Born and Bred
A Yorkshire Family
Hilda Clark
Hilda's Story
Hilda was born at the end of July 1914, she was the youngest of the six children of Edward and Ada Clark. When she left school, one of her sisters paid for her to attend a Pitman's Secretarial College in Leeds, the course was supposed to last four years and teach her shorthand and typing. However, she didn't stay there very long as she didn't really want to work in an office, and instead went to work for Simpson and Fawcett. They were a luxury pram manufacturer, who had workshops at the bottom of Black Bull Street in Leeds, where her job was making the pram hood covers. She would later leave this job and move into the tailoring industry, working for Burton's in Leeds. She would continue working for Burton's until after she married her husband, Thomas in August 1935.
They would spend the first three years of married life living with Hilda's parents at 12 Clement Terrace, Rothwell - the house in which she was born. It was here, in January 1936, that the first of their three children were born, a daughter whom they named Patricia Margaret.
In 1939 they moved into their own house at 11 Talbot Terrace, Rothwell, this was the next row of houses on from where they had been living with Hilda's parents. They would continue to live here throughout the war years, and it was here in January 1944 that Hilda gave birth to a son, Christopher John. While Hilda was recovering from the birth, her sister, Jennie, came over to help look after the family.
As well as looking after her own house and family, Hilda, along with her three surviving older sisters was expected to help her mother run her house.
On Mondays, Sarah would go and collect the washing and do that. Tuesdays would see Alice cleaning the upstairs rooms and on Wednesday, Jennie would clean downstairs. Hilda's day to help out her mother was Friday and her job was to clean the yard, outside toilet, coal house and to scour the steps to the house. This last task was done using yellow scouring bricks known as 'Donkey Stones'. On Thursdays, with pretty much all her housework done by he daughters, Hilda's mum, Ada, would spend the day baking bread and share this with her daughters for all their hard work.
After the war, Hilda's parents moved to 20 Windmill Lane, at stones throw from where they had been living. Since their old house at 12 Clement Terrace was bigger than where Hilda and her family were now living, Hilda, Tom and their two children moved back into Hilda's old childhood home. It was here on the 20th of November 1947, that their third child was born. As this was also the very day that the future Queen Elizabeth II married Prince Phillip, they decided to name their new daughter Elizabeth Ann.
When Hilda realised she was close to giving birth she sent her eldest daughter, Pat who was 10 at the time, with a note to the midwife (who lived on Haigh Road at the top end of Rothwell) asking her to come. Upon returning, Pat was then told to go to school as normal.
In 1948, shortly after the NHS started in England, Hilda, who hadn't worked since having children, decided to get a part time job at St. George's Hospital working as a cleaner. Her hours were 5pm to 8pm and so she left Pat in charge of the house and her younger brother and sister until Thomas returned home from work.
In 1985 Hilda and Thomas celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary surrounded by their children and grandchildren.
Hilda would continue to live at 12 Clement Terrace until after the death of Thomas in 1990, then in 1991 she moved into sheltered accommodation at 13 Ashton Crescent, Carlton, close to where her daughter Pat and her family were now living. She would remain here until her death in December 2013, just 6 months short of her hundredth birthday.