Information will be supplied through Research Project led by Nigel Crompton.

 

Full name of worker at H.M. Factory Gretna (and any other names they are known by): Ethel Mary Cushing

Gender: Female

Date and Place of Birth: 22 March 1890, Ealing, Middlesex

Date and Place of Death:  19 September 1977, Ealing

Nationality: British

 

Childhood: She had five siblings.

 

Parents: Robert Edward & Maria (nee Newton)

 

Parent’s occupations: Her father was a carpenter, who became a successful local builder.

 

Schools / universities attended and years of attendance: N/K

 

Occupation: Housemaid (Domestic)

 

Place of residence at Gretna: Women’s Police Barracks No1, Gretna

 

Job title at Gretna: A police constable in the Women’s Police Force at Gretna.

 

Marital status: Married Albert Henry James Cushing on the 6th August 1928.

 

Children: Albert had been widowed in 1927 and had 3 children from that marriage that Ethel helped to care for.

Travels: N/K

 

Awards/recognitions: N/K

 

Trivia / any other information:

Ethel Mary Cushing was born on 22 March 1890 into the family of Robert and Maria. She had five siblings. Her father was a carpenter who became known as a successful local builder in the Ealing area of Middlesex.

By the 1911 census, Ethel was employed as a housemaid and living with family at East Lodge, Christ’s Hospital in Horsham, Sussex.

Her name appears in an early list of Women Police Service members serving at National Filling Factory No14, Hereford. The factory was located in an area known as Rotherwas. When she moved to Gretna is not known but she lived in Barracks No1.

After the war she returned to her family in Ealing and on the 1921 is employed as a shop assistant aged 31.

In July 1928 we find the banns of marriage being announced for Ethel and Albert Henry James Cushing, who was born in Barrow in Furness and worked as an engineer for Vickers. Albert had been widowed in 1927 and had three children from the union with May McClinton. Henry their son being under one year old when May died. Mabel Beatrice was 11 and Isobel 7.

Whilst not certain, Ethel and Albert might have been distant cousins as both families came from Norfolk. After their marriage the family travelled due to Albert’s work.

By the 1939, Ethel and Isobel were still living in Ealing but at 54 Barnfield Road. Ethel was an ARP volunteer working in a canteen, whilst Isobel was a volunteer ambulance driver also with ARP but employed as an office clerk. Albert was working in Kent at the time of the 1939 registration.

At the time of her death on 19 September 1977, Ethel’s address was 33 Creffield Road, Ealing.

 

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