Finding Lily Sparrow

On a mission to discover more about her family, Carol first has to get to grips with the computer at the local library but when she does she finds the perfect Mother’s Day gift

It was disconcerting seeing her mother as a young girl. Disconcerting, but rather touching. Carol was having a longoverdue complete clear-out of the cupboard under the stairs one Saturday, and amidst the old tennis racquets, trainers and tins of screws and nails, she’d come across a tatty shoebox that made her sit back and smile.

It was bulging with old photos, sepia and well-thumbed. And there was her mother’s face peeping out at her.

Carol pulled herself up and carried the shoebox into the kitchen. One of her daughters had borrowed the stash of photos from her gran years ago for a school project, and must have forgotten to give it back.

It was Mother’s Day in a couple of weeks’ time – what a nice surprise to finally reunite mum with her photos, Carol thought. Her mum’s memory was becoming rather unreliable these days, but Carol was certain that seeing these old pictures again would brine the stories flooding back.

She spread them out over the kitchen table and pored over the treasure trove of family history. Her mother as a baby with granny Lily, and another little boy; solemn-faced women and moustached men. She had no idea who most of them were. Carol, though, was eventually distracted from her reverie by a key turning in the door. “Hi, mum, it’s only me!”

The loud voice carried down the hall, followed by her daughter, Kate.

“I’m just popping by to collect that ... Oh, what have you got there?”

“It’s that old box of photos we borrowed from gran that time. Remember? I’ve just found them under the stairs.”

Kate leaned over the table, too, and let her fingers play through the dozens of scattered pictures.

“I always liked that one of you as a toddler; you’re so chubby and curly haired. Oh, and that one.”

She picked up a photo of a handsome young man in uniform. She turned the photo over to reveal an inscription on the back: Uncle Richard, 1917.

“Oh, of course. Gran said he was one of her mum’s brothers. He came home from the war and was never quite the same afterwards. I don’t know what happened to him, do you?”

Carol shook her head, suddenly realising how little she knew about her own family’s history. Her mother had never talked about her relatives much. She’d said it was all in the past, and Carol had been too young and too wrapped up in her own life to ask. “What else did gran tell you?” she asked her daughter now. Kate wrinkled her nose in thought.

“Not much. Her mum was called Lily Sparrow. I remember that because it seemed such a funny name.”

Carol nodded. Granny Lily – she remembered that. Kate was talking again. “Now that I think about it, I remember some more. She was born in 1900. Gran said her family never did anything interesting because they were too busy trying to make ends meet, but I’m not sure she knew much about them herself.”

Kate grinned. “I didn’t find out a lot when I did that school project – you know what kids are like. I just padded it out with all these photos. But there’s so much online now.Why don’t you do some digging and see what you can find out?”

Carol was taken aback.

“Me? I wouldn’t know where to begin.” “Oh, you don’t need to do it all yourself.You can just go down to the local library and they’ll help you get started. There’s all sorts of websites for looking up your family history: I bet you could find some really interesting stuff.”

Carol shrugged the subject off uneasily. She’d used computers at work, of course, but typing letters and sending e-mails was as much as she’d ever needed to do. She’d never really got the hang of the internet, and was secretly a bit worried about using it in case she ended up infecting her computer with a virus. But Kate had already moved on.

“I just stopped by to ask if I can borrow your lovely cut-glass trifle bowl for tonight. Oh, and I got gran some of that aloe vera hand cream she likes for Mother’s Day. It’s a shame we’re away that weekend. I didn’t realise the dates clashed when we booked it. Will you be going over to see her?”

“Of course, but I’ve absolutely no idea what to get her this year. Surely I can’t buy her another pot plant! Her windowsills are full of them. But she always says there’s nothing she wants.”

“You’ll think of something.You always do.” Carol bustled about, supplying her daughter’s dinner party requirements – Carol’s pretty linen napkins, as well as the trifle bowl and her silver serving spoons – and after Kate had gone, she sat down over the photos again.

Her mum’s memories were a bit elusive these days, and it would be interesting to find out where she came from. Where they all came from, for that matter.An idea began to form in her mind. On Monday, Carol dusted down her library card and took herself into town to the library to arrange a beginner’s family history session. She’d written down the little she knew, and when the librarian asked who in her family she was going to start her research with. Lily Sparrow’s name tripped straight off her tongue.

