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Letitia Fitzjohn
Member of the Women’s Police ServiceBiography
Information 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) : Letitia Fitzjohn
Gender: Female
Date and Place of Birth: 16 March 1877, Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire
Date and Place of Death: 1958, Godalmin
Nationality: British
Childhood: She had 6 siblings and 3 half-siblings.
Parents:
John & Eliza(nee Tipler) (Eliza died in 1864).
John married Mary Ann Attwell in 1870
Parent’s occupations: N/K
Schools / universities attended and years of attendance: N/K
Occupation: Dressmaker
Place of residence at Gretna: Women’s Police Barracks No2, Gretna
Job title at Gretna: Police Constable
Marital status: Never married.
Children: None known.
Travels: N/K
Awards/recognitions: N/K
Trivia / any other information:
Letitia’s father had remarried in 1870, following the death of his first wife in 1864. What is known is that she had 6 direct siblings and 3 half siblings. The family lived in the village of Gustard Wood, on the outskirts of Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire.
The 1891 census shows Letitia as a hat platter, presumably straw?
With her father dying, some of the family including Mary, Letitia’s mother moved to St Albans where she began dressmaking.
The only indication of her service in the WPS at Gretna is her name appearing on the petition to Winston Churchill, the then Minister of Munitions.
She returns to St Albans, living at 136 London Road, and dressmaking in time for the 1921 census. At some point she moved to Portsmouth, and lived in Canada House, The Circle, Southsea. This was her accommodation when the 1939 registration was taken. Letitia is shown as a seamstress. Canada House remains as do most of the properties on The Circle.
It has not been found if she stayed in Portsmouth during World War Two or joined one of the home front services but was living at Wheeler Street, part of Witley village when taken ill in the 1950s. She passed away in Milford Hospital, Tuesley Lane, Godalming in Surrey on 30 September 1958. Milford was opened in 1928 for treating tuberculosis, TB, and is still operating as a community hospital.
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