Lucretia

For 160 years there has been a Lucretia in our family. Why this unusual Christian name was first chosen has proved impossible to discover, but since 1853 there has been at least one Lucretia in each generation.  Meet three of them here

Lucretia Elkin Ikin 1853-19??

The first Lucretia Elkin was born early in 1853, her birth was registered in the first quarter of that year. She was one of many children born to John and Mary Elkin the first, Samuel was born and died in 1842, the year of John and Mary's marriage.  At least 10 other children followed, the last being Frederick born in 1867.  Although there were 14 years between Lucretia and Frederick, it seems they were very close for Frederick named his youngest daughter after her.

At the age of 16 Lucretia married Thomas Ikins, he was 6 years older and a coal miner. In the 1871 census, Lucretia was listed with her husband and with a 1 year old son, named John after her father.  She worked as a paintress in the pottery industry. It is said that when young women finished their training they were allowed to sign a piece with their name and a stone china plate with printed and painted decoration signed Lucretia Elkin remains in the family today.  The marks on the back of the plate along with the signature show that it was made at the factory of Charles Meigh & Son of Hanley. The pattern name is “Gem” and the printed mark incorporates the initials C M & S, which books about the pottery suggest was only used up until 1861 when the company changed its name to “Old Hall Pottery”, but it seems unlikely that Lucretia painted and signed this at the age of 8 or younger, however she married at the age of 16 and changed her surname, so she must have painted it before that time!

At the age of 16 Lucretia married Thomas Ikins, he was 6 years older than her and a coal miner. In the 1871 census, Lucretia was listed with her husband and with a 1 year old son, named John after her father.  She worked as a paintress in the pottery industry, perhaps in one of the many factories near where they  lived in Bryan Street Hanley.  Her parents and her younger siblings lived in Nelson Place in  Hanley and within  a few years the Ikins and the Elkins were close neighbours.  By 1881 Thomas and Lucretia along with their children John, Jane, and George had moved to 6 Nelson Place, where a lodger, Jospeh Holdcroft, probably contributed to the living expenses. Lucretia's parents John and Mary Elkin lived a few doors away at number 10 Nelson Place, with their three youngest sons, George, William, and Frederick.