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Oatland Road, Leeds: Impact of War on Women who Lost Husbands

The Armistice brought with it a harsh reality for tens of thousands of widows

When the war ended thousands of women faced a harsh future alone without their husbands. Annie Marriot from Camp Road (now Oatland Road), Leeds, lost her husband George a couple of years after the war ended and faced a difficult life running the family dairy business and raising their two sons on her own.

Her grandson Alan and his wife Rene believe Annie didn’t receive a widow’s pension from the army as George died in 1920, after the war had ended and she needed to keep on working. His death certificate cites George’s cause of death as a β€œshell wound in left leg” and β€œseptic broncho pneumonia”.

After his death George’s two young sons, William and Harry, sometimes had to collect the milk for the dairy from the railway station before they went to school and Annie pushed a handcart around Leeds. Rene describes Annie as being a β€œhard northern woman”.

William went on to marry a woman of similar character and this had an impact on William’s son, Rene’s husband, Alan. She adds: β€œThe war has cast long shadows over our family”.

Location: Oatland Road (formerly known as Camp Road), Leeds LS7 1JR
Image: Annie Marriot, who lived on Camp Road, courtesy of Alan and Rene Marriot
Presented by Jane Chesworth

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Duration:

10 minutes

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