In 1910, young Tommy Crickmore and Florrie Bell Shearer had this studio portrait taken, perhaps to celebrate their engagement? They married two years later and were together until Grandad’s death in 1974.
Grandma’s early married life was not the easiest: she “had a lot to put up with” as they used to say darkly. Drink and violence ended when Grandad was “converted” at a religious revival meeting in the Thirties.
I remember them in their older years, of course, when they were tranquil together, retired from work and enjoying each other’s company – except when Grandma found it necessary to precede her remark with “Thomas Jarvis…”!
Mother of Gladys and daughter of Hiram and Maria Shearer
Born Florence Bell Shearer on 8 December 1890 in Bradford, Yorkshire. (Her date of birth is given as 16 December on her birth certificate. She used to say, like the Queen, she had an “official” birthday!)
Married Thomas Jarvis Crickmore on 1 October 1912
Died 23 February 1979 and buried in Undercliffe Cemetery