Emma Lipscombe and the Tragic Death of her Grand-daughter Mildred Ethel Aplin - "Dead With Her Cats"

Monument to Emma Lipscombe, All Saints Cemetery, Boyne Hill, Maidenhead. Berkshire.

"In

fond Memory

Of

Emma Lipscombe

Who fell asleep in Jesus

March 13th 1886 . Aged 69 Years.

 

For I reckon that the sufferings of the present

time, are not worthy to be compared with the

glory which shall be revealed in us."

 

 

Emma Lispcombe was born Emma Illsley on 21st September 1817 in Maidenhead, Berkshire, to John Illsley, a waggoner and carrier, and his wife Mary Kay.

 

 

On 4th September 1838 at St John the Baptist church, in Hoxton, Middlesex, Emma married Issac Lipscombe, a butcher.  They celebrated the birth of their first child, a daughter, Katherine Lousia Lipscombe in 1841.  The 1841 Census shows the young family living at Pitfield Street, Hoxton, Middlesex, where Issac worked as a butcher employing three assistants, one of which was Emma's younger brother Richard Illsley.  Sadly that same year little Katherine passed away.

 

In 1843 Emma and Issac celebrated the birth of their son Richard, followed by a second daughter Emma in 1844.  Sadly little Emma was to pass away two years later in 1846.  A third daughter for Emma and Issac was born in 1849, Mary Ann Lipscombe.  The 1851 Census finds the family living and working at Waymouth Terrace West, Haggerstone, Middlesex.

 

1853 saw the birth of another daughter in the Lipscombe family, Katherine Lucy Lipscombe, followed by her sister Elizabeth Emma Lipscombe in 1856.

 

The 1861 Census shows Emma Lipscombe visiting her elder brother, John Illsley, at his home in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  However she also appears on the same Census living at No.1 Bedford Cottages, Lambeth, Surrey, with her husband and three young daughters, Mary, Kathrine (Lucy) and Elizabeth.  On 24th May 1868 Richard Lipscombe marries Mary Ann Middleton at the Independent Chapel, Stamford, Lincolnshire.

 

Oddly in 1871 Issac appears as living in the common lodging house of Ann Argent at 182 Osborn Place in Tower Hamlets, London.  Issac's marital status is listed as being a widower.  Emma however is running her own boarding house in York Street, Maidenhead along with her youngest daughter Elizabeth.  Issac seems to completely vanish from the records after the 1871 Census entry.  I cannot even locate a death for him.  Perhaps there was some sort of break down in their relationship.

 

In 1881 Emma can be found living at 3 Park Terrace, Maidenhead, Berkshire, along with her eldest surviving daughter Mary, and her youngest daughter Elizabeth.  Visiting at the time is Emma's now married daughter Katherine Lucy Bradford.  Emma's occupation is listed as being an Annuitant.

That same year Elizabeth Emma Lipscombe married William Robert Alpin, an ironmonger's assistant, in Maidenhead. They celebrated the birth of their only child, a daughter Mildred Ethel in 1888. After the death of William in 1911 and before the 1921 Census Mildred moved to 4 Laleham Road, Margate, Kent. Mildred never married and remained at 4 Laleham Road until her tragic death in 1939. On 29th November 1939 the East Kent Times and Mail reported:

"DEAD WITH HER CATS. 

Tragic Discovery at Margate. 

Lonely Woman's "Disappearance." 

The body of a woman whose death occurred several days ago was found by police officers in a house at Cliftonville on Monday evening. The woman was Miss Aplin, of 4. Lateham-road. Cliftonville. who had been living alone at that address since the death of her mother eleven weeks previously. She had not been seen for several days. and when neighbours reported this fact to the police, inquiries were made. When police officers entered the house they found Miss Aplin's body. Medical opinion was that death had taken place about ten days before. Miss Aplin was well known in the neighbourhood. She was passionately fond of cats, and over a dozen of these pets were found in the house with the dead body. It is understood that there will not be an inquest."

 

After Emma's death on 13th March 1886, Mary Ann Lipscombe went to live with her sister Katherine Lucy Bradford, her husband Samuel, and their children in Lewisham, London.