Mary Atkins
by her Great Grandson, Robin Head
Mary Atkins was born the 8th child to father George and mother Priscilla. She had 10 siblings in all and her mother died in 1882, in her early forties. They lived in the Bromley Halls area during this time. Mary and her sister Priscilla, named after her mother, both worked at the Bryant and May Fairfield Works and both went on strike in 1888. Father, George, was a Stevedore at the docks and it's thought that his income may have been enough to have sustained the girls whilst on strike or they may have disappeared to the hop fields of Kent to make up for their lost wages.
In December 1894 Mary married Frederick Head from the Bromley by Bow area too and in the summer of the following year a son, Frederick George was born who went on to fight in The Great War winning a Military Medal and Bar for acts of bravery. In 1898 Mary gave birth to a daughter, Ada Jane. In the 1910s Ada went to George Green Grammar School before training as a teacher. After marrying Will McCarthy they both became heavily involved in the Labour Party with their house in Gordon Road, Ilford doubling as the local meeting room.
By 1921 Mary and Fred snr were living at the Bell Matches factory as Fred was now caretaker there. Later, in the 30s, another opportunity to work for Bryant and May led Fred to take another caretaker job but this involved significant upheaval as the company had moved some of its
operation to Merseyside. In the late 40s Fred was approaching retirement and Ada purchased a home for them on the very edge of Greater London at the top of Harold Hill in Straight Road, Romford. Sadly within a few short years both were suffering failing health and passed away within a month of each other in 1952. They are buried very near each other in The City of London Cemetery near Wanstead.