Mabel (May) Clarke née Deeprose – b. 7 May 1918

			Click on the Thumbnail Images to see them full-size

THIS IS AN INTERIM PAGE, PENDING CORRECTIONS AND ENHANCEMENTS

May was born Mabel Florence Deeprose at The Laurels, Ninfield, East Sussex, a few miles north-west of Hastings, and near the historic town of Battle. Her parents were Rufus and Alice Deeprose nee Cramp. Her parents were marrried in 1901 and had a son Albert Edmund in 1902. At this time they lived in The Bogs, at Hooe, a little village south of Ninfield. Albert was what used to be called a 'blue baby' (a condition Anne thinks later came to be called 'a hole in the heart baby'). Anyway, he had a serious heart condition and died in 1916 aged 14. Alice had many pregnancies after Albert, but these were either aborted or stillborn.  This led to Alice staying in bed for the whole of her pregnancy with May, and led to her being dubbed 'Lady Deeprose' by her friends.

Rufus was a market gardener and also bought and renovated houses, which he later sold for a profit.

May went to Ninfield school from age 5 to 10, when she then went to the Girls Grammer School at Sidley, just outside Bexhill. Her father Rufus was an elder in the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and also Superintendant of the Sunday School. Every Sunday May remembers going to and later playing for Sunday school, and then attending church services in the morning and again in the evening. Rufus also played the cello (which could account for Fred later learning this instrument), and her mother Alice the violin.  

About 1928, when May would have been 10, her father supplied bail for one of his brothers who had run foul of the law in some way. We feel probably fraud or similar, but May was never told any details. His brother absconded and the bail was forfeit. This caused May's father much distress, because of his devoutness and the shame to the family, and he had a nervous breakdown. Soon after this they left Ninfield and moved to Bedford, where May said they lived with an uncle, but she is not sure who. (The only one Anne knows who moved to the north and whose grandson is now near Oxford is Frank Deeprose. She doesn't believe any of Alice's brothers left the area). While in Bedford, May contracted shingles, and from there the more serious illness of rheumatic fever. Her parents were advised to take her to Bath to 'take the waters', which they did. May did not attend school very much in those times, but remembers going to a small school outside Bath.

Their financial circumstances were such that when they were offered a position of caretaker and housekeeper for an elderly widow in about 1930-31, they accepted and moved to 13 Cavendish Road, Portsmouth. This was a 3-storey terraced house, and May had the top floor, her parents the middle, and the widow the basement. May was a pianist from very early days.

May met Fred in about 1932-33, on the way to fetch the family's dinner from the fish and chips shop. The chit-chat was long, and the dinner was late. After that first meeting, she used to look out her window each morning and wave as he rode by on his bicycle on the way to work.

Apparently her parents were not happy about this new liaison until they were told he was the grandson of Mr Haskins, the manager of Whitcombe's grocery in Palmerston Rd. He then became most acceptable to her parents.

As John Miller always credited May with introducing him to opera, which was one of his passions, I think Fred can probably attribute his learning of the cello to May, who used to give him lessons. Fred's actual musicianship had been gained from an early age from choral work at St Judes, so this would have been a relatively easy transition. Fred became a fairly competent cellist, and his cello was later given to May's most talented student, who still plays and cherishes it.

After a lengthy courtship, May and Fred were engaged in 1937 and married on 24 June 1939 at St Judes, Portsmouth. The wedding party were all members of the Clarke and Haskins families (see Photo 1 above). They moved into Grayshott Rd (very close to Pompey's home ground, Fratton Park).

Pre-War, May (piano), Fred (cello), and Fred's younger brother Tony (who says he was a poor violinist) amused themselves at home as a trio, and occasionally a very good violinist (Sam Coates) came to make a more successful quartet. Photos 2-4 above were taken at the beginning of the War, in December 1939, with Sam, Fred and May in the front room of Grayshott Rd. Fred was refused permission to enlist because he was in the Dockyards, in a prescribed category of employment.

The front section (including the music room) was destroyed by a bomb in the1941 blitz, which also totally destroyed the house next door. There was a munitions factory behind these houses, and Fred thought that this was what they were aiming to destroy. May was buried in their air raid shelter in the back yard when part of the neighbour's house fell on it. It took several hours to clear the debris and free her. She was heavily pregnant with her first child Michael at the time, and had the medics worried for a while.

Michael was born in 1941, and Anne in 1944. The family couldn't move back into Grayshott Rd until they took Anne home from the hospital, so probably about 8 August 1944.

On 29 Jan 1948, Fred, May and the two children sailed from Tilbury on the Orient Line's Ormonde, and migrated to Kingaroy in South Queensland, where they were to spend the next 40 years.

They had Paul in 1953, and Peter in 1954. Grandchildren began raining down from 1966 onwards.

May was a very good lawn bowler and won may singles, pairs, triples and fours competitions in England and later in Australia, usually as skip.

May was a prominent music-teacher in Kingaroy. Between the two of them, they participated in (and in most cases, ran) most of the musical events that took place in the town. May was awarded the MBE for services to music on 12 June 1982.

In (1984?), they retired to Maryborough for several years, then to Bundaberg (1991? until 1998?, after their son Michael's death), and then back to Maryborough (from 1998). Fred passed away on 30 Jan 2004, at 86.

During her late 80s, May played the piano in the Maryborough Military and Colonial Museum. Photo 5 above is a local newspaper clipping from that period. The owner made a CD of her playing, for use when no piano-player was available. On 7 May 2008, they called her saying that she was needed as a substitute for another player who had called in sick. She arrived, ready to play, to discover she'd been tricked into arriving for her 90th birthday party.

On 11 May 2008, May celebrated her 90th at Anne and Nev's property, Windera, 60km north of Kingaroy and 150km south-west of Maryborough. Photo nos. 6 and 7 above were taken that day.

In early 2009, May moved to a retirement home in Tairo.

More information is on Fred's page.

Their children are listed on their shared entry, and details of their children's families are accessible from there.

This a page within Roger Clarke's Family Web-Site

Contact: Roger Clarke

Created: 23 May 2008; Last Amended: 31 March 2010