The Lawrence family of Summers Lane
My father’s family, the Lawrences of Summers Lane, began when my grandmother, Lucy Matilda,[10] married Harry Lawrence, a horse dealer. She had come from a large family and as a young woman had to go into service as most working class girls did.
Their hours were long and she often told me of the times she had scrubbed steps in freezing cold weather, gotten up at dawn to clean out fire grates, chopped wood, lain fires and made early morning tea for her employers. She only got a few days off, and taking a husband was the only way out of the grinding hard work.
Her family had been hard-up, and one of her sisters had been forced into adoption, travelling to a new family in Canada. When Lucy met Harry Lawrence, she looked forward to getting married and settling down in a home of her own. The children kept coming along, and soon there was not enough room in the terrace house on Summers Row, a line of small properties down a short alleyway off of Summers Lane.
The Triumph Public House[11] was at the top of the alley, which was very handy for Harry as he enjoyed a pint or two. The children, including young Frank—my father—would play in the alley, sometimes bare foot, but enjoying life. Harry was gradually selling off several acres of land he owned in North Finchley and spending more and more on drink and gambling. He was soon left with only one horse and cart which he used for a greengrocery round. My father would often help him and wait outside the pub while he would call in for a drink with his customers.
When the council houses were built in Summers Lane, the Lawrences moved into number 179.[12] It was built on a corner plot with a wide piece of land at the side and front, which was good for Grandma as she took much pride in the garden[13] and soon had the family all laying out a lawn, planting hedging and growing vegetables.
By now the family had grown. First, there had been two girls, Maud and Lucy, followed by Jim, Harry, my father Frank,[14] Len and Stanley, Victor and the last son Philip. Then, thinking that nine children were enough, another baby girl, Barbara, was born.
The two eldest, Maud and Lucy, worked hard at home looking after the younger children, while my grandma took in washing to make ends meet. Even so, she still found time to go to the Mother’s Meeting at the Church Hall. All the children had to attend Sunday School and the boys would play hooky, running off to play in Coppetts Wood, climbing trees, throwing stones and all the things that young boys get up to.
As the children were growing up, Grandma’s husband became less help to her and more of a liability. Often drunk, lying in bed, noisy and offensive, she became weary with it all. As the boys grew older and began looking for work, they became resentful of the way their father behaved. Harry was just not pulling his weight
Later on, there was to be an almighty row and I was told that the sons jointly and physically threw him out of the house. Harry packed his bags and left, leaving Grandma to bring up the two youngest—Phil and Barbara— on her own, but her sons’ wages helped to make ends meet. Maud and Lucy left home to make a life for themselves, with Maud to later marry Fred Mantel and Lucy marrying Charlie Gould.
179 Summers Lane was a pleasant house to view from the road. A clipped box privet hedge surrounded a circle-shaped lawn on which there were rose beds and a bird bath. The house was whitewashed on the outside with small square windows of the casement variety. A trellis covered in white and yellow roses was around the front door, while to the side of the front garden was a large splendid lilac tree, lupins and other herbaceous plants, and then more trellises with roses.
Down the side of the house ran a path which led to a greenhouse at the back. Then there was the chicken shed and by the door a place where logs were stacked ready for the fire. Over the chicken shed grew a lovely display of orange blossom, which along with the other flowers scented the night air with a sweet aroma.
Dividing the garden from Summers Lane at the front was a high thorn hedge sheltering the house from the road. On entering through the garden gate was a large vegetable plot, my father’s piece of ground, where he grew vegetables for Grandma and the family.
Grandma loved her garden, and we were to enjoy it too as children, playing on the lawn, picking daisies and helping with the watering in summer. A second hedge enclosing the garden at the front of the house, had been cut to look like castle battlements.
This was the house my mother saw for the first time as a young woman. Dad had first brought her home to tea to meet his mother and family, back when his father still lived at the house.
Mum soon made friends with Frank’s sisters Maud and Lucy, who were fond of cooking, embroidery, reading, and arranging flowers, always working hard to help at home. The Lawrences had an Africa grey parrot, which would swear, whistle and mimic my Grandmother calling her sons to get up in the morning. It pecked Mum, but everyone else welcomed her.
On February 27th 1937, Mum and Dad were married, and Lucy made the wedding cake. Maud had left home by then to live with Fred Mantel at 3 Goldsmith Road, Friern Barnet, with whom she had a young son called Bobby. When the flat upstairs of number 3 became vacant, they helped Mum and Dad to secure the tenancy so they would have a home of their own.
For the new home, Mum chose a new bedroom suite and had curtains and a bedspread to match in an old gold colour. They acquired some second hand pieces of furniture and soon the flat looked nice and homely.