“She was my grandmother,” Carol explained. “I only have vague memories of her, but I know she was born in 1900.”

“Perfect,” the librarian nodded. She glanced around. “We’ve a computer free. Come on – let’s get you started.”

The two women settled themselves at the computer and the librarian typed swiftly. She scrutinised the screen and clicked the mouse until she had reached the page she wanted.

“You know the census we all had to fill in a couple of years ago? Well, that’s happened every 10 years since 1841.We can go back in time and find out where your family were, and what they were doing.

“So why don’t we start with the one in 1911, when Lily would have been 11 years old?”

She nudged the keyboard closer to Carol. “On you go.”

With shaking fingers, Carol typed Lily’s name in the boxes, and clicked search. After just a few seconds a page flashed up with the results. Carol was surprised to see so many people with the same unusual name, but the librarian pointed towards the top of the list and went on to explain. “Age 10, age 10, age 11. She must be one of those.”

They clicked on the first record, and the original census page filled the screen. It didn’t feel right, so they tried again, and as Carol stared at the second result, a name popped out at her.

“Richard!” she exclaimed, turning to the librarian. “Lily had a brother called Richard. I’ve got a photo of him in his Army uniform. Oh, and look, there’s a sister called Edith. That’s my mother’s name, so maybe she was named after her. They certainly lived in the right town.”

She adjusted her glasses and read the entry properly, feeling an unexpected rush of excitement as the words sank in.

“The parents are Peter and Catherine Sparrow. He’s a weaver.And they’ve got one, two, three, goodness me, nine children!”

The librarian pointed at the bottom of the page. “And all 11 of them are living in a two-up, two-down house.”

Carol shook her head. “And look, the children are working, too. Lily’s 11 and she’s at school, but this one’s 14 and he’s a cotton weaver already.”

“You say this Richard Sparrow fought in World War One?”

“Yes, I’ve got a photo which is dated 1917. So he’d be...” Carol juggled mentally with his age from the census. “He was only 18.”

“Right, let’s see if we can find his service record then.”

“Really?” Carol was astonished. “You can get that, too?”

“Yes, if it’s survived. I’ll show you how to do it.”

They navigated through the website together, and soon found the right document. It gave his description, his height, and when he’d joined up. It also gave the reason for his discharge.

“Gunshot wound to left thigh, Somme.” Carol clapped her hand to her mouth. “He was wounded at the Somme! Goodness me! No wonder they said he went a bit funny. Just think of what horrors he must have seen.”

For the rest of the session they looked at old census forms, christenings and marriages. Carol was amazed by each new revelation. She felt just like a detective, following clues, making discoveries.

It was so exciting! Over the next two weeks, she became quite a regular on the library computers. With her new-found confidence and skills, one day she even managed to help out a young woman sitting next to her who was trying to research her own family history.

When Carol went round to her mother’s on Mother’s Day, she was full of the new avenues that had opened up. “I finally found the right number for the council department about next door’s leylandii. And I’m learning to type faster. I even managed to get in touch with one of my old school friends who’s moved to Canada. Do you remember Sadie? We were absolutely inseparable at one time.” Her mother just smiled back politely. “It all started with this.” Carol took out a slim black folder from her bag and placed it in her mum’s hands.

“It’s amazing What you can find out.” Her mother opened it, and a girlish smile of pleasure lit up her face as she saw the large photo of her own much-loved mum, Lily. Eagerly she flipped through the pages, each photo she caught sight of bringing a fresh exclamation of surprise and delight. “Oh, look, there’s uncle Richard in his uniform! And Bobby when he was a boy. And what’s this? A family tree?”

Carol was overjoyed to see her mother so animated again.

“I found your old photos and Kate persuaded me to research the family history. I’ve gone back to the 1820s already.

“Kate said you never knew very much about Lily’s past or where she came from, but now you will. I wasn’t sure what to get you for today, so I brought you your mum!”

She looked eagerly at her mum, who was holding the folder tightly to her breast and smiling, tears of joy forming in the corners of her eyes. Carol kissed her cheek.

“Happy Mother’s Day!” she whispered.