"Auntie Lottie" was a name I can remember hearing a lot when I was young and that is not suprising as she was quite a remarkable lady. Not least because she lived to 105 years old. She was never married which maybe partly explains it! Research has shown that spinsters tend to outlive married women and married men tend to outlive life long bachelors.
I got to meet Auntie Lottie when we visited England when I was 6 years old and there are some lovely photos below of the whole family together.
Here is some information about Auntie Lottie including mum's account and a eulogy.
Mum's memories of Auntie Lottie
Auntie Lottie, who was Charles’ sister, did play a role in our lives. She was a spinster and lived in Hammersmith with another lady called Auntie Mabs who was a friend from church. Lottie left school at the age of 12 but was always determined to make her own way in the world and did a number of small jobs before joining Harrods where she became the manager of the restaurant and worked there throughout the war.
When she turned 100 she received a huge bouquet of flowers from Mohamed Al-Fayed the current owner. Lottie never married (although there was talk of a romance with a curate) but due to so many young men dying in the 1914 – 18 war there were a large number of spinsters in her generation.
Lottie was an amazing lady and was still visiting the sick through her church well into her 80’s and 90’s and despite her fingers being completely misshapen due to arthritis; she continued to knit vests for orphan children. I doubt if any baby actually wore the vests – they were full of holes – but she never gave in.
She was widely read and always had comments on the latest world situation and current state of politics. She held very strong opinions and supported “votes for women” and was active as a volunteer Red Cross nurse during the 1st world war. She held strong Christian views and often found herself at odds with the vicar or the church on some point of principle and was always convinced that she was right!
Trish's Account
Lottie who worked at Harrod’s, lived at home and helped in the pub although she never drank a sip of alcohol in her life, not even the glass of champagne on her 100th birthday. Lottie never married but was very fond of a curate. She said there were a very limited number of young men in her generation because of all the deaths in WW1, the Boer and Crimea wars.
She lived with her mother and when Charles had the pub they lived in the flat above it, where their mother died in 1914. Although Lottie worked at Harrod’s she wanted to own her own business. Charles (Gran's dad) set her up in an empty store next to his pub where she sold stationary and books and had a lending library. She met Mabel (Mabs) White through church and they took holidays and religious retreats together. After WW2 they rented a house together in Highgate after Lottie sold the business at age 70.
Auntie Lottie’s Eulogy
1878 –1984
Charlotte Ellen Bishop (usually known as Lottie) was born on the 21st June 1878 and so would have been 106 years of age had she lived for another six weeks. She was born in London, to working parents, the youngest and only girl in a family of five.
She had a tough physical constitution and an abundant supply of energy; she was determined to make her way in the world. After leaving school, at about 12 years of age, she did a number of small jobs before joining the staff of Harrod’s Departmental Store where she began to rise to fame under the guidance of the Burbridge family.
When the restaurant was opened, Lottie became the manageress and enjoyed a very happy period of her life. She maintained life long friendships with many of the “girls” on her staff and was saddened, as these links were broken 50 and 60 years later, as she outlived them all.
Tales of her time at Harrods are legion and it is evident that, although days were then hard for working people, there was a lot of true happiness. As an example, on the “Relief of Mafeking” night, the whole restaurant went wild and dancing on the tables included the astonished waitresses. Sir William Burbridge was not amused and sacked all concerned the next morning. It was only the pleading and cajoling of Lottie which saved their jobs.
Lottie left Harrods in 1917 to set up a stationers business where she was to remain for 33 years until she retired in 1950. The spent the first 12 years of her retirement on the Holly Lodge Estate at Highgate and then, at the age of 84, went to Palmers Green where she spent the last 22 years of her life.
The stationers business in Highgate was well known. Run on old fashioned principles, highly polished and much dusted, nothing was too much trouble to satisfy customers; many of whom came as much for a chat as for a packet of envelopes. Lottie had a great capacity for making lasting friendships and many of her friends of later years were first met as customers in her shop.
She could have been called “old fashioned” but she was always abreast of the day’s news and thinking and was fortunate in that her mental capacity was retained until she lapsed into unconsciousness at the end of her life.
Of very strong opinions, she supported “votes for women” and was an active volunteer Red Cross nurse during the 1914 – 18 war during the course of which she again made many lasting friendships.
Her firmly held Christian views were a tower of strength to her throughout her life but, when she found herself at odds with her Church or vicar on some point of principle, she was apt to conclude that only she was right.
She was a great supporter of the “family” and a lover of children who all responded to her. She never married, implying that this was due to the carnage of the 1914-18 war.
The period of her life from 1963 onwards was spent living entirely independently. For her the so called “Welfare State” was akin to the “Poor Law” of her childhood and was to be avoided at all costs. She was over 100 years of age before the first “home help” was allowed in and, even then, they were never encouraged to do very much.
She enjoyed her later life seeing her many friends and, when her mobility became poor (a fact she never admitted) it was quite astonishing the number of folk of all ages who would make their way to Palmers Green for a cup of tea and a chat.
A tough, strong minded lady who did much for others during the active part of her life, she enjoyed the friendships forged in earlier days during her later years.
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