Week 35: Disaster #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

 Martin's grandfather, James Murphy, was born in Ayrshire in 1889, the son of a coalminer and one of twelve children. He, in turn, became a coalminer - a hewer, a hard job at the coalface - and the father of twelve children by his wife Mary Ann Pyne. They had married in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire in January 1914 and their first child, Thomas, was born some ten months later. Their twelfth and last child, Gerard was born in 1931.

James Murphy died of a perforated bowel in 1937. At the time of his death, he left his wife Mary and eleven children  (a daughter, Elizabeth had died in infancy), ranging from age 6 though to 23, five of those being under 12.

Nowadays being a single or widowed mum is difficult enough, but Mary lived in harsher times - and she had all those children to look after and support. This was also in the middle of The Great Depression, the worst economic state Britain had endured in the 20th century. Furthermore there was no benefit system nor free health care. All Mary had was a miner's widow's pension and her wits. Losing a husband/father was a disaster as he was the main breadwinner. 

Mary had always made the family's clothes herself, so she turned to making shawls and tea cosies to sell at the legendary Barras market in the east end of Glasgow. The older children contributed their wages from their jobs. The challenges continued, as, two years after James' death, World War II broke out. Three sons were conscripted, two to the Army and one to the Navy - and these were the 'children' who were contributing financially to the family. 

Their father's death meant that many of the younger children couldn't stay on at school and had to leave to bring money in. Martin's mother, Teresa, was one of those. She went to work for a local businessman at the age of 14  and years later became a qualified book keeper. Three of the eldest children managed to go to university and attain degrees, whereas none of the younger ones were able to do so.

Shortly after her father's death, Frances, one of their daughters had asked her mother why God would take her father away from her. Her mother had replied " We have to think ourselves lucky. If I had died instead of your father, you would all have been sent to the orphanage!"

Despite the circumstances the family had found themselves in, most of them did go on to have happy stable lives, with some of them emigrating to Australia and the USA. But there was no doubt that the loss of their father was a disaster for each of them as individuals and for the family as a whole.