Eliza Cato

Eliza Cato (1859-1949)

Parents	Mary Ann Busby ()	Thomas Cato (1859-1934)
Siblings	John (b.1851) Agnes (b.1867)	Charlotte Elizabeth (b.1857) Amy (b.1870)	Thomas (b.1862) Frederick (b.1874)	Rose (b.1865) (Anne b.1878)
Partners	Thomas William Preston (1859-1934) (m. 1880)
Children	Annie Elizabeth (1881-1973) Harry (b.1888) Jessie (1899-1964)	Alice Jane (1882-1959) Thomas William (1891-1945)	Lillie (1884-1970) Florence Agnes (1893-1953)	Rose Emily (1886-1933) Frederick Daniel (1896-1917)

Eliza’s date of birth according to the 1939 Register was 8^th December 1849, but the records also show that her birth was not registered until the first quarter of 1860. She was the third of nine children¹ born to Thomas Cato and his wife Mary Ann (née Busby).

In 1861 the family was living in Knight’s Yard off Akeman Street in Tring. Thomas is described in the census as a ‘canvas warper and shoemaker’². His father had also been a shoemaker, but the name Cato had been associated with canvas production in the town from at least 1772. In the 1890s local historian Arthur Macdonald wrote, “William Cato commenced canvas making at The Oak in Akeman Street, and subsequently built the factory in Park Road which is now the only relic of the trade.” A Thomas Cato (not this man) is listed in the 1851 census as employing 11 men, and in Kelly’s Directory of 1869 as ‘manufacturer of open canvas for Berlin work, (i.e. large-stitch wool embroidery), and gunpowder canvas”.

Mary Ann was producing straw plait for the Luton and Dunstable straw hat trade.

By 1871, the family were living in Fox Road in the nearby village of Wiggington. At the age of 11 years, Eliza, like two of her sisters and her younger brother Thomas, was already working. The children were employed in Tring’s Silk Mill.

Children were used in the mill as their small nimble fingers could more easily fill bobbins with silk thread and join threads when they snapped than could adults.  Children started work at an early age so they would be worthy of their hire later on, and they must have had no other job previously because their hands would otherwise be too rough.  Girls were valued more highly than boys, who were usually discarded by the age of 15, and this preference was reflected in the girls’ wages, as they were paid 3d. a week more than the boys.  It was felt that they obeyed orders more readily and their reactions were better co-ordinated.

The hours were long and one child, Lucy Marshall, recalled the terror of her first day when she was overwhelmed by the noise of the flying shuttles. She had to stand on a wooden horse because she was too small to reach the machines³.

Eliza married Thomas William Preston in Berkhamsted in 1880 around the time of her twentieth birthday. She moved to Berkhamsted where she and Thomas initially lived in Thompson’s Row⁴ in the home of Thomas’ mother and stepfather, Elizabeth and Henry Gee. Thomas was a labourer. By 1891, Henry and Elizabeth Gee had moved out of Thompson’s Row, leaving Thomas and Eliza there with a growing family.  Eliza was to give birth to their nine children.

By 1911, the family had moved to 29 Bridge Street and, by 1921, to 20 Castle Street.

WW1 must have been difficult time for Thomas and Eliza. Their son Thomas was taken prisoner following the Battle of Mons within the first two weeks of the war. He spent the duration of the war in prisoner of war camps in Germany. Their youngest son, Frederick, died in action in France on 23^rd March 1917.

In 1921, Thomas, then 62 was still working as a labourer. He and Eliza were still living at 20 Castle Street. With them were their two youngest daughters, Florence and Jessie who were both employed making envelopes at John Dickinson’s paper mills in Apsley.

Thomas died in 1934 at the age of 76.

Eliza remained at 20 Castle Street until her death in 1949 – in 1939 her unmarried daughter Florence was living with her there⁵.

Eliza died in August 1949 at the age of 89 years.

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1. John (1855), Charlotte Elizabeth (1857), Eliza (1860), Thomas (1862), Rose (1865), Agnes (1867), Amy (1870), Frederick (1874) and Anne (1878).
2. 1861 census
3. The Tring Silk Mill by W Austin
4. The 1911 census confirms that at the date of the census Eliza had given birth to 9 children, all of whom were then alive. The children were: Annie Elizabeth 1881 – 1973; Alice Jane 1882 – 1959; Lillie 1884 – 1970; Rose Emily 1886 – 1933; Harry b.1888; Thomas William 1891 -1945; Florence Agnes 1893 – 1953; Frederick Daniel 1896 – 1917; Jessie 1899 -1964.
5. 1939 Register