EIGHT
Late July 1904
Throughout the second half of the month of July, Florence thought about little, other than the week she had spent with Tommy in Blackpool, and his impending departure to Plymouth to join the Royal Navy.
One day during the third week in July she left home as usual to go to work, taking her shawl from the hook by the kitchen door and wrapping it loosely around her shoulders, the weather was far too warm to contemplate wearing it over her head.
'I’m off to work Ma,' she called up stairs to her mother who was just starting to rise from her bed. William Henry was stumbling with sleep filled eyes around the bedroom and Harriet was still snuggled down under the blankets, wisely keeping out of her husband’s way.
'Right love.' she called down to her.
'Ma,' Florence added, 'I’m going to the library after work so don’t worry if I’m a bit late home today.' Florence waited for a moment for her mother’s reply, but there was none. Whilst Harriet had heard the words, she was too sleepy to take them in properly. Florence closed the front door behind her quietly stepping out into the early morning air which was already warmer than the warmest spring day.
As she started to walk up the street to the mill on Blackburn Road, almost immediately the front door of her neighbour Hettie opened. Hettie had been listening for and had heard the front door of her friends’ house open and then close. The two young women joined arms and gossiped together as they made their way to the mill.
During that day in the mill Florence told her friend Hettie of her plans to visit the library in the Exchange Building on Victoria Square to try and find any information on the royal Navy. The excitement made the day go quicker for Florence. She intended to become a wife who was involved with her husband and his job. She had interests which could be fostered and assuaged only by books and knowledge.
When the hooter sounded for the end of the working day, Florence left the mill alone and crossed over the road from the main entrance to the mill. She stood at the tram stop outside the Iron Church, tapping gently against the iron tram stop, and idly picking at paint which was flaking off the post, completely lost in thought. Crowds of noisy people from the mill brushed past her as she waited, and soon the street was quiet again as the mill emptied. The late afternoon sun was pleasantly warm, drifting her gently towards sleep, had she not been excitedly looking forward to her visit to the library. When finally the tram pulled up alongside her, she climbed aboard, giving the conductor her fare, before taking her seat close to a window. The trip into town did not take long and under normal circumstance she would not take the tram, but she felt justified today as she was going during the late afternoon, and there would be little enough time for her to search the books and periodicals before the library closed. Since its opening over fifty years earlier the Exchange Building on Victoria Square now housed over ten thousand books, and it was this treasury of knowledge and information which Florence needed to tap into to enlighten herself about her future husband's career.
Florence sat quietly almost alone for over an hour at a reading table in the library. The table was a long dark wooden affair with chairs made of the same hard material, which made the back of her knees numb after a time. She shifted restlessly from time to time when her legs threatened to ‘go to sleep,’ and turned the pages of the three books in front of her which she had found on the shelves. The male librarian had tried at first to point her in the direction of ‘women’s books,’ but she was determined, and searched for herself amongst the shelves, causing more than a few sideways glances from the other users of the library. Eventually a young woman librarian guided her to the only area of the library which might carry the information she sought, but even that was not really satisfying her needs. So she sat with three boys adventure books in front of her on the table, flicking through one to the other in search of information about life in the Royal Navy. The facts she gleaned from the books was minimal and aimed at a readership of excitement seeking youth, so she was not altogether disappointed when the librarian announced that the library was closing. She closed the books and left them on the table by the entrance, to be replaced by the staff, then left the building by the impressive solid wooden doors onto Victoria Square.
It was shortly after seven in the evening when she left. The sun was still high in the sky, a pleasant time, she thought, and a good time to walk home, though her stomach was telling her that it was long past her tea time. She left the town centre and walked along Higher Bridge Street and then onto Waterloo Street, her mind turning over the few facts she had learned. After some twenty minutes her feet had started to ache and her legs become tired. She stopped for a moment to rest on a low wall in front of a long line of houses, like hers, and gazed idly at the sky to the west. Between two large cotton mills opposite her the sky was starting to change from its cloudless clear light blue, to the almost rainbow coloured selection of tints which told her that evening was fast approaching. Along a line of roofs between and beyond the two mills, the sky was still a clear blue, but rising from that were the beginnings of night clouds, tipped with a broad range of colours which mesmerised her. The colours started from the lightest most delicate pink, onto light brownish greys and then changed once more to white and darker grey, but still very pleasant to see. Finally above the bank of clouds forming in the west the sky became a darker blue. It crossed her mind that the sky at the south coast where her Tommy was going to go would look different than here in the north, maybe, maybe not. The thought of joining him in marriage when he had signed up for the navy made her stomach tingle with excitement. She clicked her feet together as the thought made her smile, and she hopped down from the wall and continued home to 244 Waterloo Street.
