I would now like to relate to you a little tale about Esther Winifred Smallwood, nee Hodson. Esther, (Essie) at this time, was one of the earliest St Joseph’s pupils, of which we have more than just a passing knowledge. I am indebted to her daughter, Mary Daniels, for the following information.
One of Essie’s earliest memories is going on the last horse drawn tram to visit her grandparents, Jonah and Anna Hodson. (Nee Myerscough of Preston). Both her grandparents are now buried in St Joseph’s Churchyard.
Later, when relating this story, she would say she could still remember sitting behind the horses and the distinctive smell that came from them. She would also mention that she travelled on the first electric tram in Birmingham and remembered that it was brilliantly lit with coloured lights for the occasion.
She commenced her schooling at St Joseph’s. When she was about 8 years old she recalls her mother saying that it was about time that they moved out of Nechells to the country because they were going to build on the fields in Nechells. Her father had taken her across these same fields, to the bluebell woods, when she was tiny. So they moved to the country, Edward Road, Erdington!!
Here she remembers walking along Poppy Lane, which was a dirt track lane lined with poppies in the summer. As they now lived in the Abbey Parish she went to the Abbey School. At this time The Benedictines ran it. The Order was German and when the 1st World War broke out, the German Priests had to leave. The Redemptorist moved in. It would seem they changed the name to The Monastery. This did not sit well with the local Parishioners, who tore down the new sign. The Abbey name continued. It appears that this was the only Redemptorist Order to be in an Abbey.
Essie’s father worked for the Railway. Her sister, Mary, always known as Mollie, died 11 days before the end of the 1st World War. She, like many at that time died from the flu epidemic, which swept the country. She was 19 years old. Her youngest brother, John, was a Redemptorist Brother.
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Essie met her husband Clement (Clem) underneath the famous pulpit in Oscott College. This is the pulpit from where Cardinal Newman had preached his “Second Spring” sermon. They had attended separately, having been invited by a mutual friend who was being ordained. He had invited them to hear him give his first sermon. They married at Erdington Abbey on the 22nd June 1931.
Clem was a journalist who had started his career with the Liverpool Courier. He had then moved on to The Birmingham Mail. As a young reporter he covered the Malvern Festivals at the time of Sir Edward Elgar, Bernard Shaw and Sir Barry Jackson, founder of Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
After the marriage Clem was made London Editor of The Evening Mail. This caused them to move to Worcester Park, Surrey, where they lived in a house called Assisi. Here their two children, Gerard and Mary were born.
In London, due to Clem’s position, they were able to attend many first nights in the Theatres, always in evening dress. Clem was the Leader writer for GK Weekly, the Magazine of G K Chesterton. As result of this Essie met a number of leading literary figures like Chesterton and Belloc.
They moved back to Birmingham when Clem was made Deputy Editor. They would eventually move to Boldmere where they would attend Mass at the little Pugin Church of St Nicholas, Boldmere Road. Dr. Cregg was the Priest. He lived in the cottage, which was attached to the Chapel with his large Red setter dog.
During the 2nd World War, they moved to Chadwick End, near to the Convent of Baddesley Clinton. Here Clem’s youngest sister was Mother Abbess with the Poor Clares. This was an enclosed Convent. She had been there more than 25 years when she died in June 2002.
Essie was Sacristan at St Nicholas’s Boldmere for many years. She arranged and took care of the vestments for the then Parish Priest, Father McEvilly. Clem and Essie were founder members of the Boldmere Third Order of St Francis. This moved to Holy Trinity Parish after the death of Father McEvilly.
Clem became the Editor of The Birmingham Evening Mail. He died in his office at work, on the day The Mail and The Despatch combined. His Leader and his Obituary appeared side by side in the first edition.
After Clem’s death, Essie went to help run the Red Cross Library at Highcroft Hospital in Erdington. This task she completed well into her 80’s when a fall caused her to leave the role.
Essie died on the 2nd August 2000. Prior to her death there were four generations of her family living in the St Nicholas Parish, Herself, her daughter, her grandson and his son and one of her 11 great-grandchildren.
