Author talk:Mary Spencer Warren

sources

• https://www.leighlives.co.uk/about1-c12kq MARY SPENCER WARREN, HEAVEN FOREFEND, A WOMAN ON THE TOWN COUNCIL
• https://www.fontainesauction.com/auction-lot/74-glass-slides-mary-spencer-warren_48240E69AC Mary Spencer Warren. Queen Victoria era reporter and photographer Mary Spencer Warren, photographer to the Royal Family (England, United Kingdom, Britain) is said to have been the first woman honored to have photographed the British royal family
• https://trove.nla.gov.au/search/category/newspapers?keyword=%22mary%20spencer%20warren%22&sortBy=dateDesc&startPos=0 articles that span from mid 1890s to mid 1910s

census

• 1911 England

Name Mary Spencer Warren
Age in 1911 48
Relation to Head Head
Gender Female
Birth Place Northampton Town
Civil parish Leigh
Country England
Street Address 22 Avenue Rd, Seacroft, Leigh On Sea, Essex
Marital Status Single
Occupation Authoress & Journalist
Registration District Number 195
Sub-registration district Prittlewell
ED, institution, or vessel 07
Piece 10119
Household Members (Name) Age Relationship
Mary Spencer Warren 48 Head
Ellen Murrell Hammond 40 Boarder
Florence Amelia Patten 46 Servant

• 1901 England

Name Mary Spencer Warren
Age 38
Relation to Head Head
Gender Female
Occupation: Authoress
Birth Place Northamptonshire, England
Civil parish Leyton
Ecclesiastical parish St John
Town Leyton
Registration district West Ham
Sub-registration district North Leyton
ED, institution, or vessel 29
Neighbors
Piece 1620
Folio 114
Page number 39
Household schedule number 217
Household Members (Name) Age Relationship
Mary Spencer Warren 38 Head
Eliza Warren 68 Mother
Helen Hannah 30 Boarder

• 1921 England (limited access)

Mary Spencer Warren
b. 1869
Northampton, Northamptonshire, England
Rayleigh, Rochford, Essex

death

• FreeBMD

Deaths Mar 1951
SPENCER-WARREN Mary 96 Thurrock 4a 1194

1939 register

Name Mary S Warren
Gender Female
Marital Status Single
Birth Date 8 Nov 1862
Residence Date 1939
Residence Place Torquay, Devon, England
Occupation Privatemeans
Line Number 43
Schedule Number 20
Sub Schedule Number 2
Enumeration District Wgex
Borough Torquay
Registration district 272-2
Household Members (Name) Age
May E Greenslade 83
Mary S Warren 77

Not confirmed, though noting that known to be alive in 1939, and the only likely person, however, hyphenated names are particularly difficult to search due to how indexed, and how the local search engines are designed.

findmypast

Can see something in Essex that looks right, as always DoB has to be seen as indicative => Spencer-Warren > Mary > 1868 > 1939 Register > Benfleet U.D., Essex, England

Thoughts

Person is particularly hard to track down, and the only time that there is good data is during the period in which she is writing. Clearly she can write and has access to the royal family, though there is no explanation from any of that in the data available. It does not seem that we are dealing with someone born into the nobility space (taking boarder in 1911), yet has access and wrote at a higher level of literacy.

Mentions of her writing stop in the 1910s. Only newspaper references after that are slim and talk about her public duties, last mention found is 1939, when would have been abt 77 years of age.

• 1921 census data (without full access) => Mary Spencer Warren > 1869 > Northampton, Northamptonshire, England > Rayleigh / Rochford / Essex

Tracking mother, Eliza Warren, didn't prove particularly helpful. Suspect death bw 1901-1911 as two anchors, though two deaths in period are not helpful. 1891 census shows person of this name and of the birthplace acting as a servant in Battersea in 891, nothing earlier except an 1851 census for a single woman, also a widowed housekeeper (servant), and to a privileged family.

One would have to question aspects of author's history and their story, when they just pop up and maintain a notability.

Satisfied that the death is correct naming and location, and will utilise the birth year as calculated in two census. The name itself, and historical aspects can easily be manufactured/morphed; greater reading and context needs to be done, and quite possibly no records will ever be available found. — billinghurst sDrewth 06:31, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

Newspaper mentions

• Royal Gifts for Rayleigh > Date: Friday, Aug. 4, 1939 > Publication: Chelmsford Chronicle Issue: 9125
• Rayleigh > Friday, Sept. 20, 1929 > Publication: Chelmsford Chronicle Issue: 8610

  urban council nominations and named as a candidate

• other mentions in Chelmsford Chronicle through 1930s: giving a talks to Women's Institute; unelected in council election, 1937; representative of Thundersley Conservative Association

— billinghurst sDrewth 05:31, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

1939 Register

First name(s) Mary
County Essex
Last name(s) Spencer-Warren
Country England
Birth date 06 May 1868
E. D. letter code DBAR
Birth day 6
Schedule 139
Birth month 5
Schedule sub number 1
Birth year 1868
Archive reference RG101/1475D/014/8
Sex Female
Piece number 1475D
Marital status Single
Item number 14
Occupation Journalist (Retired)
Line number 8
Address Rosemont Hart Road, Thundersley
Place Benfleet U.D.