▶Date of birth: 2Q 1886   Place of birth: Shardlow, near Derby

▶Father: Charles Albert Fawcett    Mother: Annie Jewsbury

▶Spouse(s): -    Date(s) of marriage:      Place(s) of marriage:

▶Occupation: Church administrator, Deaconess

▶Lifestory:  Elsie Fawcett was born near Derby in 1886, the third daughter of Charles Albert Fawcett, an accountant working for the Midland Railway, and his wife Annie (née Jewsbury); she was baptised in Derby in 1887. Elsie lived with her family in Litchurch, outside Derby, at the time of the 1891 census, and they had moved to Upper Dale Street, Derby, by the time she was fourteen in the 1901 census. By 1907 she was finishing her time at the Derby Technical College, where she studied art.

Her subsequent career is inextricably bound up with the Revd. James Mervyn Glass, who in time became Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, in Cheltenham. Elsie knew of the Revd. Glass from at least 1909, when as the local vicar he officiated at her father’s funeral in Normanton, Derbyshire (she is listed amongst the funeral-goers).

By 1911 she had left home and had trained as a Deaconess; she was boarding at a house of a widow and her daughter in Langley, Birmingham; the other boarder was a young Wesleyan Methodist minister.

In 1920 Elsie was a Welfare Officer for the Women’s Farm and Garden Association (WFGA, the precursor of the Women’s Land Army). She was still a member of the WFGA four years later, when she lived at The Vicarage, Leyton, where the Revd. Mervyn Glass was then Vicar.

She continued her association with the Glasses in Winchester, where the Revd. Glass was Vicar of Christ Church 1928-36. Elsie was then involved in the Guiding movement in Winchester.

They all moved to Cheltenham, it seems, in 1936, when Glass was appointed Perpetual Curate of Holy Trinity Church (many years earlier he had been a Curate at St Paul’s Church in Cheltenham). Elsie Fawcett was appointed to lead the Guide company at Holy Trinity and lived with the Vicar and his wife at Holy Trinity Vicarage (now Camden House), Pittville from at least 1837 until after 1945. She also accompanied them on at least a holiday to Switzerland with the Glasses.

At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 Elsie joined the Women’s Land Army (WLA 5320); on her index card she is listed as being single, her age is recorded as forty-five, and her occupation is recorded as a Secretary and Parish Organiser. She also declared that she was formerly in the Women’s Land Army as a Group leader and Welfare Officer, and had experience of office routine and organising. It is also noted that she served on the Committee for National Association of Landswomen (serving on this committee would indicate service during WW1). The index card records that she resigned from the Women’s Land Army on 27 January 1940. In 1939 in Pittville she stated that she was an ARP Warden.

Whilst in Cheltenham Elsie drew again on her administrative skills, and was elected to the Parochial Church Council at Holy Trinity, Cheltenham in 1937; she was continually re-elected to the Council until she left Cheltenham, and for much of this time served as a Council’s Secretary.

The Revd. Glass’s wife died in 1941. In 1942 Elsie was appointed to the additional office of Secretary to the Girls’ Orphanage in Winchcombe Street, Cheltenham.

She retained her roles at the Church and at the nearby Orphanage, and also as the Revd. Glass’s personal secretary, until she left Cheltenham and moved with the Revd. Glass (who retired from his ministry this year) to Leamington Spa in 1950.

She was living at 25 Northumberland Road, Leamington Spa in 1962 when she died, unmarried, at the Warneford Hospital, Leamington. Administration of her estate (with effects valued at just over £1,275) was granted to the Revd. James Mervyn Glass.

▶Moved to Pittville from: Winchester   Moved from Pittville to: Leamington Spa

▶Date of death: 8 May 1962    Place of death: Warneford Hospital, Leamington Spa

▶Date of burial:   Place of burial:

▶Notes: Her age on the WLA index card is recorded as 45, which appears to be inaccurate.

ID: 13681         Contributor(s): John Simpson/David Drinkwater