Bulmer & District

History


Group                                                                                                   

                Bul


        Bulmer & District History Group

Mabel Ford (nee Cornell) 1920-2004


Mabel Cornell was born in Bulmer on February 19th 1920, daughter of John and Emily Cornell.


























Mabel left school aged 14 and for four years worked in Lushes of Sudbury, (a haberdashery) then from      1938-40 at Winches of Sudbury. She then transferred to the Co-op in Halstead as the family had moved to Maplestead. This was followed by a period in munitions in Stafford, before returning to Gallants Farm. During the war she met and married Jack Ford who had been stationed at Ashford Lodge in Halstead before being posted to India. Throughout 1945 Mabel worked in egg collection and delivery. Jack returned from India at Christmas 1945 and they moved to central London. This was their first home together after three and a half years of marriage.


  















After the war, Mabel and Jack lived in central London. Mabel worked briefly in the costume department of a theatre and then designed knitting patterns. In 1950 daughter Gillian was born and Mabel and Jack moved to Willesden Green. In 1958 Mabel and Jack moved to a new house in St Albans. Mabel was a home maker, cook, gardener, decorator, and first class seamstress

      

Mabel was very adaptable; she was born into a rural background, but moved to central London for a new married life. Until her death, aged 86 in 2004, Mabel kept a diary which is an intriguing record of her life. Her ashes are buried at Bulmer.    

Gillian Lamb 2013

                                                         









Mabel had an older brother, Jack, and a younger sister, Evelyn. They were brought up in Bulmer, at the Cock and Blackbirds and went to the village school.