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The Betty Shop
By Jane Hussey with additional reminiscences from Jane's mother, Kathleen Stroyd-Clempson June 2016 All photographs courtesy Jane Hussey Jane Hussey found our website from her home in Hampshire and wrote to us about the Betty Shop mentioned in the article about Box Shops in 1950s. For the first time we have photographs of the shop and the unique story of Jane's great aunts, Betty and Amy, who ran it. |
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The Betty Shop in the Market Place, Box, was owned by my great aunts Betty Ford and Amy Betteridge after 1933 and throughout the 1940s. When Betty married and moved away, Amy ran it on her own in the 1950s. They sold clothing and wool and haberdashery.
Betty Ford
Both of my great aunts were local people. Betty's full name was Elizabeth Winifred Ford, the daughter of Isaac and Mary Ford (nee Betteridge). Mary Ford was widowed early and took up an occupation as the postmistress at Ashley, where she lived in the Ashley Post Office. This was when the Ashley Cottages (now The Bartons) were owned by my family prior to 1926.
Both of my great aunts were local people. Betty's full name was Elizabeth Winifred Ford, the daughter of Isaac and Mary Ford (nee Betteridge). Mary Ford was widowed early and took up an occupation as the postmistress at Ashley, where she lived in the Ashley Post Office. This was when the Ashley Cottages (now The Bartons) were owned by my family prior to 1926.
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Amy Betteridge
Amy Georgina Betteridge (1894-1985) was her cousin who lived much of her life on Kingsdown with her parents, George Betteridge (of the Swan Inn) and Charlotte (nee Smith). The family had once lived at Whirlygig, the house built by the actress Maisie Gay. Amy was one of the first female chauffeurs in England and worked for a family in Salisbury before returning to Kingsdown in 1933 to join her cousin Betty Ford in the shop. It is reputed that Amy went into the shop because her cousin Betty was making a bit of a hash of it on her own and she felt a family commitment to help. They had a premises before the Betty Shop in the Market Place. This may have been the tin shed opposite the Methodist Chapel, between the Comrades Club and the school. The first shop was just one room and only sold wool. They outgrew this shop unit and moved over to what was the Betty Shop next to the Methodist Chapel. During World War 2, when military personnel were stationed at Rudloe House, the women all came to the Betty Shop to buy their necessaries. By now it was stocking clothing as well as wool. Left: Amy outside the Betty Shop in the Market Place |
The ladies were very modern for the time, just after the Second World War. Amy owned a motorbike and would arrive at the shop on it (don’t know where she stored it). They bought a little Austin car which was used to go to the Bristol warehouse to choose and collect stock and then took goods round to their clients. Betty was a hopeless driver and pranged the car a lot.
Betty left the shop on her marriage in 1949 to Norman Say and they moved away. Amy married Charlie Freeme in 1949 but only gave up the shop in the early 1960s. My mother, Kathleen Stroyd-Clempson, was the daughter of John Frederick Stroyd-Clempson and Maud Betteridge (Amy’s sister). Kathleen married my father, Wallace Durston, and he was a sometime artist. At one stage he wanted to buy the premises and turn it into an art shop but Maude talked him out of it saying it wasn't a commercial venture in a small village like Box.
Betty left the shop on her marriage in 1949 to Norman Say and they moved away. Amy married Charlie Freeme in 1949 but only gave up the shop in the early 1960s. My mother, Kathleen Stroyd-Clempson, was the daughter of John Frederick Stroyd-Clempson and Maud Betteridge (Amy’s sister). Kathleen married my father, Wallace Durston, and he was a sometime artist. At one stage he wanted to buy the premises and turn it into an art shop but Maude talked him out of it saying it wasn't a commercial venture in a small village like Box.