by Kate Eastham
Kate Eastham
* * *
DAUGHTERS OF LIVERPOOL
Contents
Cover
Title Page
About the Author
By the Same Author
Epigraph
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Read More
Copyright
About the Author
Kate Eastham trained as a nurse and midwife on the Nightingale wards of Preston Royal Infirmary. She has well over thirty years of experience working in hospital, residential and hospice care. Born and bred in Lancashire, she is married with three grown-up children and one grandchild. Always reading, she went on to gain a degree in English Literature and was inspired to write after researching the history of nursing and her own family history, with its roots in Liverpool, northern mill towns and rural Lancashire.
By the same author
Miss Nightingale’s Nurses
The Liverpool Nightingales
Josephine Butler (1828–1906) was a pioneer for the rights of women and a social reformer who moved to Liverpool in 1866. In 1869 she became actively involved with a campaign to repeal the Contagious Diseases Acts. These Acts attempted to control the spread of venereal disease through the arrest and forced medical examination of women, whilst men were allowed to continue their activities with complete freedom. By 1871 Liverpool had seen a huge upsurge in women convicted for prostitution as so-called ‘moral enforcement’ spread to the north. Josephine Butler decried this violation of women and fought for the right of any woman walking the street not to face arrest by the police. She called attention to the idiocy of the Acts in presupposing that every working woman who was found associating, under any circumstances, with a man, and who could not produce a certificate of her marriage to him, was to be called a prostitute.
1
‘There is something not quite right in a woman who shuts up her heart from other women.’
Florence Nightingale
Liverpool, 1871
Alice Sampson ran to her small room. Throwing herself down on her knees, she pulled out a wooden box from under the bed. Immediately, she was rifling through the contents. ‘Where are you, where are you?’ she muttered, pulling out gloves, handkerchiefs, a hatpin, and, at last, a new lace collar. ‘There you are,’ she cried, grabbing the collar and positioning it as she ran back to the kitchen. ‘Sorry, cat,’ she yelled as the creature shot off with a yowl when she trod on its tail. And then, at last, she slowed her pace, and came to stand, breathless, by the baby’s crib.
‘Hello, my darling,’ she said, smiling down at the baby girl who looked at her with wide eyes. Alice couldn’t resist, even though she was running late, very late; her heart melted as her daughter reached up with her tiny hands. She leant further over the crib, close enough to breathe in the scent of her and feel her soft fingers reaching up to touch her face. Then, she gave the palm of each small hand a noisy kiss, and planted tiny kisses on the tip of each finger in turn, thrilled each time that her baby gave a squeal of delight.
Glancing up to the clock, Alice knew that they definitely had to start moving. ‘Come on, you scallywag,’ she said, sweeping the baby up, grabbing a paisley patterned shawl from the back of a kitchen chair and wrapping her in it.
No one else was up and about – all of the downstairs rooms, apart from the kitchen, were usually empty in the morning. A brothel was a quiet place at this time of day.
Balancing the baby on her hip, she unlocked the front door and ran from the house, the baby bouncing up and down. Alice knew that she had to move fast. Her friend Maud was getting married today. The two of them were as close as any women could be. The trouble was, Maud was going away today, after her wedding. She was going to America and Alice had no idea when she would ever see her again.
She looked down at her daughter’s startled face. ‘Sorry, my darling,’ she muttered. ‘We need to go fast. We can’t be late for Maud’s wedding!’
Hearing the baby starting to whimper, Alice immediately slowed her pace to a brisk walk and lifted the child up against her shoulder where she could soothe her as she walked along. ‘I told you we were going to the wedding this morning, didn’t I, Victoria? Maud’s marrying Harry Donahue and they’re going on a big boat to New York. And Alfred’s going with them. You know Alfred, the boy who comes to see you and makes you smile? Yes, you love Alfred, don’t you? And you love Maud …’
Alice’s voice faltered as she felt the familiar tightness in her chest which came every time she thought about her friend leaving Liverpool.
Holding back the tears, she drew the baby even closer to her body and forced herself to keep talking softly to her.
‘But at least we’ve got a roof over our heads, living with Stella and Marie. I know it’s not the sort of place I thought we’d be living in. But we’ve got our own room, all warm and snug, tucked away behind the kitchen. And all the women there adore you, don’t they?’
Now the baby was settling, Alice gave a sigh. Thank goodness for Victoria. She couldn’t imagine life without her, not now. But then again, if she hadn’t fallen pregnant, she’d have been able to complete her nurse training alongside Maud. She would have been working at the Liverpool Royal Infirmary now and living with her friends in the Nurses’ Home.
She sighed again, then she started to smile as she looked at her daughter. ‘Don’t you worry, my darling,’ she murmured. ‘You may have come along at the wrong time, before I was ready to even think about having a baby, but we will find a way to make things work. We have to.’
Two strides out of the alley, Alice saw a group of rough-looking men at the corner of the next street and tightened her hold on Victoria.
