A Wonderful Lady - Chapter 10 More Music and Meeting Frank

Frank and Evelyn 1923 I continued my musical studies and gained four certificates at the London College of Music; Primary First Class, Elementary Honours, Intermediate Honours and Senior First Class. For the intermediate exam I gained the highest number of marks and was awarded the local prize "Two Hundred Opera Plots" by Gladys Davidson. Miss Brown was very pleased and also bought me a book called "Little Boy Georgie!. After the Intermediate I gave up lessons as I was about to start work. I was talking to Miss Brown one day and she begged me to go back and take the Senior. I felt I could not afford to do so, but my dear dad came in and said, " You pay for the music and I'll pay for the lessons and exam fees". So I took the Senior and gained a First Class Certificate; that was in 1922 when I was 17 years old.

In 1918 when I was 14 I used to play for the dancing class in East Ham. It was a voluntary arrangement, but all good practice for me. After I began playing for the Men's Meeting, a Mr Fuller asked me to join his orchestra. I was only 14, but one of his daughters Ethel took me under her wing and looked after me. Ethel played the viola and sat next to her brother, Frank, who played the cello. I didn't know it at the time, but Frank was later to become my husband for for over 50 years. Henry Fuller was the conductor of the orchestra and his sons George and Fred, played the double bass and cornet respectively. The first violin was played by his eldest son Walter, and Walter's wife Madge, also played the violin. There were a number of other orchestra members not related to the family, about 25/30 of us eventually. We always played before the Sunday evening service at West Ham Central Mission and gave concerts at various other places, usually churches,starting with an overture accompanied by the congregation singing. I had to accompany the soloists; I was really loved doing that. The soloists were very good, including some professionals and well known names, such as Madame Jessie Strathern, Ben Davis (the Welsh tenor), Ruby Helder (lady tenor(, Katie Daniells, Ruby Cox, Annie Douglas, Hugh Phelps and many others. I was a sight reader and accompanying had always been a pleasure to me. I found it just as important to have a preview of the words as well as the music. You have to know what the soloist is singing about and remember the soloist comes first, however fancy the accompaniment. I enjoyed playing with the orchestra and , when I was seventeen, Frank Fuller asked if he could walk me home and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, marriage, and partnership.

A Wonderful Lady - Chapter 9 Music, Music, Music

Orchestra of The West Ham Central Mission
When I was a child there was always music going on in our house. My mother had a sweet soprano voice and occasionally I was allowed to take an afternoon off school to play for her at Millwall Methodist Women's Meeting. She sang Alexander's hymns. Dad was a good tenor and often used to sing while washing himself; regular items were "Bonnie Mary of Argyle", "True till death", "Into Thy Hands" and "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep", which was sometimes rendered as "Locked in the stable with the sheep"! The congregation always knew when Mr Leverett was there. Ada was soprano, Doris Mezzo, Floss contralto and all were trained by a very good teacher. Everybody apart from Dad, sang in the church choir. The choir mistress, Madame Lawrence, was very popular and had a lovely rich contralto voice. She was a coloured lady and we all thought the world of her. Ada was the first of us to have piano lessons, I think she had about two years' tuition. When she learned to play "The Maiden's Prayer", I longed to be able to play it myself one day. In the meantime, I had to be content with playing "Shall we gather at the river". I used C and G in the left hand throughout and one finger melody with the right. It must have been popular, as I was often asked to perform! Privately, of course, the listeners had a job to keep their faces straight! I was very serious at the time and never conscious of causing any amusement. After two years tuition it was Doris's turn. She went for a few lessons, but didn't take to it and so Ada finished her quarter and then it was my turn. Cash was rather short then, so I went to a weekly lesson with a Miss Elson, who always seemed very old to me; dressed in black with gold rimmed glasses, she always looked very severe and thought nothing of giving you a rap on the knuckles with a pencil if you made a mistake.

