Arthur Brettle - 6

Arthur Brettle was the son of Timothy and Lucy Brettle and the younger brother of Edward Brettle; he was shown as a “tube worker” in the 1901 census when he was 17, probably in the same Stewart and Lloyd works as his brother Edward, but shown simply as a labourer at the time of his marriage in 1906, a tube works labourer in 1909 and later as a furnaceman in a tube works in 1911.  He seems to have worked in the same factory over this period in different jobs or the same job, differently labelled by the census enumerator.

Arthur married Mary York in 1906, they had two children John Thomas in 1907 and Horace in 1909.  By 1911 Arthur, his wife Mary and their two young sons were at 7 Riddins St. Old Hill, just a couple of miles from Arthur’s Blackheath addresses of his parents and close to Lawrence Lane where Arthur’s great grandfather, Benjamin, had died.  Arthur had completed a self-declaration for the 1911 census and wrote Horace as “Horris” with the address in “Worstershire” rather than Worcestershire and the street name as Riddings rather than Riddins so interestingly he seems not to have been as literate as his brother Edward.

Arthur’s wife, Mary, died in 1913, aged 31, leaving him with his two young sons.  Arthur then remarried in 1916.  His second wife was Lizzie Cartwright (nee Cox) whose first husband Charles Cartwright died in 1914, aged 40, after 6 years of marriage.  This left her with a two year old son Frederick which she brought to the Brettle household on her marriage to Arthur.  Arthur and Lizzie went on to have two children of their own, Arthur Harry in 1917 and Lily in 1918.

In 1916 when he was 32 Arthur would have been liable for military service in WWI but no record of his service can be found, possibly because his employment in the tube works, if he was still there at this date, may have counted as "one of a certain class of industrial workers" as the 1916 call up act would have it.  Stewart and Lloyds were a major manufacturer, employing over 2,000 people at the time, and its tube making capabilities were turned to the production of armaments, shells and other munitions during WWI so their workers needed to be protected from call up for active war service.  Arthur and his second wife Lizzie lived at least at 3 different addresses in Old Hill after 1909 before Arthur died in 1932, aged 48.  I think it was quite common to move house at this time as, for working class folk,  houses were generally rented and house contents limited so that moving to get a lower rent, particularly if times were hard, was not unusual.