Madge Enock - 1920s?
Full name: Gertrude Margaret Enock.
Date of birth: Thursday, 29th December, 1898.
Birthplace: Acocks Green, Birmingham, England.
Date of death: Sunday, 25th July, 1982 (aged 83 years).
Place of death: Battlefield House, Kidderminster Road, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England.
Buried/cremated: Cremated and scattered in Redditch Crematorium. No headstone.
Signature:
Ernest Moor Wildridge (1878-1969). |
1898-1909 - Rosedale, Sherbourne Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham, England.
"Sherbourne was at one time one of the most exclusive roads in Acocks Green."
Occupants (1901 census): Robinson Enock, Eleanor Amelia Enock, Amy Clara Elizabeth Enock, Robert Doeg Enock, Gertrude Margaret Enock, Laura Hopwood Enock (sister-in-law), Maud Muriel Enock (niece).
Servants (1901 census): Nellie Birch.
Rosedale was demolished and replaced by flats in the 1960s.
Photos of Sherbourne Road dating from the early 1900s. Rosedale can be seen between the lamppost and the white building in the top photo, and the front gate can be seen on the far right of the bottom photo.
Aerial view of Acocks Green c1950. Rosedale has been highlighted red.
Sherbourne Road, pictured in August 2014. Rosedale was replaced by flats in the 1960s (click to enlarge).
Rosedale was replaced by flats in the 1960s (click to enlarge).
c1910-c1915 - Howard Villas (left hand side), Stockfield Road, South Yardley, Birmingham, England. (Information on how I pinpointed this residence can be found here)
Occupants (1911 census): Eleanor Amelia Enock, Marianne Davis (mother of uncle, George Davis), Amy Clara Elizabeth Enock, Robert Doeg Enock, Gertrude Margaret Enock, Elsie Martin (boarder).
The Enock family lived in the left hand portion of Howard Villas. Photograph taken in August 2014 (click to enlarge).
c1915-1929 - 14 & 16, Augusta Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham, England. (Information on how I pinpointed this residence can be found here) Family owned both houses - sold for £550 in 1929 (worth the equivalent of about £250,000 in 2018).
Occupants (electoral rolls): Eleanor Amelia Enock, Amy Clara Elizabeth Enock, Robert Doeg Enock, Gertrude Margaret Enock.
Number 16 is the house with purple curtains. Picture taken 1st May 2016 (click to enlarge).
1929-1939 - 45, Homecroft Road, Yardley, Birmingham, England.
1939-1946 - 65, Eachelhurst Road, Walmley Ash, Birmingham, England.
1946-1947 - 47, Duke Street, Sutton Coldfield, England.
Demolished 1970s/1980s.
1968-1970 - 12, Garibaldi Terrace, Old Station Road, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England.
Also owned 14, Garibaldi Terrace.
1982 - Battlefield House, Kidderminster Road, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England.
Residential home.
"Gertrude grew up in a Quaker household and attended a primary school with a very small class of around 6 children. When it came to secondary school, she was sent to a boarding school where despite her hearing difficulties, she did extremely well." - Ernie Wildridge Junior
1921 - Stewarts and Lloyds, Broad Street Chambers, Broad Street, Birmingham, England (demolished in the late 1950s, and the Alpha Tower has occupied the site since the late 1960s/early 1970s.
Stewarts and Lloyds were formed in 1903, by the amalgamation of two of the largest iron and steel makers in Britain: A. and J. Stewart and Menzies of Coatbridge; and Lloyd and Lloyd in Birmingham. Madge's father, Robinson, was a clerk at Lloyd and Lloyd for nearly 50 years.
Position: Clerk.
"She had a serious accident [fell down cellar steps around the age of 6.] in her early youth and could thereafter remember nothing about her previous life. Worse, her profound 'Enock' [Sophia Derrington (Madge's aunt), Robinson (Madge's father) and Ernie Wildridge (Madge's son) all experienced hearing issues.] inherited deafness seemed to be triggered from this occasion. She was desperately unhappy most of her life due to her devastating deafness - she attempted suicide." - Patrick Wilson/Ernest Wildridge
Annie Wilson
Relations between Madge and her aunt soured following Amy's removal to Australia which Madge believed was arranged by Annie and Robert in order to prevent a scandal within the family.