One of my mother's brothers, Uncle Joe, was policeman who often visited us on his leave days after his fiancee died. He had an excellent baritone voice and, from time to time, sang at our Sunday afternoon Men's Meeting at church. We all really loved him. he didn't have much hair, but put up with my sisters and me tying bits of ribbon to what he had! He arrived arrived unexpectedly one day when I was playing one of his songs "Asleep in the Deep". When he found it was me playing he said, "She shall go to a good teacher", and that is how I became a pupil of Miss Brown our church organist and choir mistress. Uncle Joe paid for all my lessons.

This decision by Uncle Joe affected my whole life and meant more to me than I could possibly describe or put a value on. Miss Brown was an excellent teacher, but a perfectionist and very strict. If you didn't practice, she didn't want to know you. I was expected to practise for at least one hour each day, except Sundays, and it had to be recorded in a book and signed by my mother. If you were going for an exam, she expected four hours a day! In the winter months I practised by candle light and with fingerless gloves; however, I enjoyed practising and used to start at 6am some days. I was about twelve when I first accompanied Uncle Joe singing at the Men's Meeting. I used to play the hymns at Sunday School evening service, which was at 6pm. When I was taking my Intermediate exam Miss Brown spoke to me after the service one Sunday morning and asked how much practice I had done the day before, I said one and a half hours. "What!" and I was in tears. My dad came up and asked "What's going on?".

"She has an exam on Tuesday and has only done 1 1/2 hours practice", said Miss Brown.
"Don't worry she'll pass", replied my dad, but Miss Brown followed with "I know she'll pass, but I want her to get honours!". I did pass with honours and Miss Brown bought me a book for getting the highest number of marks, 93%.

A wonderful Lady - Chapter 8 East Ham and Mr Humphreys

Hippodrome Charing Cross Road 1907

East Ham

At the end of 1916 we moved to 66 Central Park Road a few minutes walk from West Ham Football Ground, Saturday afternoon during the football season was bedlam. Mum used to try and get all the shopping she needed before the crowds came out. Next door one way we had some lovely people called Williams and their daughter Mary was a wonderful pianist and embroideress. She had lessons at the Royal School of Art. Mrs Williams was a shop-walker in a big store in Stratford. A shop-walker wore a frock coat and as you entered the store, met you, asked you which department you required, escorted you there and place a chair for you! How different things are today!

Doris and Floss belonged to Upney Baptist Church and were members of the Women's Meeting. Doreen, being under school age, was taken with them. On their way home they often used to call in at a baby linen and wool shop shop owned by a Jewish lady who was nearly always ready with a story of some kind. On this particular occasion she said that she had heard a good story and one of my sisters said "We've just come from our Women's Meeting and we don't want to listen to anything rude!" By this time Doreen had gone behind the counter, pulled at the lady's skirt and said "I'd like to hear the story please." Doreen was a cute and pretty little kid. I think Doris felt she was always one step ahead, light as a fairy on her feet and her ears were very sharp.



