Doris Darbyshire

Childhood memories crowd my day,
At night my dreams replay.
Events of early century,
These simple rhymes portray.

Doris Darbyshire, nee Whitfield, was born in Wigan in 1900. She was the youngest daughter of Francis Whitfield, a railway guard, and Elizabeth Harrison. Doris had two sisters, Sarah (Sally) and Ellen (Nelly). Sarah was Francis’ daughter by his second wife. Doris grew up in Wigan’s Poolstock neighbourhood where she attended the St. James parish school. In 1929 she married John Darbyshire at St. James Church. The couple eventually moved to Swinton where they raised their son, Francis. Shortly after John died Doris moved to Blackpool to be closer to her sister Nellie. She lived in Blackpool for the rest of her life.

Doris had a lifelong interest in composing poems. In her later years she wrote and/or compiled a collection of verses that recalled the people, periods and events of her past life. In all, Doris compiled more than thirty verses, which she typed up and bound and distributed to interested friends and relatives.

Most of this delightful anthology is reproduced here. We have taken the editorial liberty of grouping them into four categories:

Growing Up in Poolstock – Doris’s childhood years.
Doris’s Later Years – Doris’s life as a wife, mother, and later widow.
Grandmother Doris – Verses written about, for or by Doris’s grandchildren and their friends.
Doris Darbyshire, Poet – Some of Doris’s more creative work.

Reading Doris’s verses informs us not only of her life and times but also about Doris herself. She led a happy childhood. Family, church and community were important to her. She paid attention to the social order of things such as church and societal pecking orders. Above all Doris had a keen, light-hearted sense of humour that comes through over and over again in her verses.

For a more complete biography of Doris Whitfield–Darbyshire and members of her family, visit our family history website.

While we have made every effort to reproduce Doris’s verses as she wrote them we have taken some liberties to change names and places in the interests of safeguarding the privacy of Doris’s descendants.

If you have any comments or observations on Doris’s verses, or can shed any additional light on the subjects they deal with, please contact us at webmaster@dorisdarbyshire.name.

Growing Up in Poolstock

Of particular interest are nine verses that recount Doris’s memories of growing up in Poolstock in the early part of the 20th century. Poolstock was a working class neighbourhood. Its skyline was (and still is) dominated by huge textile mills. Its row houses, which have since been demolished, housed mill workers, coal miners, tradesmen and their families. Taken together Doris’s verses paint a vivid picture of that time and place: the people, the parish, the events that Doris still remembered so well 80 years on.

In The River Douglas Doris’s river becomes a theme that winds through and connects Poolstock’s geography, homes and inhabitants and gives us a candid glimpse of her eldest sister’s betrothal.
A Bit of History recalls the introduction of electric trams in Wigan, a notable milestone for the town. Doris recalls light banter between passengers and conductors, and frequent derailments.
King Teddy’s Reign is a remarkable description of the daily procession of workers and tradespeople who plied the streets of Wigan from dawn to dusk, from the “Knocker Up” man in the morning to the “Hurdie Gurdie” in the evening.
The Photo Album recalls Doris’s summers spent at the home of her Aunt Jemima and cousin Roland where, on rainy days, Roland and Doris played in the attic with mercury from an old thermometer!
Owd Mo, one of two verses Doris wrote in her version of “Lancashire dialect,” is the lighthearted tale of a local odd-job man who earned a living repairing umbrellas and sharpening knives.

The remaining four verses tell us about important annual events on the Wigan and Poolstock social calendar.

The Congregational Tea Party was an annual dinner and concert organized by the Mothers’ Union at the St. James parish church on Shrove Tuesdays.
Walking Day was an annual parade for the children of St. James parish, put on by the parish school.
The Mayor’s Ball was an annual gala affair put on by the mayor of Wigan for prominent citizens and loyal supporters.
The Lantern Show was a presentation given by the vicar of St. James each year on Good Friday to teach the children of the parish about the life of Jesus.

Doris’s Later Years

Doris wrote a several verses that described aspects of her later life with her husband John (aka J.D.) and son, Francis. Some of these verses also recount Doris experiences in her later years following John’s death in the 1960s.

In The Lady of The Grove Doris tells the story of the family’s wartime relocation to South Wales and the warm hospitality they received during their stay there.
In “Ladies Dear,” written in 1964, Doris pokes a little fun at her own decision to spend a Christmas Voucher on practical necessities rather than luxuries.
In Another Gift Card, written ten years later, Doris decides on luxuries over practical necessities.
Coronation Street is a mid-1980s reflection on what must have been Doris’s favourite soap opera.

Grandmother Doris

A number of Doris’s verses were written about, for, or by children, including her grandchildren and their neighbourhood friends. These include:

Michelle
Andrew
Damien and Philip
You
After Christmas, which (we suspect) concerns a selfless act by Doris’s granddaughter
Noah’s Ark I
Noah’s Ark II, written for a Sunday School reading
The Sunflower, written by Doris’s young grandson
Ballet Dancers, written by Doris’s young granddaughter

Doris Darbyshire, Poet

Most of Doris’s verses are factual recollections of people, places, and events. However several verses have a more creative bent and, in some cases, give us a glimpse of Doris’s innermost feelings.

Windsor Close is the story of the neighbourhood in which Doris lived for most of her adult life, told from the perspective of the place itself.
Windsor Close II resumes the story some ten years on.
Why, in which Doris shares an uncharacteristic bit of exasperation.
Christmas Greetings is a verse for the holy season.
Ship of My Dreams is a poetic flight of fancy about Doris’s desire to travel the world.
In “Who Am I” Doris, at age 86, contemplates the nature of her mortality.