occupation

Housekeeper and housewife

dates

Born: Crowell, Oxon, 7 July 1878

Married: Arthur Edward HUMPHREY at     Watford, Herts, 30 May 1898

Died: c.1958

residence

Initially Crowell, then Pyrton (both Oxon) and finally Reigate, Surrey.

submitted by

Suzanne PACKMAN (great niece)

related faces

John BOWLER (father)

Mary Ann BOWLER, née YEATES (mother)

Rose TICKNER/CHARD, née BOWLER (sister)

Edith Minnie BAILLIE, née BOWLER (sister)

Background information

Mary Jane BOWLER was the daughter of John and Mary Ann Bowler, born in Crowell on 7 July 1878.  In 1891 she was living in Pyrton Heath Farm House with her parents, but she married Arthur Edward HUMPHREY on 30 May 1898 in Watford, Herts and by 1901 was living with her husband and his father in Reigate, Surrey. There she and Arthur were both in service to the same family – she as housekeeper and Arthur as gardener. Mary and Arthur lived in the same house until they died in the early 1950s and had no children. Stepping into their house was like stepping back in time because they had no electricity, gas or running water. Lighting was by oil lamp and candles, and water was pumped from a well in the scullery. Two of Mary’s sisters lived with her for a short time at the beginning of the 20th century, presumably because work was easier to come by in the area than where they had been born. Mary died about 1958.