Our final-year student, Hannah Grimshaw, shares what she has learned about her great-grandmother.

Madeline Lancaster (née Styles), known often as Madge, was my great-grandma on my father’s side of the family. She was my grandma’s mother.

Although Madeline died long before I was born, the home which she lived in with her husband and daughters is still the home where my grandmother lives today. Additionally, it is the home where my father was raised so they subsequently have fond memories of Madeline. I visit my grandma often so know the environment in which Madeline and her husband lived and raised their daughters.

Madeline was born in Henley, Oxfordshire to Frederick William Styles and Ethel Organ. Madeline’s father, Frederick William Styles was a farmer who owned and lived on a Farm in Watlington, Oxfordshire. Census records show that a servant named Ambrose Lee also lived at the farm and worked as a ‘Cattle Man’. Madeline first appears in the 1911 census, when she was aged 4 and lived with her father and siblings, Kathleen, Gwendoline, Frederick, Harold, Elise May, and Mary. Growing up, Madeline likely helped with work on the family farm, though was later employed away from the family home: in the 1921 census, when Madeline was aged 14, she was recorded as a ‘Shop Assistant’ working for Mr G. Shedger Baker.

Madeline married Arthur Lancaster in 1935, and they had two daughters, my grandma Patricia (b. 1937) and her sister, Barbara (b. 1943).  Madeline and Arthur initially lived with Arthur’s family in Camberley until they moved into their own home in Crowthorne, Berkshire. At this point, she ceased working beyond the home and is instead listed in the 1939 census as undertaking ‘Unpaid Domestic Duties.’

A relative believes she later worked in patient rehabilitation at the Church Hill House Hospital in Bracknell. Today, this is still a mental health unit. Her reason for taking on this job could be related to her husband’s brother, Percy. In the 1939 census it notes him as incapacitated. Based on my grandmother and father’s recollection, Percy was injured by a cow or horse (they lived on a farm) and was then moved into Fairmile Hospital in Cholsey. After 1939 he could have also been a patient at Church Hill House Hospital. I have yet to find records to confirm this, but the Fairmile records are kept in the Royal Berkshire Archive, and I am interested in going to look one day.

Madeline’s husband Arthur passed away in 1956, and Madeline died in 1980 (aged 73), in her home in Crowthorne, Berkshire.

I have recently been mapping out my family history on a tree on Find My Past to learn about my heritage. My father didn’t know much about his father’s family, so my Grimshaw heritage was partly a mystery that I wanted to find out more about. In this process I decided to map out my wider family tree. 

I have asked various relatives what they know and used past family trees that had been mapped to help put together my own. My grandma directed me to her own personal photo collection, and it has been a wonderful experience learning about the many people photographed. Using a Find My Past subscription, I have census records from 1911 and 1921 and register information from 1939 which helped put together who Madeline’s family were and her changing occupations. Additionally, I spoke to my father and grandma about her and what her life was like to gain more information about her personality and occupations. I even have some pictures of her with her family that are owned by my grandmother. As a history student, this has recently been a very interesting endeavour, and I have learnt many fascinating facts about my past relatives.