Contemporary accounts describe Annie as domineering and bossy, with Madge branding her an evil ogre.
Robert Doeg Enock
The long-standing rift between Madge and her brother can be traced back to Amy’s removal to Australia in 1925. According to Madge, Robert said, “Amy had better be sent to a job so far away that she wouldn’t come back again,” and accused him of orchestrating the affair with their aunt Annie Wilson.
The relationship between the siblings deteriorated further following the death of their mother in 1932 and the distribution of her will the following year (this is discussed in further detail in the wills section). The following extract is taken from a letter that Madge sent to her cousin Brian Wilson in which she discusses her grievances.
"As regards the Sun Life Premium, as things are at present, I ought to be able to manage it. You see, this is a cheaper house than the other, and Mr Wildridge is still going to work, but he never knows when the firm will decide to ask him to retire, as he will be 69 next month. (He is 20 years older than I am). The normal retiring age is 65, but certain ones have been kept on owing to the war. If he had to retire, he would only have £1 per week from the firm and the Old Age Pension. Or if he became ill again and did not recover, I should not have anything coming in but should have to try to live on the little we have managed to save.
When he was ill last February, I had been warned to expect the worse, and I was nearly beside myself as to what to do, in that eventuality, being deaf, and old, and not very strong physically since I had the baby, as it left me with Prolapse - Louise would know how weakening that is. So you see the future is very uncertain.
But really, I feel that if anyone had to pay the premium for me again, it should be Bob, only I don't know what to do about him, he is so determined to keep every penny for himself. Ever since mother died he has made it clear, without saying so in so many words, that he would take no responsibility for me, or help me financially, or even make me welcome at his home, friendless as I was. The only time I ever asked him if he could help me a little financially was just before I was going to another town to have the baby, and he refused, saying he hadn't got the money. He has always had a good job at Stewart's and Lloyds, but he never writes a letter, nor does his wife, without impressing it on me how poor he is. In fact there has been so much reiteration about it, that I long ago realised it was just a throwing of dust in my eyes. Last Xmas he said his children just ruined him, and last summer his wife said they were having a holiday for the first time for years and that they had cashed their precious War Savings Certificate to pay for it. I find it all a bit too much to swallow, but have never told him so. What's the use?
He had the same fear that he might have to help support Amy, as she had become very strange in her ways and since having an unhappy love affair, and she could not keep her jobs. I realise now, though I did not at the time, (being young and very inexperienced) that Amy was even then going out of her mind. Bob said that Amy had better be sent to a job so far away, that she wouldn't come back again, and he and Aunt Annie, (who was living with us just then) arranged she should go to Australia. Amy protested all the time that she wouldn't, but Aunt Annie collected her things, and packed them, and took her off to London and got her on the boat after a struggle. Amy tried for a while to earn her living in Australia, but ended up in a mental home, where I suppose she still is. Bob did not send the money mother left her, as he didn't want the authorities to get it.
It is only in the last few years that I have really realised what Bob is. Up till the time he went to Kettering in 1940, I had believed him to be honourable and truthful, but one little thing and another have opened my eyes till I can see behind the wonderful facade he has built up. Many others are taken in also by his manner and the marvellous way he can twist things around to his own advantage.
I found, too late, that he had so turned the Tilehurst Aunts against me, (and your own father) that Aunt Minnie wrote saying she had erased me from her will and was sending me then (1941) £20, which was what she had intended to leave me, but she preferred to send it herself as it was going to make it difficult for her executors, my having changed my name etc. Of course I knew very well that she had intended to leave a much larger sum, but I couldn't very well say so, so there it was.
I felt something was wrong somewhere, and eventually decided to write to Uncle Jim telling him all my story and ask him if Bob had misrepresented things when he went to see him. Uncle Jim wrote me an awfully nice letter saying it was so and "he didn't know how anyone professing to be such a Christian, could be so cruel". I have never seen Bob since I knew this and one cannot very well write him a letter about it all, especially as he still hasn't a penny piece! So now you understand how I feel that there will be no help forthcoming from that quarter.
