Irene Margaret (Scott) Southall (1911-2003)

Irene Margaret Southall formerly Scott

Born 6 May 1911 in Barnes, Surrey, England

Ancestors

Daughter of Walter Frederick Scott and Myrtle Annie (Hawkins) Scott

Sister of Mary Pearl (Scott) Mosley, Walter Douglas Scott and Yvonne (Scott) Nelson MBE

Wife of Richard Thomas Southall — married 29 Jul 1942 in Greenwich or Blackheath, London, England

Mother of [private son (1950s - unknown)] and [private daughter (1950s - unknown)]

Died 5 Oct 2003 at age 92 in Ledbury Hospital, Ledbury, Herefordshire, England

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Michael Scott

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Profile last modified 27 Apr 2024 | Created 23 May 2015

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Biography

Irene Margaret Scott was born on May 6, 1911 -- the first child and eldest daughter of Walter Frederick Scott and Myrtle Annie Hawkins Scott.
She grew up in Barnes and Blackheath in south London before World War II and must have received training as a teacher.
In 1934 and 1935 she lived in Montreal, Canada, where she held a teaching position at the Trafalgar Institute (now the Trafalgar School for Girls).
Irene married Richard Thomas Southall, I believe at a church in Blackheath, on July 29, 1942; the marriage was registered at Lewisham.
Over time Irene became a considerable expert on the history of the Malvern Hills and the occupation of the hill forts in those hills in prehistoric England.
By 1950, Irene and Richard were living in a small cottage in a village called Mathon (near to Colwall and Great Malvern) in Herefordshire, England; I remember that when one wanted to have a bath this was executed in a tin tub on the floor in the kitchen!
By 1955 they had move to Fernhill, a big house just outside the village of Cradley (again near Malvern) in Herefordshire, England, and Irene lived there for the next 30 years.
In 1985 she sold Fernhill and moved to a house in Colwall.
Irene died at Ledbury Hospital, Ledbury, Herefordshire, England, on October 5, 2003.
She was buried at Mathon Parish Church, Mathon, Colwall, near Malvern, Worcestershire, England

Sources and references

Direct personal acquaintance and knowledge (Irene Margaret Scott Southall was the paternal aunt of the profile manager).
Detailed information about this individual is accessible on Ancestry (see http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/19962126/person/875687788.
"England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008," (see https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2FLX-NBM)
"England and Wales Death Registration Index, 1837-2008" (see https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVZJ-RCT3)

Memories: 2

Enter a personal reminiscence or story.

Michael Scott

When I initially inherited my grandmother Myrtle Annie HAWKINS Scott's collection of genealogical information on the Hawkins, Scott, and White familes that made up her (and my father's) genealogical history, Irene was the relative who showed the most interest in my attempt to validate Myrtle's presumptions and perceived knowledge, (It rapidly became evident that there were some flaws in Myrtle's "facts", collected largely from elderly relatives in the very late 19th and very early 20th Centjuries.)

Irene sent me documents, she told me stories, she informed me about a trip to Scotland when she and her father were trying to "prove" her father's great-grandfather's birth in Ayrshire. (It was a complete failure at the time.) Above all she encouraged me, and we spent hours on trans-Atlantic phone calls at my expense as I squeezed every truth and untruth out of her very prodigious brain!

Irene loved history, and she passed that love on to her son Humphrey, who became a full Professor of Economic Geography largely because of his mother's determination to ensure that he became a useful member of society!

posted 26 Oct 2023 by Michael Scott [thank Michael]

Michael Scott

My aunt Irene met my wife Ilona only twice.

The first time was when we went to see Irene at Fernhill in 1985 to "claim" my grandmother Myrtle Annie HAWKINS Scott's diamond engagement ring (which she had left to the first of her grandchildren to get married, but which I was the one to claim).

The second was when we went to stay with her overnight in Colwall in 1999, after a family wedding. On this second occasion, Irene discovered in conversation that my wife had never seen the remaining ruins of a Roman town or city, so she promptly decided that this was a severe lack in my wife's education, and the next morning we all drove some 50 miles to Venta Silurum -- one of the best excavated and preserved of the Romano-British towns in Britain, built in the second century and with defensive walls still up to 5 meters high in places.

Irene would have been 88 years of age at the time, but she walked the entire town that morning with my wife explaining its history. And then we went on to Chepstow Castle too (where Irene decided that she was getting a little tired and would skip the climb up to the battlements).

posted 25 May 2015 by Michael Scott [thank Michael]

Is Irene your ancestor? Please don't go away!

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Irene Margaret (Scott) Southall (1911 - 2003)

Biography

Sources and references