My Siblings

My mother's life was not one to envy. There were so many pregnancies and so many children who died in their infancy.

Old Photos Tell Tales

This is a photo of my mother, Frances Maud, standing behind her mother, Mary Jane Shekleton, and her father, (my grandfather), John Shekleton.

This photo was taken around 1906 in Ferns. My mother's two brothers (who would have been my uncles) died as children - Wilfred at 17 and Albert at 12 - probably of TB. I remember my mother telling me one brother was crippled so maybe that is the one on his father's knees - Albert, perhaps.

My Aunt May (Aunt May Shekleton), my mother's sister, is standing behind their father. She was a nurse who became assistant-matron in Kilkenny's mental hospital and fed and clothed my family through much of our young lives since my father was often sick and there wasn't much help when people couldn't earn money. She would visit us by train on Mondays and Thursdays on her days off and bring food and clothes for all of the many children since she didn't have her own family.

My mother had 16 pregnancies in total. My parents' first child was Eileen Mary, born in October 1918 while my father was at the war front in France as a maintenance member of the RAF. i have her birth certificate but don't know how long she lived for. Some of the children survived a few months but then died, like Patrick at 10 months and another little girl called Elizabeth who wasn't allowed to be buried in the churchyard cemetery since she died before being baptized, probably again from meningitis. Margaret, my much-loved sister, died at the age of 10 from TB meningitis. Only five of us survived to adulthood. Those were tough days.