willert_family 3

In the influenza epidemic which followed the war, daughter Fanny lost her husband Willy Jones, a miner. At the time Fanny was pregnant with her only child, Vera, only to lose her at the age of two.

Tragedy struck again in 1949. Grandson Arthur Bailey was on his way to a family gathering in Marton, Warwickshire. On a wet corner in Warsop (near Worksop) his motorbike slid and collided with a stationary car. He died together with his fiancée, riding pillion.

In later years the children and grandchildren trekked on Sundays to keep company with their parents in the cottage. Photographs show Frederic and Teresa in the front room with daughter Alice and her husband, carnation in his buttonhole, or with a family group in the back garden. Daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren pose behind the onion rows. The last photo of Frederic at his back gate shows a man worn out by his years of toil. Teresa’s sister Phoebe who had been a witness at her marriage to Frederic in 1878, though now 75, came from Renishaw to be at the funeral in Thrybergh in 1933.

Frederic and Teresa are buried with a memorial in Thrybergh cemetery. Corporal George Willert and two grandchildren who died in infancy are also recorded on the stone

One final photograph survives to stir memories. Frederic is shown seated in a charabanc endearingly named “Beatrice” about to set off to Matlock. Did they pass the fields and villages he had known as a boy?

Footnote:
Willert seems to derive from a Derbyshire pronunciation of Willet …draw out the “e” to an “air” sound. [ Phonetic Willairt]. Imagine the clerk recording the name from illiterate parishioners and listening to their accent. Even earlier it appears as ort and art. Its confusing because this is almost a unique spelling in England. It is however a very common German spelling and there are a couple of immigrant families in London and in Manchester where to make matters worse some of the Derbyshire Willert's migrated with the Willert spelling. Of course once literacy kicked in the name was fixed with the ert spelling.

David Culley

Text copyright David Culley
Page formatted by John Doxey

Many thanks to Ted Bailey, Shirley Walker, David Culley, Mary Barnes, Beth Seeney and Rose Turner for the wonderful photos presented on this their family page.

Researching the Willert family
Robert Bird robert.bird@tesco.net Patricia Stirk flying@stirks.fsnet.co.uk David Culley david.culley@dsl.pipex.com

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