Florence was over fifty yards from her front door when she realised that her mother’s head was peeping around the corner of the front door searching down the street towards where Florence was walking. Fearing that something was amiss, Florence quickened her pace. Harriet saw her coming and stepped down from the front step onto the street and beckoned with her outstretched arm for her to hurry home. Florence broke into a trot, her head down and her arms pulling the shawl tighter around her shoulders. 'What’s up Ma?' she asked breathlessly and with some level of fear in her voice.
'Your Tommy’s here to see you lass. He’s been here for an hour waiting. You should have said you were going to be this late, we had no idea.' Her mother took her by the arm and shepherded her through the front door, closing it behind her as Florence walked quickly through the hallway into the kitchen. Tommy was sat at the table talking to her father who was occupying his normal seat by the fire, which even though it was now well after seven in the evening, had still not been lit.
Tommy rose when she entered the room.
'What’s up Tommy?' she asked fearfully. He smiled broadly at her.
'I’ve got my papers,' he replied. She looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face.
'What do you mean?' she asked.
'I’ve been accepted into the Navy, and they want me to join on the first of August in Devonport.' Florence gasped and took a step towards him and slid her hand into his. He squeezed it gently. 'Good news eh love?' he said quietly.
'But it’s only a couple of weeks off Tommy.' She stuttered. 'I thought we were to be wed first.' Tears formed in her eyes and overflowed onto her cheeks.
'Eh love, don’t be worrying yourself. We’ll be wed soon enough, it just means they want me quickly,' he said to her gently. Florence stood before him, soft sobbing noises hiccupped from her throat as she took in the news, and her mind whirled to try and put the plans they had made into some sort of new order. Relieved that there was nothing amiss, she slumped down on one of the chairs by the table, and pulled Tommy back down to the one he had been seated on when she had entered the room.
'So what’s going to happen then?' she finally asked. Tommy smiled at her and glanced over her shoulder at Harriet standing in the doorway. Mrs Hadfield was stood with her arms folded, one hand loosed itself and she stroked a lock of stray grey hair back from her forehead.
'Well, I can’t tell them to hang on and I’ll be there when I can, now can I?' he joked. 'I’ll have to go there for the start of August and start my Seaman’s training, but then I will be going on to do some specialised training to become an Artificer.' He paused to let this sink in, which it did, but slowly. The fearful look on Florence’s face eased a little. She dabbed at the tears on her cheeks with the corner of her shawl.
'Then what?' she asked.
'Well,' he said. 'I suppose they might give me a few days off at the end of all that, ‘cos I’ll be living onboard HMS Warrior in Devonport when I first start, that’s what they’ve said anyway. Then I’ll be going to some other training ship for the electrical training, and I thought that’s when we could be married.' He smiled at her warmly, his eyes lit up with anticipation. Florence gasped at his news, then allowed a smile to reply to his, and wiped another tear from her face.
'So, when do you think this is going to be then Tommy?' she asked. He let her hand drop and threw his hand up in the air in frustration.
'I don’t know love, but it’ll be as soon as I can make it. You can be sure of that. I don’t want to leave it any longer than I have to do I?' She took his hand again.
'No, no. Of course not Tommy. It’s just, I thought we would be married before you went away.' She paused and then carried on. 'If you’re sure love, then that’s what we’ll do.' Tommy smiled warmly at her and pulled her gently towards her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and kiss her, but not in front of her parents.
'As soon as I get to Devonport I’ll write, and I’ll write at least twice a week whilst I’m at HMS Warrior. As soon as I know anything about married quarters and such, then we’ll get wed.' She smiled once more at him. 'Is that alright then love?' he asked. She grinned mischievously at him.
'Suppose it’ll have to won’t it?' she muttered, her head dropping down into her chest so he could not properly see her teasing grinning face. She turned around to face her mother.
'So, it looks like my sailor boy is leaving me for another woman Ma.' she said. Harriet let out a shocked gasp.
'He said nothing of the kind young lady. What on earth do you mean?' Florence turned back to Tommy.
'Well,' she said, grinning once again. 'They always say a ship is a woman don’t they?' Tommy burst out into loud laughter and taking her in his arms squeezed her tightly.
'You minx!' he said. 'One of these days,' he left the sentence unfinished. Everyone was pleased with the news, and the outcome which Tommy had proposed. Though it was only a week or two before he would leave the town where he was born, Florence felt it would not be long before she would be married to him and would join him in his new life. Her new life, away from the mills of the north.
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