Individual Details

Etheldreda (Ethel) Matilda BOOKER

(13 Mar 1882 - 5 Jun 1928)

It appears Etheldreda (known as Ethel) may have been named after St. Etheldreda as her father completed a commission for St. Etheldreda's Church, Ely Place, London about a year after her birth. It is possible he may have been working on the two paintings, each on a wooden screen on either side of the chancel, around the time she was born.

An only child, Ethel lost her mother when she was only about six years of age. At the age of 19 she is listed in the 1901 census as a visitor at the home of Sarah Saunders, a 64-year-old widow living at 29 Montague Road, Richmond, Surrey. Ethel is described as a student. By the time of the 1911 census Ethel was married with a family and living in Devon. Her address at the time of her death was The Yews, Pennsylvania, Exeter.

Ethel's husband was Robert Stansell from Somerset. It is probable that they met though Ethel's father's connection with the Stansell family who were involved in the building and church decoration business. Alexander Booker, Ethel's father, worked with the Stansells in the mid-1880s on stained glass windows in Stoke St. Gregory Church in Somerset. According to the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser edition of 6 January 1886, "The window has been supplied by Messrs Stansell and Son, of Taunton... the design being the combined works of Mr. Alexander Booker, of Euston-square, London, and Messrs Stansell. The cast window of this church was designed by Mr. Stansell, about 40 years ago". Alexander and the Stansells may have worked on other projects together but so far I have no documented evidence of this.

Events

Birth13 Mar 18826 Euston Square, St. Pancras, London
Marriage3 Apr 1906St. Paul's Catholic Church, Maison Dieu Road, Dover - Robert Alfred STANSELL
Death5 Jun 1928Exeter, Devon
BurialSt. Werburgh’s Churchard, Wembury, Devon

Families

SpouseRobert Alfred STANSELL (1879 - 1968)
ChildRobert STANSELL (1907 - )
ChildJack STANSELL (1909 - )
ChildAlexander E. STANSELL (1911 - )
ChildRichard W. STANSELL (1914 - 2003)
ChildMary E. STANSELL (1915 - )
ChildLiving
FatherAlexander (Alex) BOOKER (1842 - 1914)
MotherAgnes Mary BUCKLEY (1854 - 1888)