Alice's younger sister Elizabeth was born with a club foot, which was remedied by a painful operation when she was a teenager. Lizzie's health was never strong. She stayed at home to look after her parents when her brothers and sisters were married, and she was a thoughtful and considerate woman. In 1863 when Alice was worn out and pregnant with her tenth baby, Lizzie looked after her, keeping her in bed and feeding her up. She was nearly 37 when her parents died.
Three months later, on 14 June 1864, she married their doctor, William Harrison. (He was the brother-in-law who wrote so kindly to John in 1869 advising him to stop work because of his breakdown). Lizzie must have known him most of her life. His father and grandfather had been doctors in Gargrave near Skipton before him, and he and Lizzie were much of an age. Perhaps they had waited to marry until she was no longer needed by her parents.
In early 1866 Lizzie and William must have been sure that she was expecting a baby, and soon afterwards Alice became pregnant with her twelfth. Lizzie's pregnancy did not go well. Ellen Ewing tells us that Lizzie
wrote singularly matter-of-fact letters to Alice about her prospects. Her condition caused anxiety; but she seemed more concerned about the inconvenience to others than about the danger to herself. [1]
Alice kept "Dearest Lizzie's last letter" which included the lines
I am afraid I am tiring all my friends. I wish I could set all at ease. I can assure you I should be glad of freedom myself, though to be purchased at such a cost; but it has to be done and the sooner it comes, the sooner it will be over. My dear husband gets very anxious. [2]
Lizzie died on 14 May 1866 after a week of puerperal fever. There is no birth or death certificate for the babe. Mary Hopkinson wrote in the Preface
Aunt Lizzie was very dear to those of her nephews and nieces who were old enough to know her. [3]
After Lizzie's death, Sissie Harrison kept house for her elder brother. Their last years were spent at Dean Hill House on Matlock Green, just to the north of Matlock in Derbyshire. (The house stood near today's cricket pitch). The Harrisons were always close to the Hopkinsons – for example, in the 1881 census for their household we find 17 year old medical student Albert Hopkinson staying there.
Sissie was a favourite of the Hopkinson family and she often visited and took holidays with them. She and Alice were very close, as can be seen from a letter Alice wrote to her on 9 November 1904. Alice was then 80 years old and Sissie, now alone after her brother's death, was 66:
My pen has hardly been unsheathed this last fortnight. My heart turns lovingly and trustingly to my dear Sissy and, as there is rather more life in me today, notwithstanding much pain from local troubles, I will use a little of it in sending you a few lines. [4]
 |
| Almshouses at Matlock Green, by Mary and Angus Hogg |
In the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, Sissie built almshouses at Matlock Green, not far from her home at Dean Hill House.
Above the door is the dedication
To the Glory of God – these Almshouses are built and as a memorial of her beloved brother, Wm Harrison MD, of Dean Hill House, Matlock, by his sister, Margaret Harrison, to provide rest for the aged poor
Sissie outlived Alice, dying on 6 March 1918.
Notes
[1] John and Alice Hopkinson 1824-1910 (1948) ed. Mary Hopkinson and her niece Lady Ewing, with a Preface by Sir Gerald Hurst, K.C., p. 47
[2] ibid., p. 47-8
[3] ibid., p. XXVI
[4] ibid., p. 109
No comments:
Post a Comment