I do think it was most awfully good of you to have gone on paying the premiums just because Uncle Jim had been doing it, and I shall ever be grateful to you, but, as I said, I feel it is Bob's job, if anyone's to do it. I shall be most interested to hear if you get a farm and how you progress, if you ever care to write me." - Madge's letter to her cousin Brian Wilson - 1947
The relationship between Robert and Madge never improved, and in 2013 I learnt from Madge's son that he had never met his uncle Bob or his four cousins.
Eleanor Amelia Enock - 1933
"I appoint Robert Doeg Enock of 34 Dudley Park Road Acocks Green and Max W. Jacobi 12 Dudley Park Road Acocks Green to be the EXECUTORS of this my Will. I direct my Executors to pay my just Debts and Funeral and Testamentary Expenses. I GIVE AND BEQUEATH to my eldest daughter Amy Clara Elizabeth Enock my piano in rosewood case by “Mercur”Berlin”. I give to my youngest daughter Gertrude Margaret Enock the whole of the contents of 45 Homecroft Road Yardley with the exception of the piano mentioned above. The Residue of my estate if any after the foregoing bequests have been satisfied. I give and bequeath in the following manner:- to my grandchildren Muriel Joyce Enock and Clive Robin Enock the sum of Fifty pounds (£50) each any residue then remaining to be divided equally between my daughters Amy Clara Elizabeth Enock and Gertrude Margaret Enock share and share alike. Any legacy which may be rendered void by the earlier death of any of the above mentioned beneficiaries to be distributed at the absolute discretion of my brother James Edward Wilson or in the event of my brother’s death of my son Robert Doeg Enock. WITNESS my hand this day of 12 May 1931.
Eleanor Amelia Enock
SIGNED by the above named testator a her last Will in the presence of us both being present at the same time who in her presence and in the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our names and witnesses
AGNES ANNE BLIZARD (Spinster) Manuel Cottage Stow on the Wold
FLORENCE BRIGGS (Widow) Tufa Mount Willard Rd Yardley Birmingham
I WISH to revoke the legacies in the foregoing Will to my grandchildren Muriel Joyce Enock and Clive Robin Enock and for the sum previously bequeathed to them totalling £100 (one hundred pounds) to go into the residue of my estate and to be dealt with accordingly."
Gross value of estate: £806 15s. 6d.
Expenses amounted to £42 6s. 8d. which was deducted equally from both shares giving a net value of £382 4s. 5d.
Madge’s share of the estate was made up of:
£21 3s. 4d. expenses were deducted thus bringing the share to £382 4s. 4d..
The 300 Stewarts and Lloyds shares produced a total of £55 4s. 2d. in dividends between May 1933 and October 1936, and advances of account totalled £31 19s. 9d., bringing the total to £405 8s. 9d in December 1936. Robert transferred control of the shares to Madge on the 18th December 1936, and on the 29th April 1937 he paid the balance of £41 13s. 9d. in cash.
Amy’s share of the estate is slightly more complicated to follow, but included:
This share was also subject to a deduction of £21 3s. 4d. due to expenses.
The 75 Stewart and Lloyds deferred shares were sold for £77 9s. 9d. in December 1933, and the profit was deposited in the Birmingham Municipal Bank account.
The interest generated by remaining stocks and shares was automatically paid into the Birmingham Municipal Bank account where it received additional interest. Robert was advised not to send the money to Australia in case the authorities took control of it, so reimbursements were sent when required. In 1955 the account totalled £395. 16s. 10d., and in 1964 the total had grown to £622 18s 2d..
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Madge felt she had been left completely in the dark about Eleanor's will, and felt she was owed further monies. In January 1948 she employed a solicitor to investigate the distribution of the will.
"We act for your sister, Mrs Gertrude Margaret Wildridge of 47 Duke Street, Sutton Coldfield. We understand that you are the Executor under the Will of your late Mother. Our client instructs us that though she has received shares in Stewart & Lloyds from you she has never received any Executorship Account in connection with the matter, and we shall be glad if you will please let us have such an Account, showing how the Estate is being distributed and whether there are any further monies due to our client." - Bailey Cox, Bosworth & Co to Robert Doeg Enock - 13th January 1948
"I was amazed to receive your letter of the 13th instant, written on the instructions of my younger sister, and regret I have been unable to deal with this matter earlier.
