Farmer and Tritton
 

I have found this in the Essex Chronicle from Fri Feb 2, 1940:

FAITHFUL SERVICE - Miss Louisa Mary Farmer, aged 71, who died on Sunday at St Michael's Hospital, spent all her life in the service of the Tritton family, of Brent Hall, Finchingfield, and was held in very high esteem. The funeral took place at St Mary's, Great Leighs, the Rev H. D. Lockett (rector) officiating. The chief mourners attending were: The Misses V and O Tritton. Others friends were present. The floral tributes included those from the Misses Tritton. The funeral arrangements were conducted by Messrs Harrington and Fish, undertakers, Cressing Road, Braintree.

She is just Louisa Farmer on the GRO death index. Age is 71 on there too. So she was born about 1868-9. You would think that she started working for the Tritton family by 1911 if she worked for them "all her life", so can anyone find her on the 1911 (or 1901) census, please?

Miss O Tritton must be Olive Marguerite Beatrice 1886-1964 and Miss V must be her sister Violet Alice 1883-1956. The family seem to have lived in London and Essex; I suppose they were one of those families with a town house and a big house in the country. They are easy enough to find on the censuses but no sign of Louisa Farmer that I can see.

An aside, when I was very young (early 1950s) my grandparents had a "lady who did" for them. I was extremely surprised to find her as a live-in servant with them in 1911, only a few years after they married and in a house about 10 miles away from where I visited them.

Isn't this Louisa in 1901:

CLARK, William Head Married M 26 1875 Dyers & Cleaner
Paddington, London
CLARK, Sarah Wife Married F 26 1875
St Clements, Oxfordshire
CLARK, Lettica Daughter F 1 1900
Kensington, London
FARMER, Louisa Servant Single F 32 1869 General Servant Domestic
Pimlico, London
EAGLES, Sidney Boarder Single M 24 1877 Commercial Clerk
Westminster, London
TWEED, Thomas Boarder Single M 27 1874 Milkman
Newmarket, Suffolk

Thanks very much for that, Phoenix! Ancestry have transcribed her as Louisa Parmer. I've submitted a correction.

It just so happens that I was wondering whether the Louisa Mary Farmer in the newspaper was the one in my tree, who was born in Pimlico, so you have definitely found my Louisa in 1901!

I wonder whether (a) the Clarks are related to the Trittons (b) the "all her life" was an exaggeration or (c) two different Louisas. I shall have another try at finding her in 1911 now.

I can find both Tritton daughters mentioned, but not their parents. I wonder if they are abroad - with a contingent of servants?

Finally, I have managed to prove that the Louisa in the newspaper piece is my Louisa, now that Ancestry have the Westminster parish registers and her baptism record gives her dob as 13 Nov 1868, which matches the 1939 Register entry for the servant in Braintree.

Isn't it great when you can do that.

That's the trouble with the name Farmer - you can FARMAR, FALMAR, PALMER

Trying to remember the site that gives all the variations of a name to look at.