Working for Mr Humphreys



I left school when I was 14 and went o college to learn shorthand and typing. The course I did lasted 6 months and then I got a job in Charing Cross Road, opposite the Hippodrome. After I had been there 3 weeks the boss died but I was offered another job and worked for Mr Humphreys who had taken over the business. I went to work each day on the Underground from Upton Park to Charing Cross and walked up Villiers Street, past Nelson's Column, the a short way along Charing Cross Road where there were second hand book stalls; I often looked there and bought a book or two. Sometimes our clients were theatrical agents who would give the boss tickets to various performances. If he didn't want the tickets, he often offered them to me. Once we had a box at the Hippodrome, which was very grand; I wore a posh pink frock, which had been made from a bridesmaid's dress. I don't remember the name of the show but Jack Buchanen was in the lead role. When I was in my teens "Fox Furs" were very fashionable and my sisters and I all had one. Just inside our front door was a row of coat hooks on the wall and it was my habit on my way in to fix my fur to the collar of the first coat I came to. As it was quite dark in our passage way, it wasn't always the right one! One day my father was sitting on the upper deck of a tram and when the conductor came for the fare he said,"You've got a fox fur hanging down your back!" He wasn't very pleased!
Mr Humphreys was a very caring man. When I first worked there he liked me to go for a break at lunchtime, but didn't like me walking around the Charing Cross are so sometimes he would give me 3d and tell me to take a 3d return on the bus, get off and cross the road to get the bus back. My hours of work were 9.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings. Sometimes our clients needed signed quickly and I had to stay late. When this happened Mr Humphreys used to say to the, "Miss Leverett has stayed on specially to do this for you, you must make it right with her", and they would give me ten bob or a pound. About a year after I started a Mr Duke came and practised from one of the rooms by my office. His daughter was Ivy Duke, the actress, and her husband was Guy Newall, an actor. One time they asked me if I would go to their flat in Kensington and do some typing. I dud; it was a nice place, quite grand.
I could see the front entrance of the Hippodrome from my office window and if there were afternoon performances I would be able to see the people going in. The day the armistice was signed in 1918 suddenly everything stopped and there was complete silence for about ten minutes and then the traffic started moving again. I continued to work for Mr Humphreys until I got married in 1928. When I said I was getting married he said that he and Mrs Humphreys would be coming to the wedding - whether invited or not apparently! Of course we did invite them. Frank didn't want me to work after we were married, so I didn't. My sister Floss took over my job.

A Wonderful Lady - Chapter 7 : Trinity Street and The Silvertown Explosion

Aftermath of the Silvertown Explosion

Another Move

When we left Beckton Road we went to a house at 55 Trinity Street. The house was quite large which we needed with four girls all growing up fast. There was a fair sized tree and Dad fixed a rope swing on it for us. I believe we had a few chickens at the end of the garden. Our kitchen window faced next door's kitchen window and each kitchen had a mirror on the wall over the fireplace, so we could look and pull faces at the children next door! The neighbours' name was Pocock. One day a white cockatoo came down in our garden and no one claimed it, so we gave it to the boys next door. I don't think their mother was very pleased as it kicked up an awful din. They called it "Deboshah".

I remember my sister Floss pushing a button up her nose, the remedy for which was to sprinkle her with pepper so that she sneezed and down came the button!. I also remember there was a girl called Susie Walker who was always well dressed and wore gold rimmed spectacles. Sadly, she got Scarlet Fever and died; she was only aged seven or eight.

Adams the bakers

My sister Doris worked in a baker's shop on the corner of Beckton Rd and Trinity Street for two and six a week plus her food. It was Adams the baker's, the daughter Edna , was my school friend and we were called Adam and Eve! We used to go home from school for midday dinner from 12 until 2pm. Each had a task to perform; mine was to go and get two loaves, one yesterday's and today's, which cost 5 1/2 pence in old money for the two. I was always fascinated by a gorgeous three tier wedding cake under a glass dome, which stood on the counter. I was very disappointed when one day I was told it was made of cardboard! It was a very nice baker's and confectioner's. There was row of shiny glass jars containing extra special sweetmeat, petit fours etc. Edna's favourites were Ceylon Drops, like little Ratafia biscuits; she would take a handful and we would sit on the stairs and eat them . The lady wo served in the shop was a Miss Edna White who always looked immaculate in her black dress and her white embroidered bib apron. She was Edna's cousin and many years afterwards became the second wife of my husband's uncle Ernie. Mr Adams said that when I married he would make my wedding cake, but I was only 11 at the time and I'm afraid he passed on before my wedding day; in fact when I was married in 1928 my wedding cake came from Pritchard's in Oxford Street. He said he would have to be careful over making promises as one young lady had written from Australia asking for the promise to be fulfilled! When Grandma Leverett died I stayed with Adams family for afew days and had a lovely time. Mrs Adams made the most delicious steak and kidney puddings, boiled in a cloth not in a basin and the gravy was "Yum yum!"

