Walter John Bourne, a baker. (She gives her name as Mabel Edith Sands Bourne, not Bourne Sands.) The witnesses were A A Eldridge and KAE Burgess.

 Herbert was born on 25th July 1899 at 6 Clarence Road in Leytonstone, Leyton UD. His father was Benjamin Alfred Privett, a walking stick mounter, and his mother was Isabel Privett formerly McNay. The registration district was West Ham.

On the 1901 census, Herbert, aged 1, was at 6 Clarence Road, Leyton, with his father Benjamin (36, umbrella & walking stick mounter, born Shoreditch Middlesex), mother Isabel (35, born Islington), four sisters and three brothers. Herbert's father died some time between 1901 and 1911, so he lost his father at about the same early age as Mabel. On the 1911 census, the family were at 54 Cecil Road, Leytonstone - Isabel is head of the household (44, widow), and only the three youngest children remain at home.

In 1935, she was/they were living at 1 Manor Road Steps, under Burton’s, Hastings; in 1937, she was/they were living at 3 Ratcliff Road, Forest Gate, London E7 ; between 1947 – 1969 (at least) they were living at 90 Southend Road, East Ham, London E6 (as per family letters). They had no children.

Herbert died on 30th June 1951, aged 51, of coronary thrombosis and his death certificate gives his job as general labourer. The informant was Mabel, who was present at the death and their address was 90 Southend Road, East Ham.

Mabel was present at Marion Linda Joan Bourne & Michael Thomas Delonnette's wedding in  1970 in Hastings.

Mabel died in 1972 in Newham, Essex, aged 66. Her death is registered in 4th quarter 1972 in Newham.