Ruth Croucher [Deadman] (1908-2007)

Dates

Birth: 27 November 1908 Copse or Coppice Cottage, Furze Hills, Churt, Surrey, UK
Father: James Croucher 1860-1939
Mother: Ellen Fullick 1872-1943

Christening: 7 February 1909 St John the Evangelist, Churt, Surrey, UK

Marriage: 30 March 1935 St John the Evangelist, Churt, Surrey, UK
Husband: Frederick George Deadman 1910-1979

Death: 21 February 2007 Surrey, UK

Children

Christopher James Deadman 1941-2009

Notes

Birth of Ruth Croucher in FreeBMD in January-March 1909 in Farnham (2a 157).

Entry in Churt Baptisms for Ruth Croucher, daughter of James and Ellen Croucher of Furze Hill, on 7 February 1909.

In the 1911 census as Ruth Croucher aged 2, and living with James and Ellen (parents?), Ernest, Frederick, James and William (brothers?) and Ellen and Emily (sisters?) in Churt, Farnham, Surrey.

The family was living at Mead End Cottages, Churt when her brother was born in 1916.

On leaving school at 14 her first job was domitory maid at Melbreck School on the Tilford Road run by the Verneys for small boys for two years. She then moved into the Vicarage working for Mr Bosanquet.

Two years later joined the living-in staff at the vicarage, Mr Bosanquet having taken over the living in 1925.

Marriage of Ruth Croucher and Frederick G Deadman in FreeBMD in January-March 1935 in Surrey SW (2a 587).

They lived in Sandy Lane, Rushmoor, and later at 11 Green Lane Cottages, Churt, and finally after the death of her husband at 48 Parkhurst Fields, Churt. On the death of her mother, my father wanted them to live at Fairfield behind Ingledene, but this caused a rift in the family. There was a still born buried in the woods by my father. Her son was born in Churt in 1941.

She worked at Green Croft (converted by Mr West from two cottages using a ship's beam) as a nanny.

I used to go to them one night a week from school after the death of my mother. I remember watching Quatermass on their TV, and then having to walk home in the lane after dark! I also remember hearing A-Tisket A-Tasket by Ella Fitzgerald on their gramophone. She also used to look after me on school holidays - I remember climbing the Jumps and also going to Mr Young the baker up Hammer Lane where the shop window was full of glass jars of sweets. Her son taught me howw a reflector works and scared me awith stories of lightning.

Matthew Savill has an entry in Ancestry Public Member Trees for Ruth Croucher born January 1908 at Furze Hill, Churt, Surrey, parents James Croucher and Ellen Fullick, her christening on 7 February 1909 at St. John the Evangelist, Churt, her marriage to Frederick George Deadman on 30 March 1935 at St. John the Evangelist, Churt witnessed by Ronald Alfred Deadman and Sylvia Irene Deadman, and a son. Shirley West gives the data of Birth as March 1909 in Churt.

More information on Ruth Croucher in Further Reflections on Churt by Olivia Cotton 2004 pp14-15. Also on the CD Vintage Churt 2006.

Relationship

Ruth Croucher was my aunt.

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