Desperately short of time, she knew that she had no choice but to go in that direction, and she would have to push her way through. These cornermen, as they were called, didn’t usually worry her too much. Alice had three brothers at home and she knew how to stick up for herself, with fists if need be.
‘All right there, darlin’?’ said one young man, coming in close. Alice felt her heart skip a beat. ‘How much d’you reckon you should pay for bringing a baby through here?’ Alice continued on without looking at him.
‘Not so fast now, not so fast,’ said the rough voice as he reached his arm out in front of her, forcing her to take a step back. Alice was trapped, she couldn’t move, and there was another man next to her. She felt her heart racing and her breath was coming quick as she pulled Victoria even closer. Coming this way to save time had been a big mistake.
‘That’s a fine shawl you’ve got there, for your little one,’ said the other, his voice barely that of a man. Still Alice didn’t look at either of them, all the while planning an escape, readying herself to sidestep, and then run. All that she knew for sure, was that if one of them laid a hand on Victoria she would fight like a tiger to protect her. Any mother would do the same for her child.
The first one leant in and ran a finger down her cheek. She felt the skin of his knuckle, like sandpaper, as he whispered in her ear, ‘Well, lovely lady with the red hair, you could give us a few coins, or maybe we could just take the shawl from that baby of yours or maybe we could—’
The lad didn’t get to finish his words. A hand grabbed him from behind, almost lifting him off his feet, and threw him aside. Then the whole group of them scarpered.
Alice was startled. For a split second, she couldn’t move. Then her instinct to run kicked in and she was off, with the baby held fast in her arms.
Hearing Victoria starting to whimper again, she slowed her pace after a few strides and glanced back, trying to make sense of what had just happened. And that’s when she saw him: a broad-shouldered man in a thigh-length black coat, walking away from her. Something about his measured stride made her certain that he was the man who’d saved her from the cornermen.
She didn’t have time to ponder on the issue and she certainly didn’t want to linger on the street, so she turned back and picked up her pace again, profoundly grateful to the man who had stepped in to help her, whoever he was. She’d always been able to fend for herself, but being stopped by the cornermen when she was with Victoria had been a whole different experience. She wouldn’t risk that again, ever.
Alice had to force herself to stop and take her time crossing Lime Street. It was always so busy outside the railway station, and so easy to be caught by a horse or a carriage wheel.
At last she saw her chance and ran for it, dodging around horse muck as she went. In recent weeks she’d started to feel stronger and quicker. For so long she’d been recovering from childbirth or exhausted from lack of sleep, but now she felt like she could conquer the world. She could even have walked beyond Liverpool and all the way to the small town in the north where her family lived. Especially now, after what had just happened on the street of her adopted city. Except, they didn’t know at home; they had no idea that she had a baby. As far as they were concerned, she had completed her training alongside her fellow probationers and she was now working as a nurse at the hospital.
She was desperate to be at the church for Maud but found herself forced to slow her pace as she manoeuvred between pedestrians. So many people, all moving too slowly. Stuck solidly behind a large woman carrying a basket on each arm, she felt her heart racing again. ‘Let me by, let me by,’ she muttered under her breath, dancing from side to side in an attempt to get past. She was forced to stop for a moment: there was no way through. Taking a deep breath, she collected herself and then set her sights on the landmark that was St George’s Hall. The crowd moved forward, and soon Alice was standing in front of the building, dizzied, as always, by the sheer height of its walls. Instinctively, she shifted her arm to shield the baby, almost fearful that the huge stone pillars that graced the front of the building would fall and crush them both. She’d been in awe of St George’s since the day she’d arrived in Liverpool. It had been the first thing she’d seen as she emerged from Lime Street Station with her fresh scrubbed face and a small bag of belongings.
The forlorn cry of the gulls overhead made her move past even faster, that is until she saw one land on the head of Prince Albert as he sat on his horse, immortalized in stone, at the front of the building. She couldn’t help but laugh to herself when she saw the great man with a seagull on his head.
‘Just look at that big bird on the head of Queen Victoria’s husband,’ she whispered to Victoria, who was sleeping soundly.
By some miracle the streets were less crowded now and Alice could easily pick up her pace. She was soon at the church – but only just in time. The door was closing, and as she entered, she felt the silence inside the building encircle her like a blanket. On seeing Maud and her groom standing at the altar, Alice feared she was too late after all. She breathed a sigh of relief as she caught sight of a large hat adorned with a red silk flower, which she knew belonged to Eddy, her other close friend from nurse training. She turned to smile at Alice as she walked quietly down and slipped into the pew beside her.
Eddy immediately leant over to give the sleeping baby a gentle kiss. ‘Hello, my beautiful,’ she said, stroking her cheek. Then, lifting her head, ‘Sorry, Alice … hello to you as well.’
Alice gave a wry smile. ‘Oh, it’s all right, I’m used to it now. It’s like I don’t really exist any more. And now that she’s laughing and starting to really pay attention, well, I don’t stand a chance, I’m completely bewitched by her.’
