Kathleen Mary (Pearson) Bonsey (1903 - 1992)

Born 10 Dec 1903 in Islington, Middlesex, England

Ancestors

Wife of Arthur Lionel Bonsey RN — married 24 Apr 1970 in Chelsea, London, England

Died 29 Aug 1992 at age 88 in Hartland Bideford, Devon, England

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Biography

Kathleen (Pearson) Bonsey is Notable.

Best known as the creator of The Borrowers, and the Disney film: Bedknobs and Broomsticks — which was adapted from her books: The Magic Bed Knob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons and Bonfires and Broomsticks.

Life Events

Kathleen (Pearson) Bonsey was born in Islington, Middlesex, England.

Kathleen Mary Pearson was born on the 10th December 1903, in Islington, Middlesex, England, the only daughter of Reginald Spencer Pearson and Minnie Savile Hughes.^[1]

She grew up in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, where her father was a physician.
Mary, who was quite nearsighted, used to wander the countryside near her home with her brothers; but on days when the weather kept them confined indoors, the Pearson children would indulge in their own home-grown theatricals. On those outdoors rambles, Mary did not see the faraway hills, or the birds in the sky, or the trees in the distance, but she did see the moss, the ferns, the tangles of grass stems, the crumbling creek bed with its human detritus scattered around, the roots of trees, and other "close to" things that others often overlooked. It was easy for her fertile imagination to populate such places with small, fearful, folk wending their way through those miniature "jungles". Trailing along behind her brothers, she was never alone, being accompanied on her wanderings by the tiny folk of her daydreams. Mary's home, and those surrounding lanes and fields, eventually became the foundation for her most famous literary works, her "Borrowers" series.

On the 2nd April 1911, the 7-year-old Kathleen Mary, at school, was living with her family at 14 Lake Street, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. Home at the time were her father: Reginald (45), a Physician and Surgeon; her mother: Minnie (40), her siblings: 14-year-old William, also at school; 4-year-old Richard; and the baby: 1-year-old Hubert; and two visitors: her mother's niece: Wakefield, Yorkshire-born Florence Hughes Hinchliff (27), mother's help, domestic (daughter of Minnie's older sister Eliza);* and St George's, London-born Dorothy Morris Tabor (24), also employed as a mother's help.^[2]
* Of interest is that Florence went off to Canada and married a Henry Wood there. It is of interest because Florence's aunt Mary Ann Hughes had married a Wood, and Florence had a Wood cousin also named Florence.

Kathleen (22) and Robert Charles Norton (33), an engineer, son of George Frederick Norton, ship owner, were married by license on the 4th September 1926, according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England, in the parish church of St Mary, Lambeth. Their witnesses were Reginald R Pearson, E J Storer, and Clara M Storer.^[3]
They were to have four children: two daughters, and two sons. The one son, also named Robert Norton, became a printer and Microsoft executive.

In July 1929, Mary and her two eldest children (the others were not yet born) left England for Lisbon, Portugal aboard the Almanzora.^[4]

On the 29th September 1939, Mary (36), a temporary civil servant, was living at 2 Warwick Avenue, Paddington, with her family. Exactly who else was at home is unknown as those records are still under a privacy block.^[5]

She married secondly Arthur Lionel "Lionel" Bonsey, in 1970,the event being registered in the 2nd Quarter at Chelsea,^[6] the couple living in Hartland, North Devon from then on.

Kathleen Mary Bonsey née Pearson, also Norton, known professionally as Mary Norton, passed away on the 29th August 1992, in Bideford, Devon, England, three months twelve days before her 89th birthday,^[7] and was interred at the Cathedral of North Devon / St Nectan Churchyard Stoke, Devon, where her husband, Lionel, had already been laid to rest.^[8]

A portion of the inscription on Mary Norton's headstone reads:

"Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there. I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumnal rain.

Do not stand at my grave and cry;

I am not there. I did not die".

(This is purported to be an extract from Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep, which is a poem of disputed authorship, claimed by the Oxford journal "Notes and Queries" to have been written by Clare Harner, and published in December 1934 (under the title Immortality), and by Mary Elizabeth Frye – whose claim was made in the 1990s that she had authored the poem in 1932. What is on Mary's gravestone, however, does not match either shown version 100%.)

In her Will, which went through Probate on the 26th October, Mary left effects to the value of £16052.^[9]

Sources

1. ↑ Birth — England & Wales births, deaths and marriages registrations, General Register Office United Kingdom, Southport, England, HM Passport Office online search Births: Name: PEARSON, KATHLEEN MARY; Mother's Maiden Surname: HUGHES; GRO Reference: 1904 M Quarter in ISLINGTON Volume 01B Page 387
2. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X7K9-XQQ : 22 July 2019), Kathleen Mary Pearson in household of Reginald Spencer Pearson, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1911 England and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 14, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
3. ↑ Marriage #1 — Church of England Parish Registers. London Metropolitan Archives, London. Name: Kathleen Mary Pearson; Marriage Age: 22; Record Type: Marriage; Birth Date: abt 1904; Marriage Date: 4 Sep 1926; Marriage Place: St Mary, Lambeth, Lambeth, England; Father: Reginald Spencer Pearson; Spouse: Robert Charles Norton; Spouse's Father: George Frederick Norton
4. ↑ International Travel — Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Outwards Passenger Lists. BT27. Records of the Commercial, Companies, Labour, Railways and Statistics Departments. Records of the Board of Trade and of successor and related bodies. The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England. Reference Number: Series BT27-136353. Name: Kathleen Norton; Gender: Female; Departure Age: 25; Birth Date: abt 1904; Departure Date: 19 Jul 1929; Departure Port: England; Ship Name: Almanzora; Shipping Line: Royal Mail Steam Packet Co; Destination Port: Lisbon, Portugal; Master: E Clarke
5. ↑ 1939 England and Wales Register. The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: Rg 101/416h. Name: Kathleen M Norton; Gender: Female; Marital Status: Married; Birth Date: 10 Dec 1903; Residence Date: 1939; Address: 2 Warwick Avenue; Residence Place: Paddington, London, England; Occupation: Temporary Civil Servant; Line Number: 4; Schedule Number: 102; Sub Schedule Number: 1; Enumeration District: Apca; Borough: Paddington; Registration district: 36b
6. ↑ Marriage #2 — General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England; Volume Number: 5a; Page Number: 1694
7. ↑ Death — England & Wales births, deaths and marriages registrations, General Register Office United Kingdom, Southport, England, HM Passport Office online search Deaths: Name: NORTON, MARY; Year of Birth: 1903; GRO Reference: DOR Q3/1992 in BIDEFORD (4051) Volume 21 Page 836 Entry Number 109
8. ↑ Burial — Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/15683845/mary-norton : accessed 08 August 2021), memorial page for Mary Norton (10 Dec 1903–29 Aug 1992), Find A Grave: Memorial #15683845, citing St Nectan Churchyard, Stoke, Torridge District, Devon, England ; Maintained by Find A Grave.
9. ↑ Probate — UK Government Probate Service online search: Name: Norton, Mary or BONSEY, Kathleen Mary; Residence Place: 102 West Street Hartland Bideford; Death Date: 29 Aug 1992; Death Place: Hartland Bideford; Probate Date: 26 Oct 1992; Probate Registry: Bristol

• Wikipedia : Mary Norton
• Wikidata: Item Q265756, en:Wikipedia