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Daisy Chetham 1883-1949
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Daisy Chetham
The
1891 Census shows that Daisy Chapple was born in 1883 in Brixton, Lambeth and
that she and her family were then living at 21 Dornton Road, on the Balham side
of Streatham, Wandsworth. The occupation of her 38 year old father
Frederick born c.1853 in Soho, is listed as a tobacconist manager. Her mother
Elizabeth Chapple was born in the parish of St Giles in London in 1855. Daisy
had a sister Lilian aged 12; a brother Frederick aged 6; a sister Rose aged 4;
and a brother Charles aged 1. Also living in the house were her mother’s sister
Nellie Hallett, and a servant Anna Fickling. During this period Streatham was a
desirable place to live and, as a manager, Daisy’s father was able to support
his wife and children as well as his sister-in-law and a resident servant.
The 1901 Census records Daisy, aged 18, living at home at 67 Sistova Road, Streatham and employed as a ‘clerk commercial’. Her father Frederick is now 48 and his occupation listed as a cigar salesman. Her mother Elizabeth is aged 46. The eldest son Frederick is now 16 and, like Daisy, is employed as a clerk. Daisy’s sister Rose is 14 and brother Charles is 11. Additions to the family since the last census are, Violet Walter, Clara and Sidney. Lilian, the eldest daughter of the family, is no longer living at home. With so many mouths to feed the Chapple parents must have welcomed both Daisy and Frederick now being in paid employment.
By the 1911 Census, Daisy is now the wife of Robert (Bob) Chetham, having married him in Bedford in 1907. When and how did they meet? They have a daughter, Barbara born c. 1910 and the family is living south of the river at 42 St John’s Street, Bedford, a house with seven rooms. Born in Bedford in c.1883, Bob’s occupation is shown as a boat builder’s manager and their home was a short walk from the two Chetham’s boatyards, owned by his father, one on each side of the River Great Ouse, close to the Town Bridge. It appears that Daisy had married into an already successful family business and the family could afford to live in a large house.
In 1914 Daisy gave birth to a son, John Chetham, by which time both she and her husband Bob were involved in running the Picturedrome cinema near the Chetham boatyard in Bedford; it would be interesting to know how many women had managerial roles in cinemas at this time (as opposed to usherettes and kiosk staff), a period when women were increasingly demanding equality, including the right to vote. John Chetham was destined to join his parents’ business and was also a founder member of Bedford Film Society.
Daisy is recorded as having attended the Bedfordshire County Council’s Stage Plays and Licensing Committee on 5th May 1928 and making her feelings known when she applied as manager of the Picturedrome Cinema, for permission to exhibit the film Dawn which depicted the WW1 work and execution by the Germans of Nurse Edith Cavell. The minutes show that granting permission for the screening proved as contentious a local issue as it had been nationally as there were anxieties about the film showing the Germans in a bad light and the sub-committee were split on the matter. 1. Ultimately the full council decided to refuse permission. Checks of the 1928 and 1929 editions of The Bedfordshire Times and Independent confirm there were no showings of Dawn in Bedford and there is no record of any further appeal to the County Council. Daisy may have decided not to pursue the censorship of this silent film because ‘talkies’ were on the way, the Picturedrome cinema blazing a trail in Bedford. The Bedfordshire Times and Independent of Friday 13th December 1929 carried an advertisement, ‘The Talkies are coming to Bedford. Look Out For Them’. Two weeks later the newspaper announced the opening of the ‘Talkie Season’ on December 30th with The Fox Movietone Follies at the Picturedrome with ‘Western Electric Sound System’.
Predeceasing her husband, Daisy died at the age of 66 on 14th September 1949 at No. 2 The Embankment, Bedford, since demolished. In their article headlined Death of Mrs R. Chetham, The Bedfordshire Times and Standard, 16th September 1949 p.5, wrote that Daisy had for many years ‘complete control of the Picturedrome Cinema, and during the war years also supervised the running of the Plaza Cinema’. Those responsibilities had by this time been assumed by her only son, John Chetham. Her daughter Barbara had married a Mr Rawlins and lived at Church Farm, Biddenham, a village a short distance west of Bedford. The newspaper’s tribute continued that ‘Mrs Chetham took a great interest in Bedford Inner Wheel’ ,her husband Robert was a prominent Rotarian 2. and that she was also Vice-President of the Howard Home at 17 Cardington Road, the Bedford Branch of Dr Barnado’s.
Daisy’s funeral was announced as a private service to take place at St Mary’s Church at 10.15am on Saturday 17th September 1949 followed by cremation in Cambridge (at this time Bedford did not have a crematorium). It is puzzling that such a prominent citizen who, in addition to her career in the family cinema business, had also been involved in philanthropy, had such a low key send off. Was this her wish? There is no evidence of a subsequent memorial service. Probate records show that Daisy left £651 17s 6d to her husband Robert who died in 1954.
1. The black and white silent film
‘Dawn’, made in 1927 and directed by Herbert Wilcox related the story of Nurse
Edith Cavell who went to Brussels, Belgium to provide medical aid during World
War 1 and became a prime mover in rescuing British POWs. She was captured, tried
and shot by the Germans in 1915 and is commemorated as a national heroine with a
statue near The National Portrait Gallery in London. Although Wilcox had tried
to show the Germans in as sympathetic a light as consistent with narrative
integrity, pressure was put on the British Board of Film Censors to withhold a
screening certificate. It was feared that the film would undermine post-war
diplomatic relations and fuel anti-German feeling. Most local authorities passed
the film for distribution but not Bedfordshire. The British Film Institute holds
a copy of the 1928 film, the first war film featuring a woman as the heroine –
and being aided by other women.
Further information at
www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/516610
2. Rotary Clubs, associations of business and professional men, originated in Chicago, USA in 1905 and Inner Wheels are their female counterparts. A Rotary Club’s aim was to provide assistance to people in need. Women members were excluded. In England, in 1911, Manchester Rotary proposed the formation of a Ladies’ Rotary Club in that city but the proposal was defeated and instead the Inner Wheel Club for women was formed. The Bedford Rotary Club inaugurated on 21 June 1922 and presented with its charter on 18 July 1923, gave money and practical assistance to young people and the unemployed and contributed to the WW2 effort. The complete list of members 1922 - 2012 recorded on the Club’s website shows R. Chetham as member No. 156 and his son J. B. Chetham as No.205. At no time have there been any female members.
© Catherine Moorhouse 2013
Sources
- Censuses
- Local Newspapers at Bedford Library
Page last updated: 28th May 2020