Millard, Mrs Mary

Singer

Collection date: Dec 1907

Area: Somerset - Mendips (Harptree & Priddy)

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Mrs (Mary) Millard at Castle Cary (1833-1910): age 80, 1 song ‘The Shoemaker’ (FT1531) on 28 Dec 1907: The only Millard in Castle Cary of the right sort of age is Mrs Mary Millard, who was baptised Mary Cooke, daughter of William Cooke, labourer and his wife Sarah, at Castle Cary church on 23/6/1833. Mary was a ‘dressmaker’ in Castle Cary in the 1851 census.

She married Robert Coles (of Bruton) at Castle Cary on 4/3/1855 but he died in 1857 aged only 25 and Mary is left on her own as a widow in Bruton (1861 census). She could fend for herself and was listed as a ‘corset-maker’. She was remarried to Thomas Millard, a widower, at Castle Cary on 19/7/1863. Thomas was a carpenter and they settled in Mill Lane, Castle Cary, raising 3 children. When Thomas died in 1892, Mary remained in Mill Lane and used her home as a boarding house to gain income (1901 census 5 lodgers RG13/2303 f83 p22)). Sharp was usually pretty accurate with his ages but Mary was probably only 74 when she met Sharp. She died in Castle Cary on 19/12/1910, aged 76.