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Winifred was born in Batley on 16th January 1900, the only child of Corn Merchant James William Rhodes and his wife Frances Ada (nee Slater) who married in her home district of Ecclesall Bierlow in early 1899. By 1900 the family lived in Batley and by 1911 they had moved to the newly constructed late Victorian terrace of six dwellings known as The Gables Station Road, Ossett. The postal addresses of the terrace were 115 – 125 Station Road and the Rhodes family lived at number 117 next door to William Arthur Kendall, the architect and owner of the dwellings.
By this time Winifred was eleven years of age and at school. The Rhodes family still lived at The Gables at the time war was declared on 4th August 1914 and they remained there until, at least, 1918. Winifred had left school and on 6th April 1918, under the remit of the West Riding Reserve Detachment , she was engaged as a fulltime clerk at the Heavy Woollen District (HWD) Auxiliary Military War Hospital at Staincliffe, Dewsbury. Winfred’s wages were a princely 25/- which had increased to 29/- by the time she left on 20th December 1918.
Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum. Photographs by Lisa Jennings
The above Memorial stands in Dewsbury Cemetery, Heckmondwike Road, Dewsbury.
In summer 1931 Winifred’s father James William Rhodes died aged 65; his death was registered at Dewsbury. By 1939 Winifred Mabel Rhodes was 39 years of age, unmarried, undertaking general housework and living at Glyngarth, Benton Hill, Horbury with her 69 year old widowed mother Florence Ada. Mother and daughter had lived at Glyngarth since at least 1935. Winifred’s mother died in early 1944 aged 74 years and Winifred Mabel Rhodes died in spring 1978 ; her death was registered at Wakefield.