Silvertown Explosion *

We were still living in Trinity Street when the Silvertown Explosion occurred. I think it must have been early in 1916 and at about 6pm one evening. It was dark and we had just finished our tea; Mum was out sick visiting. The explosion was at the Brunner Mond high explosive factory in Silvertown. The company was owned by Sir John Brunner and Sir Alfred Mond. One later became Lord Melchett. My eldest sister, Ada, worked there in the office, but she had arrived home some time before, thankfully. As we sat in our living room there was a terrific explosion; we thought the Zepps had come. The linen blind bellied out and we all ran up the passage towards the bottom of the staircase by the front door as this was considered to be the safest place during an air raid. We waited for the next big bang but it didn't come. Quite a number of the scientists had accommodation at the premises and many of them were killed. Ada knew them all as she worked for them. The devastation was terrible and many families were rendered homeless. My sister was eventually given a piece of her blown up typewriter! The explosion was hushed up and not publicized. The hall under our church, Barking Road baptist Tabernacle as it was the called, was used for temporary sleeping quarters. I went there with my mother and the floor of the hall was covered with mattresses and soup was being heated in large boilers. We left Trinity Street soon after that and, when I asked at school for my transfer, the teacher filling out the form said, "Oh you are going up in the world!" We were moving to East Ham.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvertown_explosion

*The link above gives more information on the disaster, which was on the 19th January 1917

A Wonderful Lady - Chaper 6 On the Move and School Days

Due to the failure of the shop we moved into rented accommodation. First we went to live in Liverpool Rd, as we needed more room. I think Auntie Flo Aust, who was a teacher and married to Uncle Albert Deeks , was living with us. I think we were only there about three weeks. The place was infested with bugs; my poor mother was quite distracted and quite ill. We gave notice given despite the agent pleading with us to stay; he said he would have the place fumigated etc because he knew our rent was always reliably paid. There was a lot of poverty around and landlords were keen to get good tenants. The place should have been overhauled before we went in. My parents were adamant and so we moved to Beckton Road where we had an upstairs flat and a family called Ribbans had the downstairs. Charlie was the eldest of the Ribbans family and then Mrs Ribbans had twins Elsie and Harry. The District Nurse used to come each day to help and used to bath one of the twins. One day she said "Now which twin did I do yesterday?" My mother who used to go in and help as well, said "It doesn't matter which you do today as when you've gone I do the other one anyway!" I remember on one corner of Beckton Road there was a sweet shop and on another a small draper's shop owned by the two little Miss Worms who were like two little mice. On another corner there was a greengrocer named Revell. Doris Revell was in my class at Beckton Road school where the headmistress was Mrs Franks. On the fourth corner was Bedwell's the grocer.