‘That’s just how it should be, isn’t it, Victoria?’ said Eddy, giving the baby another soft kiss on the cheek, dislodging her hat in the process.
Looking up whilst Eddy fixed her hat, Alice saw the relieved faces of Stella and her mother Marie, further along the pew. They’d left ahead of her, to make sure they were on time.
Directly in front, Alice could see the straight back of a woman with her grey hair piled high: Miss Fairchild, the housekeeper from where Maud used to work before she decided to train as a nurse. And, of course, the small blond head of Alfred, the boy that Maud and Harry were adopting and taking with them to New York.
In the next moment, the Reverend glanced around the small congregation and cleared his throat, and then he began the opening words to the marriage ceremony.
And as the words were said and Alice heard Maud and Harry start to give their responses, she knew that this was really happening. Maud was getting married and she was going away to New York. She felt an emptiness opening in the pit of her stomach and she knew that she would have to fight even harder now to hold back the tears.
As Maud said, ‘I will,’ her voice quiet but clear, Alice felt a lump in her throat and the tears started to well in her eyes. Victoria must have sensed her disquiet because she was starting to scrunch her face and move her head from side to side, and then she began whimpering. So Alice stood quietly and stepped to the side of the church, turning her back on the couple at the altar and continuing to rock the baby.
That’s when she saw a face she hadn’t expected to see at the back of the church and she had to hold back a gasp. How did she get in? thought Alice, looking straight at Nancy Sellers, another nurse from their group of probationers, but no friend of hers and definitely not a friend of Maud’s. Nancy had set herself against Maud right from the start and, not only that, she had tried her best to steal Harry away as well. What was she doing here, today of all days? There was absolutely no way that she would have been invited.
Alice looked directly at Nancy and she could see a small smile on her face as she sat alone in the pew wearing a neat blue gown that perfectly matched the colour of her eyes. She knew that Nancy could see her, but it never so much as registered on her face. She just sat, looking straight ahead, her eyes bright and almost burning into the backs of Maud and Harry as they stood at the altar. Any minute now they would be coming back down the aisle. Alice turned back to scrutinize the bride and groom, to make sure that neither of them had seen the unwelcome visitor. When she looked to the rear of the church again, Nancy had gone, as quietly as she had entered – leaving Alice wondering if she’d really been there at all or if she’d imagined the whole thing.
Slightly out of breath, Alice slipped back into the pew, just in time to see the bride and groom kiss, and then they turned to face the congregation. Maud looked radiant and Alice had to admit that her new husband was a very handsome man indeed. She knew from the times he had visited Stella’s place with Maud that he was very charming too, but there was always a restlessness about Harry that gave Alice an unsettled feeling. It made her worry for her friend.
But there Maud was, married now, and as she stood with Harry in front of the altar, the pale grey of her gown setting off the dark of her hair, Alice couldn’t help but smile. Maud was looking straight at her and Eddy, and they were all smiling.
As the couple started to walk down the aisle, Eddy whispered loudly (she could never do anything quietly), ‘She looks so beautiful. Shame he didn’t get a new jacket, though, he always wears that old green thing.’
‘Shhh,’ said Alice instinctively, knowing, as always, that Eddy never meant any harm, but she didn’t want Maud to hear. Maud did look beautiful, though, with a white silk flower pinned in her dark hair
.
And then the wedding party were standing up and rustling around as they made their way out of the pews. The bride and groom had been directed to a table at the back of the church to sign the register and so the wedding guests had a few minutes longer outside the church waiting for them to reappear.
Alice could feel the excitement of the small group. ‘Hurrah!’ they all shouted the moment Maud and Harry emerged from the church. Miss Fairchild squealed with delight as she and Alfred threw handful after handful of rice.
Seeing how pleased and elegant Maud looked, Alice couldn’t help but feel happy for her.
Moving the baby back up on to her shoulder, still rocking from side to side, Alice wondered what was going to happen now, for her and Victoria. She still couldn’t believe that only last year, she’d stepped off a train with her bag packed for a new life as a trainee nurse, feeling such a buzz of excitement, but unaware that there was a baby growing inside her. After just one night with Jamie, one night. How could that happen? Well, she knew, of course, how it could happen – she’d quite enjoyed the happening. But it was so unfair. And she’d never had a word from Jamie. Not that she’d expected it; for both of them, it had been just one night, a way of saying goodbye. She’d been sad to see him go, of course she had, but that sadness was outweighed by the excitement of leaving home herself and coming to Liverpool.
But that one night had changed everything for Alice. In the space of a few weeks, she’d realized that she was expecting a child and she’d gone from being an excited nurse probationer to someone fearful of being found out and needing to hide her growing belly. Knowing, for sure, that she wouldn’t be able to finish the work that she’d only just begun.
2
‘Women never have a half-hour in all their lives (excepting before or after anybody is up in the house) that they can call their own …’
