Inspiring Sisters
Albert Standley outside 5 Aswell Street 1922
Advert from 1937, Louth Advertiser
To my delight, my family research has brought to light two sets of sisters, with inspiring stories.
Ena and Winnie Standley ran a sweetshop in Aswell Street for many decades. Their father, Albert Standley had been born in Louth Workhouse in 1881, not finally leaving until he was ten. His mother, Ann (née Snowden) had been left destitute by her husband, who returned to Louth infrequently. After assisting in the Snowden butchers’ shop (see below), Albert opened a sweet shop at 5 Aswell Street in 1910, subsequently moving next door to No 3 in 1922. Albert’s daughters Ena and her married sister Winnie assisted in the shop from 1939 and took over after their father’s death in 1963. In 1986, the Louth Standard ran a lovely article describing how the Standleys looked after their customers’ sweet teeth for 75 years; Winnie saying, “We still sell penny chews”, and that schoolchildren who spent their half-pennies in the 1940s now come in with their own children or grandchildren. Some readers with long memories may remember the shop.
The Snowden family had a butchers’ shop in Queen Street. Richard Snowden (b 1821) ran the shop at 15 Queen Street from the 1890s, and his large family, including Ann Snowden (above), lived on the premises. Richard had seven daughters by his second wife Martha Maltby and it seems likely that he named the shop ‘E&F Snowden’ after three of them: Elizabeth, Emma and Florence. All three girls had started work as domestic servants (in Sussex and Essex and some of the ‘better’ Louth houses), but, all returned to 15 Queen Street, remained single and ran E&F Snowden together. It is unusual to see a woman described as a butcher in the census; but that was the case in the 1911 and 1921 censuses. Further work is required to establish when the butchers closed or changed hands, but we have some interesting clues.
Incidentally, my great-grandmother, Edith Taylor was Albert Standley’s sister, and niece to the Snowden girls. She was an extremely strong and determined woman who lived to the age of 97. I'm pleased and proud to count these inspiring women amongst my ancestors.