This blog post continues the story of Muriel Kathleen Sydenham, a young girl who was photographed dressed as a fairy at the children's carnival and fancy dress ball at Reading town hall in January 1892 (document reference: D/EX1792/1). Read the beginning of her story in the previous blog post: The Fairy Girl - Part 1. This second blog post follows her journey into adulthood and the First World War.
After spending her twenties with no occupation, at the age of 30, Muriel registered as a nurse with the British Red Cross Society Volunteers. At this point she was living, presumably alone, at 116 Tilehurst Road. She served from November 1914 to July 1915 at Struan House Auxiliary Red Cross Hospital, Reading. Her record shows that she had worked 962 hours during this time, nursing in wards. These records can be viewed on the VAD British Red Cross website.
She then trained for and joined the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps (APMMC) and worked at No.1 War Hospital, Reading (which later became Battle Hospital). From May-October 1916, Muriel worked as a masseuse at St Luke’s Hall Auxiliary Red Cross Hospital, Reading. During this time she worked 1100 hours and her duties were ‘massage and electrical equipment’.
A masseuse at this time was essentially a physiotherapist. More on this topic can be found on the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy website.
Following the end of World War One, Muriel continued to be registered as a masseuse on the UK physiotherapy and masseuse register for 1920. These records can be found on Ancestry online.
Her sister Winifred died in early 1921 at the age of 45 and was buried in the parish church of Middleton, Norfolk. This information can be found in the Norfolk parish register collection on Ancestry online. Just six months later, when the 1921 census was taken, Muriel was still living at 116 Tilehurst Road as a single woman, aged 37. She continued to work as a masseuse and visiting her at the time was her niece, Winifred Beryl Thompson, aged 14, whose mother is described as ‘dead’. Was Winifred just visiting, or did she live with her aunt for some time? Muriel would have known her niece’s experience of loss only too well, having also lost her mother at a young age.
Following the First World War, due to the vast number of casualties – over 750,000 British men - the gender imbalance of men to women increased dramatically. Newspaper headlines talked of ‘surplus’ women who would never find husbands. Find out more about women in the First World War on the Imperial War Museum website.
Muriel was however to find a husband, marrying at the age of 40. She married Eric Carson Nicholls, a local dentist, in Reading in December 1924. He had served as a Lieutenant in the Berkshire Regiment during the war. Had they met when Muriel was treating wounded soldiers?
The couple did not have any children, but given their local standing and connections, it appears they lived an active social life in the area. Eric appears on the Members Registers of the Freemasons on Ancestry online.
A newspaper article from the Reading Standard in 1936 reveals that Eric, ‘well known in the Reading District’ was elected chairman of the very first Tilehurst Regatta, to be held the following year in honour of the coronation.
On the 1939 Register, Muriel and her husband Eric were now living at 24 Oak Tree Road, Tilehurst and she continued to work as a masseuse. The First World War had led her to take up an occupation which she may never have entered otherwise and UK physiotherapy and masseuse registers on Ancestry online reveal that she continued to be registered right up until 1946, at the age of 61.
Muriel died in July 1948, aged 63, and was buried at the church of Tilehurst St Michael on 31st July (document reference: D/P132/1/37).
The record of her probate reveals that Muriel Kathleen Carson Nicholls, of Red Roofs, 24 Oak Tree Road, Tilehurst, Reading (wife of Eric Carson Nicholls) died on 29th July 1948 at Greenlands Nursing Home, Redlands Road, Reading. Her effects amounted to £1218 3s 9d and were left to her husband.
This brings the story of Muriel Kathleen Sydenham, the fairy girl, to an end. This story began with a photograph of a young girl taken at an enchanting winter's ball at Reading Town Hall in 1892 and ultimately led to a tale of one woman's role in the First World War.