About

• Summary:
   

  Samuel Houghton Stretton was the second of three children to John Lionel and Lucy, born in 1886. There are few definite details about his life as it seems he was regarded as a bit of a ‘black sheep’ by his family. It seems that he worked as a Manager in a carpet factory at an early age. It was here that he was attracted to one of the loom workers, Nellie Powell, as a result of which they had an illegitimate child in 1905 when Samuel was just 19. Enrolling in the Royal Army Service Corps in World War 1 he returned, probably with shell-shock, and became married to Lionel’s long-term Matron, Ann MacFarlane, in 1920. Maintaining contact with Nellie for the rest of his life, you can read much more about this below.

• Archive link: Link to Samuel’s documents and images
• No of documents: 14
• No of Images: 9
• Born: Friday, 05 March 1886
• Birthplace: Kidderminster, Worcestershire
• Died: Wednesday, 20 December 1950
• Bio:
   

  Family:
  Both of Samuel’s siblings, Rosa Marguerite and John Lionel, were high-achievers and it is likely that Samuel was a disappointment to his Victorian parents.

  Education:
  We know that he attended Lucton School in 1901, appearing on the Census.

  Career:
  For the first World War Samuel enrolled as a Private in the Army where he joined the Royal Army Service Corps. It is thought that he returned with shell-shock and didn’t work seriously after that.

  Illegitimate son:
  Whilst a Manager at a local carpet factory, Samuel had a relationship with a loom worker, Nellie Powell, and they had an illegitimate son. Clearly the pregnancy would have been a serous issue for Samuel’s parents, Lionel being a high Victorian. To limit the damage the pregnant Nellie was sent off to America. In the event she returned and Hubert Philip Powell was born in 1905 but with no entry against Father on his Birth Certificate. This story was the subject of considerable research in 2018, the 40 page result of which can be viewed here.

  Later Life:
  Living relatives have memories of Samuel as good company if somewhat unconventional. Making assumptions, it seems that Samuel’s father had concerns about his well-being and persuaded his Matron, Sarah Ann MacFarlane, to marry him despite being 15 years his senior.

  The wedding took place on June 3rd 1920 in Droitwich, reported here. Nine days later his real love, Nellie Powell, married Leonard George Rollings who was to suffer a fatal accident whilst working at height on the Stourport power station in 1935.

  Following George Rollings’ death Nellie and Samuel got together again. He used to visit Nellie daily, returning to Ann every evening.

  Death:
  Samuel died on 20 December 1950, leaving a Will which gives clues as to how his life had been ‘arranged’ for him at variance with his real desires.  His Estate was not large, amounting to about £70,000 at today’s (2020) values.
  He appointed John McDonough, a carpet factory maintenance worker and the next-door neighbour of Nellie, as his sole Executor and gave “two thirds of whole belongings to me and two thirds of my money and different shares” to Nellie and “the remainder to my wife Sarah Anne Stretton” .
  One might have expected him to choose Stretton-family resources to manage his Probate. Clearly he had other ideas.

• Place of Death: Kidderminster, Worcestershire
• Spouse: Sarah Ann MacFarlane
• Marriage Date: Thursday, 03 June 1920
• Father: John Lionel Stretton
• Mother: Lucy Emma Stretton (Née Houghton)
• Child 1: Hubert Phillip Stretton