Esperanza Margaret ORCHARD (1880-1963)

Esperanza Margaret Orchard (1880-1963), known as Pansy, became friendly with the Sladden family when she first moved to Badsey in about 1905.  She is mentioned in a number of the letters.

Pansy was born in India on 14th February 1880, the eldest of four children of Albert Francis Orchard, an Indian Army Officer, and his wife, Cornelia Caroline Mary.  By 1891, the Orchards and two servants were living in Kensington, London.  In 1901, they were living at 28 West Street, Stratford-on-Avon.

Pansy’s father died in 1902 in Kensington.  By 1905, Pansy had moved with her widowed mother and sister to Vine Lodge, High Street, Badsey.  The Orchards had moved from Badsey by 1911; Pansy and her mother were living at 46 Kimbolton Road, Bedford.

In a letter of 24th August 1916, Mela Brown Constable refers to meeting Pansy in Evesham, whom she had not seen for some time.  Pansy was staying at High Mead, Bengeworth, as her sister, Flora, was shortly to give birth at Nurse Beazley’s nursing home.

In the summer of 1917, Mela was able to see more of Pansy and her mother, as both Mrs Orchard and Mrs Brown Constable had rented houses in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.

Pansy never married.  At the time of the 1939 register she was living at 10 Portland Gardens, Marlow, in 1939.

Pansy died on 29th June 1963 at St John’s Hospital, Stone, Aylesbury.