The Executorship Account in connection with this estate was shown to my sister at the time the estate was closed, together with full details, and she expressed her complete satisfaction then at the distribution which was made equally between herself and our older sister.
Perhaps you have not been advised that my mother died more than 15 years ago and this is the very first suggestion in any way that my sister was not entirely satisfied with the arrangements then carried out. She has never even suggested such a matter to me either verbally or otherwise and I completely fail to understand why an imputation should now be made that the matter was not satisfactorily dealth with.
The whole of my papers in this connection were put into my safe deposit box in Birmingham and the next time I am there I will undertake to pick up these papers, but I am not at all sure when I shall next be in the City.
I can say, however, that the whole of the monies due to my younger sister were paid over to her at the time and the implication that this was not done is certainly very disturbing and, of course, entirely unwarranted."
- Robert Doeg Enock to Bailey Cox, Bosworth & Co - 31st January 1948Madge also raised her complaint with Max Jacobi, who was joint executor of Eleanor’s will. The following extracts are taken from two letters written by Max to Robert in which he attempts to resolve the matter:
“Madge also mentioned money left by your uncle Percy in Canada, who predeceased your mother and therefore any money forthcoming would be part of your mother’s estate. Did uncle Percy leave any money to your mother? Madge’s complaint is that she has been left completely in the dark about these matters.
When I told her your complaint about the nasty letters she had written you for years – she said there have been only two or three and they were under provocation.
Now Bob, I want you to understand that I am quite unbiased in all these matters, and only interested for that I was one of the executors of your mother’s will. I should like justice done to all parties.
As regards Amy, I am sure you have taken the right course as, had you done differently, the Australian authorities would have taken all.
As regards Madge, I do know that she could very well do with financial assistance now, with her husband out of a job and very unlikely to get another at his age. Without condoning what happened between Madge and her husband years ago, I might point out that he has stuck by her and done his best to keep her and their boy ever since. I have met him and don’t think he’s a bad sort at all. Don’t you think your attitude towards him as a Christian might mellow considering his efforts.
It was a good suggestion of yours Bob to give Madge Amy’s share of the estate after Amy’s death, but I can assure you that – say half of it – would be most acceptable right now, and as you are now in a good and secure position, it would give me great pleasure as a lifelong friend and part executor of your mother’s will, and know you had done something about it. We only live once Bob – moreover your mother would have expected it of you.” – Max Jacobi – 28th September 1948
“Since receiving your recent letter I have given much though to this unhappy matter. I am giving my comments as requested. I believe Mr Wildridge would have married Madge years ago – if his wife would have released him [note - Ernest was still married to Jessie Wildridge (née Shorter) as she wouldn’t agree to a divorce. The couple separated around 1935.]. After the initial unfortunate happenings – he has undoubtedly done his best and stuck by Madge, and I don’t feel he should be made an excuse for withholding help from Madge. Knowing all the circumstances I can well image her being apprehensive about her and her son’s future.” Max Jacobi – 22nd June 1949
From looking at the balance of Amy’s bank account in 1955 and 1964, and Madge’s letter to Westminster Bank (included below), it’s almost certain that Madge was denied a share of Amy’s money.
“It has come to my knowledge that there is to be a court case about some money, left by my mother, which my brother, Robert Doeg Enock, failed to send to Australia after my mother’s death. He was executor of her will.
As you are executors of my brother’s will (he died on the 3rd May 1967) can you please tell me where and when this case is being held, as I want to get a report of it.”
Clara Annie Wilson - 1941
"I give the following legacies all free of duty namely:- (i) To my niece Margaret Gertrude Enock the sum of one hundred pounds."
"Madge, she was a strange one. We felt that she didn’t sort of open up." - Joan Enock
"Madge was terribly cut off - due to her acute deafness." - Joan Enock
"Minnie had cut her out of her will. Her husband Ernest worked for Wolseley Motors. Madge latterly lived in Bromsgrove." - Joan Enock
Page updated 6th January, 2022.
