To Annie Green for her kindness💖

This is another lovely old postcard that I bought at the end of last year from seller Paul on eBay.

I shared it on my social media platforms a few days ago and my followers from my Facebook page picked up the story of Annie Green the recipient and Lizzie who sent the card.

Andrew from my Facebook page said, “The Asylum, I wonder if she worked there?“

My friend Linda from the Anwick & Billinghay Local History Study answered and said “The Asylum at Wadsley was later known as Middlewood Hospital, I worked as a nurse there for 4 years in the 1980s. The records held were amazing they had photos of each patient, I believe they are in Sheffield Archives now“.

Gina from Facebook also said “Found Annie Green in the 1901 census. Living Wadsley South Yorkshire Asylum For The West Riding Of The County Of York and she was an attendant on the insane. She was born in 1875 in Rawmarsh, Yorkshire“.

So after this exchange Linda offered to find out a little more about Annie Green because she knows the area and also knows about the hospital and here’s what she found:

Annie Green was baptised in 1878, in Rawmarsh, Yorkshire the daughter of Henry and Jane Green.

Baptism 17 Dec 1878 at St Mary the Virgin, Rowmarsh.

In the 1901 England Census Annie Green was employed at the Wadsley Asylum she was an attendant for the insane.

1901 census South Yorkshire Asylum for the West Riding of York County

In the 1901 England Census Annie Green, a 35-year-old single woman, was born in Rawmarsh, Yorkshire, England, around 1876.

In 1911, she worked as a Relief Attendant at the Aston Union Workhouse in Erdington, Warwickshire.

1911 census showing the amount of people that lived and worked here.

The head of the household was William Clement Salmon, 39 years old, Master of the Workhouse. His wife, Clara Hudson, was 35 years old. They had two daughters, Amy Quick, aged 29, and Lily Quick, aged 25.

Annie Green on the 1911 census, just one page of 55 detailing the huge variety of people living there at the time.

Armed with these record matches from Linda I was able to continue the search for more information on what happened next to Annie.

I felt that maybe finding out more about her parents and siblings might lead me to more about her later life. Here’s the very small tree I have compiled on Ancestry for Annie and her family: Annie Green Family Tree

So as Linda had found her Baptism in 1878 with parents Henry and Jane I looked at possible marriages for them to try and trace her birth. I found that Annie’s mother was Jane Frost and that enabled me to confirm Annie’s birth date of 14 August 1874.

Annie Green’s digital birth record from GRO.

This birth record above also confirms the 1881 census for her family where she is six years old, Henry her father is a Coal Miner.

Even after all this and working together through various records the last couple of days we have not been able to confirm a marriage for Annie if there was one.

After 1911 we have drawn a total blank for Annie. We are unable to confirm any marriages because we would need certificates. We’ve checked out all the possible matches for Annie on the 1921 census and have drawn a blank there too.

We have rejected the four possible deaths of an ‘Annie Green’ of the right age between 1911 and 1921. We have also not been able to confirm any possible deaths for her after 1921. If she did marry after 1911 there would be many more.

Such a shame that we can’t quite finish Annie’s story, but we think it’s simply down to the fact that she has such a common name, and even with her birth date (no matches in 1939 register for an Annie Green with birth date either)

We have also both checked public family trees with some of her family members in but so many have errors that we are unable to find descendants with information that would help us.