Mary's Death

[Stacy Sobieski]

Could anyone tell me when Mary Hodgson died? I can't seem to find it anywhere. I'd be interested to know how many of the boys she outlived...Also, did she die of natural causes? Many thanks to anyone who can provide an answer to these questions.

[Robert Greenham]

This information eluded me in my research also; admittedly I did not pursue this with any vigour.

I know Mary was born sometime between October and December 1876 in Kirkby Lonsdale, and I have some knowledge of her parents and siblings when they lived there, but it seems to me that little or nothing is known about Mary and her life after she moved away from life with the Davies 'boys' in 1918.

I couldn't find a record of her death in the UK - the closest possible 'match' was a Mary Hodgson who died in 1970 in Wharfedale, Yorkshire, but without obtaining a copy of the death certificate, in order to check some details, this can only be a wild guess.  (The birth year for this Mary was two years adrift, for a start).

In order to pursue this matter further through official records it would be neccesary to obtain a copy of Mary's birth certificate, especially as this would indicate whether Mary had another forename - this would enable easier/narrower searching of other records.

Another factor which would help is whether Mary ever married and, if so, to whom. It would have been very late in her life because we know that Peter Davies wrote to Mary HODGSON in 1945, and again in 1950.

It is possible that Mary maintained contact with Nico after the death of Peter, and so I think Andrew must be your best, if not only hope here.

[ecb]

Nico wrote wonderful letters to Mary Hodgson until 1962 - since the letters ceased then, it is probable that she died around that time.  He was very regular about it too - one letter for her birthday and another for Christmas, accompanied by a Christmas present.  I can't think that he would have stopped for anything except her death.  In fact Nico was a far more regular correspondent to Mary than Peter ever was - note that Peter says he got Mary's address from Nico.  Also it fell to Nico to tell Mary about both Jack's and Peter's deaths.  She certainly never married - she seemed to be living with relatives. 

Further I think that in the book Andrew does mention that she died in 1962.

Nico did not however see Mary - at least not after the war.  She remained adamant about not meeting his wife Mary - although she did see his daughter Laura a few times when she was a little girl.  Nonetheless Mary Davies (his wife) took it on herself to write to Mary Hodgson and tell her about how he was doing when he went overseas with the army.  That made me really like her! What a generous and kindhearted thing to do!

 I might add that even Nico was not exactly sure how old Mary H. was!

Just look in the database. You can also get a feel for what she was doing by reading the letters.

[Robert Greenham]

Thanks to ecb's helpful post, I have been able to look on the database at Nico's last (known) letter to Mary, and then at the Index of Registered Deaths in England and Wales.  On the basis of the information given, it looks to me as though Mary most likely died in Leeds, Yorkshire, in December 1962, aged 86.  Her last known address would appear to have been 2 St Martin's Terrace, Chapeltown Road, Leeds.

[ecb]

Thanks for finding that out Robert!  Andrew does say in his book that Nico wrote regularly to Mary until her death in 1962, but I noticed that his last letter appeared to be from December 1962.  I figured she must have died very late in the year - and you have now confirmed it!

It must be her since the envelope from the November 1962 letter has exactly the same address in Leeds as you have in the Index of Registered Deaths.

[Smee]

Mary's Adress during her last three years was indeed 2 St Martin's Terrace, Chapeltown Road, Leeds. Currently this is the adress of a medical center. Does anyone know wheter in 1962 this was a clinic or not? Maybe a geriatric residence or a nursing center?

(once again, I beg pardon for my bad english)

[ecb]

By looking at Nico's letters to Mary at the end of 1958, it appears she moved from Morecambe in Lancashire, where she lived with her brother Tom's (button-booted Tom!) family, to Leeds where she lived with Wilson's (?) family.  He commiserated with her for the difficulties involved in moving but hoped she would be more in harmony with the Leeds family.

So I am pretty sure she was living with relatives.

[Robert Greenham]

I wish to point out that I got Mary's postal address from Nico's last letter to Mary, viewed in the database on this website. The Index of registered deaths in the UK does not give such information, only the name of the Registration District in which a death was registered. The death certificate would give the address at which death occurred, and this might or might not be the home address of the deceased.

[michel97moreno]

The only thing i know about Mary is her birth year and that is 1876...

[andrew]

Mary died on June 30th 1950 at home at the Villa Esquina in the Rue Constantine, Biarritz. If you go to the database, you can view her death certificate.

[ecb]

Hi Andrew - wrong Mary!!  This thread is about Mary Hodgson, whom  I doubt spent too much time at villas in Biarritz!