At school my first teachers were Miss Hooper and Mrs Tindale. There was a picture on the classroom wall of a cat about to jump on a mouse. We also had Miss Elson and a Miss Callow who was very nice and played the piano. She fascinated me as she always played a different march when we went to our classes and never used any music, but she left to get married, a clergyman I think. In the classroom the desks and chairs were in rows, which were higher at the back than at the front ( as in the picture of a similar Edwardian classroom above) and the pupils were placed in order of ability with the brightest at the back and the dimmest at the front. I was in the back row with my friend Edna, but it was very soon obvious my sight was not good enough to see the blackboard and so I had to sit at the front for a time until I got glasses. I didn't like sitting at the front as I was entitled to a back row seat because I was at the top of the class each month when we had our monthly test. One time I remember we had a question I knew the answer to and I thought my friend Edna might not know; while the teacher wasn't looking, I crawled up the steps on my hands and knees to tell her the answer. I came down step by step on my bottom and when I turned to get back in my seat the teacher was behind me watching! However she was smiling so that was alright!
I had to have glasses when I was about six years old. My mother took me to an eye clinic where I was fixed up with steel rimmed glasses. In hot weather rusty perspiration ran down my nose! Later I had gold rimmed ones. After a while, Mum took Floss to have her eyes tested. She was kitted up with the heavy eye testing frame and, as the optician slipped in the different lenses, she asked Floss, "Do you like that?" Over and over again Floss replied "No". The poor woman was flummoxed and eventually said, "Well, I can't make head or tail of her. You'd better bring her back when she is a bit older." Mum was puzzled and asked Floss, "Could you really not see through any of the lenses the lady put on you?" to which Floss replied "Yes, I could but I didn't want a pair like that; I wanted a pair like Eve's!"
Parents dreaded the "school board man", Mr Davis, coming round if their children were absent from school. I was away from school at one time as Mum suspected I had mumps. Mr Davis called and said that I must go to school. So I went and Mrs Franks, the headmistress, sent me home again and said she would deal with the school board man. I think he was a bit of a bully and the mums were scared of him. Opposite us in Trinity Street lived a music teacher, a Miss Letterill. When I was about 11 the Letterills moved away and, not long afterwards, I answered our front door and there stood four youngsters surnamed Oliver. Knowing I could play the piano, they said without any hesitation and in unison, "Our Mum says will you learn us music?" They must have heard me practising several hours a day. I took them on and soon I had six pupils; four Olivers, Alex Goult and a Miss Freeman. I got three shillings a week for three hours teaching, which was lot of many to an 11 year old.

A Wonderful Lady - Chapter 5 Shops

Opposite our shop was a kind of "house shop" owned by some people called Ellicot. They curled and dyed ostrich feathers. There was always a small display in the window and they looked beautiful. The front door was solid wood and there was a half circular glass window at the top; I think it was called a fanlight. My dad must have had a mischievous streak at one time for fun he tied some string to the Ellicot's door knocker and then passed it through our upstairs window opening. He watched Mr Ellicot go upstairs with his candle, then pulled the string, down came the old chap, opened the door, found no-one there and went back upstairs again. I think Dad did it once more. The next day Mr Ellicot came over and complained about the "Lee" boys in the greengrocers shop next door. I guess Dad felt a bit ashamed of himself, but I reckon he made it up to the old chap.
There was a confectioners named Jackson's nearby. Mrs Jackson was a big built woman and a cockney. Mr Jackson was a short thick set man. There were quite a few hooligans around and they thought nothing of grabbing a handful of sweets and making off with them. One time Mrs Jackson caught one of them and Mr Jackson stood in the back of the shop shouting "Punch him in the belly Emma, punch him in the belly!" There was pork butcher's close by too, a grocer's we called Teapot Jones and a shop named Curtis. One time when I was about 3, a girl we knew called Della Curtis came to see if I would like to go to the seaside. Well, we went off together and what she thought was the seaside was in fact a ditch where people threw all sorts of rubbish! I came home on a policeman's shoulders! I was put in the bath, clothes and all, and wasn't allowed out with her again.
Near us lived a teenage boy who was a real menace in the neighbourhood. He was unfortunately deaf and dumb and had a habit of grabbing a handful of garbage and throwing it in through a shop door. If the shopkeeper complained somebody soon said "Oh leave him alone, poor little devil, he can't help it". A few doors from us there was a hand laundry run by a Mrs Dixon who worked very hard laundering shirts, stiff collars, church surplices and christening robes which were four or five feet long. She used to the ironing on the shop counter. One day my father was standing at our shop door when a heavy flat iron came hurling out through Mrs Dixon's shop door. My father went along and said "Whatever happened Dixon, you might have killed someone!" She replied " Look what the dummy's done. I have to deliver this surplice in an hour!" There it was on the counter plastered with rotten orange and rubbish. After some time the boy went to a shooting range, interfered with the guns, and shot himself.
There was a barber's shop on the other side of the street named Smith. The Smiths were friends of my parents and belonged to the same church; Mr Smith was a deacon. There was one other shop, I remember called Caldori's, where they used to sell lemony ices in the summer and soup in your own jugs in the winter. Quite a lot of the trading was done on a Saturday after the men had received their pay packets and the shops were open very late. I am not sure when the Shop Hours act was introduced but I know our shop took most money on a Saturday night. Then a Sunday market was opened and that put paid to our Saturday night trade. On no account would our shop be opened on a Sunday; my parents and grandparents were strict Baptists. So the shop had to be closed down when I was three years old.

