Full name of worker at H.M. Factory Gretna (and any other names they are known by): William Robert Scott

Gender: Male

Date and Place of Birth: N/K

Date and Place of Death: 1935

Nationality: British.

Childhood: N/K

Parents: N/K

Parent’s occupations: N/K

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

Occupation: Chemist and druggist.

Place of residence at Gretna: 55 East Norfolk Street, Carlisle.

Job title at Gretna: Blender (Gretna)

Marital status: Married Elizabeth (née Naylor)

Children: Four children.

Clara Gladys Bramley Scott his eldest child also worked at H.M. Factory Gretna and can be found on the online database.

 

Travels: N/K

Awards/recognitions: N/K

Trivia / any other information:

Relatives of Clara and William have kindly contacted us to share some photos and more information about them. They shared that:

“My great-aunt Clara Gladys Bramley Scott was born at Bath Terrace in Penrith in 1892, while her father, William R. Scott, was employed as a chemist and druggist at “Cowper’s Chemists,” as it was known locally. At age three, Gladys contracted scarlet fever and was sent to the newly opened Penrith Isolation Hospital in 1895 (now Fairhill Close).

Gladys’ brother, Sydney Alexander Scott, was born in Carlisle in 1896, indicating that the family moved there around 1895–1896. At that time, my great-grandfather William Robert Scott took over a chemist shop on the corner of Graham Street and 139 Denton Street (1901 census). Family life continued with the births of siblings Annie Ruby (b. 1897) and Mary “Mollie” (b. 1899).

Occasional financial shortfalls meant William Robert would write letters and take trips to see his mother in Boroughbridge, who would often give him money to support the family and business. The family always knew when he’d received help—he would walk to Carlisle train station but return in a horse-drawn carriage. Family tales suggest various reasons for the financial difficulties: his wife’s spending, his generosity in giving medicine to those who couldn’t afford it (pre-NHS), or gambling on horses—it could have been any or all of these.

At the outbreak of World War I, Sydney enlisted early to choose his regiment—the Royal Army Medical Corps, influenced by his experience helping in the family business. Gladys probably joined the workforce at Gretna after the 1915 call for workers due to the shell shortage. She lived at home and commuted by train to Gretna. Said to be the cleverest of the Scott children, she became a supervisor at the Gretna Munitions Works.

By 1917, the Carlisle Housing Census listed the family at 55 East Norfolk Street, with William’s occupation recorded as “Blender (Gretna).” The family did not inform Sydney of their change in address, and he returned from the Middle East after demobilization to find they had moved.

So how did Gladys’ chemist father end up working at Gretna too? A family photo shows William Robert Scott and his wife Elizabeth (née Naylor). William again faced financial difficulties, but this time his mother did not help. After her death, while clearing out her bureau, he found his letter and an envelope containing the exact amount he had requested—she had been too ill to respond.

Thus, both father and daughter worked at Gretna. Gladys’ fiancé was killed during WWI. She never married and later worked in the Carlisle Co-op Accounts Department—always referred to by the family as the “CoopERATIVE” on Botchergate (said in a posh voice). Her sister Annie Ruby was a shop assistant there too.

William Robert Scott was registered as a chemist and druggist from 1893 at 139 Denton Street, Carlisle until 1934, and then at 21 Lowther Street, Whitehaven until his death at age 66. His death was announced in the Pharmacy Journal on 9 February 1935. After her father’s death in 1935, Gladys gave up work to care for her mother Elizabeth and her mother’s sister Clara until their deaths. Clara Gladys Bramley Scott died in 1975.”

You can find Clara Gladys Bramley Scott’s online database entry by clicking here>

 

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