Martha MONEY (née WALL) (1846-1928)

Martha Money, née Wall (1846-1928) was the great-aunt of Mela Brown Constable (the fiancée of Cyril Sladden).

Martha Wall was born at 2 Mitre Street, Cheltenham, the fifth of eight children of John Joseph Wall, a slater and plasterer, and his wife, Mary.  She was baptized on 17th January 1847.  By July 1849 when her younger brother, Stephen, was baptized, they had moved to 15 Sandford Street, Cheltenham.

On leaving school, Martha went into domestic service.  In 1861, she was a servant at 379 High Street, Cheltenham.  In 1871 she was a parlour maid in the Money household at 6 Lansdown Crescent, Cheltenham.  It was this job which was to change Martha’s life.

The head of the Money household was 56-year-old Ernle Kyrle Money, a Colonel (later Major-General) in the Royal Horse Artillery (late Bengal).  He lived there with his wife, Mary, and four children.  Martha was one of four servants working for the Moneys.  Mary died at Lansdown Crescent on 20th April 1879.  Just a year later, in the second quarter of 1880, Martha was married to her employer, Ernle Kyrle Money, 32 years her senior.

At the time of the 1881 census, Martha and Ernle were lodging at 59 Cambridge Street, Paddington.  Ernle’s children by his first marriage were all grown up by this time and living away from home.  A few months after the census, Martha gave birth to a daughter, Eva Margaret, who was born on 5th August 1881.

Ernle Kyrle Money died on 21st January 1883 at 33 Palace Grove, Bromley, Kent, leaving Martha with a 17-month-old baby.  He seems to have left her well provided for as subsequent census returns describe her as “living on own means”.  By 1891, Martha and Eva had moved to 66 Coolinge Road, Folkestone.  Martha’s sister, Mary Jane Wall, and her 12-year-old daughter, Lillian Wall, also lived there.  In 1901, just Martha and Eva lived at 21 Connaught Road, Folkestone.  By 1911 they had moved to 1 Kingsnorth Gardens, Folkestone, a house with nine rooms and one servant.

At some stage after the First World War, Martha moved to Cornwall.  She died at 10 Regent Terrace, Penzance, on 30th April 1928.