*This link to shops and pubs in Canning Town may be of interest
http://historyofstratford.co.uk/CanningTown/CanningTown1896/CanningTown-Quadrant-Rathbone.shtml

A Wonderful Lady - Chapter 4 Father, Doctor Nelson, and Our Shop

Father's family

My father's parents were George and Maria Leverett. Grandfather was a barge builder and owned 5 houses in Mellish Street. Two of the houses were inherited by my father, but during the war they were demolished and the War Damage paid out was not much. There were four children. I remember in particular one of my Dad's sisters called Ann. She was a big lady and always wore a course apron and cap and did the work of a man. We all respected Aunt Ann. My grandmother (Maria) was brought up by some folk we called Uncle and Aunt Brown as her mother had died when Grandma was quite young. Grandma had beautiful hands and was trained as a mantle maker. Every Easter all the girls in the Leverett family were given a length of material for a new dress by Grandma Leverett, who was in the material trade. This was lovely for us and was anticipated with much pleasure. When the new dresses were made up we were allowed to wear them to church on Sunday mornings only and the previous year's dresses were relegated to more frequent use.

Doctor Nelson

Our doctor was a very nice man called Nelson. His surgery was like a shop with a small porch leading into a waiting room with the surgery beyond. On the wall of the porch leading into the waiting room was a notice that read "H de B Nelson General Practitioner". Two young lads were in the porch one day trying to sort out what H de B meant. They decided it was "Arry de Bob"!

Actually it was Horatio de Beauvoir! Dr Nelson attended my mother at each of her confinements and when my youngest sister was born our shop had failed, so when my Dad offered to pay, as was usual then, the doctor said, "No old boy, have this one on me", which was very kind of him.

Apparently, prior to my birth, my Dad had been ill with kidney trouble and many years afterwards my mother told me that just before I was born Dr Nelson said, " You'll have to hurry up and get better old chap, your wife wants this bed!" She also told me that during her pregnancy she almost lived on oranges; no wonder I like them. There was a greengrocer's nearby and the owners always let Mum know when a crate of really nice oranges had been delivered.

Our shop

I have a vague recollection of the shop, which seemed a dark place to me with just a small jet burning at night. I expect that was because we were not allowed in there during opening hours, which were very long in those days. I think the shop sold practically everything in the drapery line including millinery and I have a picture of it with my dad standing in the shop doorway.(shown at the top)

The shop belonged to Grandma Leverett, my Dad's mother, who also owned two other shops, one in Salmons lane, East London. One of my Dad's sisters, Aunt Lil worked in the millinery department with one of Dad's aunts. Aunt Lil was a very good milliner. Hats were very much in demand form Derby Day at that time and Aunt Lil used to create a model with ostrich feathers etc., wear it, and when asked for one like it, the customer would most likely buy that one, perhaps with a little adjustment.

A customer came in one day who was attending a funeral and was going to wear a black hat, but, as the person was no relation, she wanted a white flower put on it to relieve it. My aunt showed her white violets, roses, marguerites, but she said "No , there are others on show in the window!" Auntie couldn't understand what she wanted as the ones in the window were orange blossom, which are of course for weddings! The customer pointed at the orange blossom and my aunt explained, but the woman persisted, "I don't care if it's apple blossom or what, that's what I want on my hat", so that's what she had - a funeral hat trimmed with orange blossom!