The 1901 census finds Mary Elizabeth Green and her six children in Northampton, England. They were living in a Victorian house built like many others to house the workers in the recently established surrounding clothing and shoe factories .The industrial revolution came late to Northampton ,previously most work was done at home but the invention of the Singer Sewing Machine changed the speed and ease with which boots and shoes could be stitched. Mary named the house Parammatta ,a suburb of Sydney in memory of the time they spent in Australia.
From this house Jimmy worked as a tailor, Mary as a forewoman in a shirt factory Henrietta as a shirt cutter, and Aggie as clerk in the shirt factory. Their father had trained them well and their skills enabled them to find work and flourish. In 1902 the factory girls sent Mary a letter of appreciation .
The Green children grew up but remained a close knit family .Aggie, Jimmy and William and Henrietta (my grandmother) married and had their own children. This is them enjoying a picnic in the long hot summer of 1913 with their spouses unaware that the storm clouds were gathering before a war that was to change many lives.
The pasted in picture is probably of Julia. The old lady is Aunt Sarah, sister of the late James Green. Henrietta is not in this photo, she has problems of her own to deal with, more of this later.
About 1906 Mary bought a a corner shop which gave her an source of income and she could leave the job in the shirt factory. She was a thrifty, hardworking woman who gave support to her family and friends .Her housekeeping was legendary and the last batch of bread that she baked was consumed at her own funeral in 1944.
This family history will now continue through the life of Henrietta (Etty) Green .
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