May Lily Whiting 1891-1952

Parents:     Lewis Albert Whiting and Kate Baines     
Born:          23rd August 1891 in Haverhill (1, 7)
Baptised:   ?
Married:      George Wright, 25, batchelor, labourer, of Haverhill, son of James Wright, labourer, on 11th May 1914 at St Mary's Parish Church, Haverhill. Witnessed by Albert Lewis Whiting and Ellen Humphrey.(2,3)    
Children:    Frederick Ernest Wright b.1915
Died:           19 November 1952 in Haverhill.(4, 9)

Bio:             May Lily Whiting was the first child of Lewis Albert and Kate Whiting and was born in 1891, just missing out on the census that year. She was most probably living in Burton End, Haverhill, which is where her parents appear on this census.

On the 1901 census, May is 9 years old and is living at 14 Chainey Pieces with her parents. Next year she got a younger sister, Emily who was born on 21st October 1902.

The 1911 census sees the family at the same address, with May now a domestic servant. Her father is drabbet weaver and her mother is a clothing worker.

On 11th May 1914 May married George Wright, a labourer, son of James Wright and Sarah Ann Fuller. George appears on the 1911 census at Surridges Farm, Withersfield, working as a horsekeeper alongside his father and brothers.

May and George had a son, Frederick Ernest Wright in 1915.(5)

It's unclear what role George played in the First World War, if any. One of his brothers, Ernest, was killed on 8th June 1917 fighting in France as a Private with the 11 Battalion Suffolk Regiment.(6)

May can be seen on the 1939 Register at 5, The Villas, Withersfield Road, Haverhill, living with George who is an agricultural machinist and their son Frederick, who is a loom fitter.(7)

May Lily's death  on 19th November 1952 is noted in the South West Suffolk Echo: "WRIGHT. In loving memory of May Lily Wright, who passed away November 19th, 1925... From her loving husband, son and family. Haverhill"(4, 9)
George probably died aged 82 in 1971 in the Deben district(8). His birth date on the register entry matches that on the 1939 register.

Sources:     

(1) Birth Register. 3rd Quarter 1891, Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 674
(2) Marriage Register. 2nd Quarter 1914, Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 1681
(3) Suffolk Records Office, Bury St Edmunds, Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Haverhill. Fiche 578/4/p19 of 37
(4) Death Register.  4th Quarter 1952, Newmarket District, Volume 4b Page 951
(5) Birth Register. 2nd Quarter 1915, Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 1676
(6) Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-19, Ancestry.com
(7) 1939 Register, Ref: RG101/6661B/002/23 Letter Code: TYDB, www.findmypast.co.uk
(8) Death Register. 4th Quarter 1971, Deben District, Volume 4b Page 521s
(9) South West Suffolk  Echo,  21 Nov 1953, p.3. Findmypast.