Lizzie Watts

This is the story of Lizzie Watts, born in humble circumstances in Chertsey, Surrey, spanning the period from the 1860’s into the 1920’s. It is also the tale of four sons and a son-in-law, who fought in World War 1. Three were wounded, one was evacuated after Gallipoli, one experienced the greatest single explosion in WW1, two were sunk at sea by separate U-boat attacks and two were awarded gallantry medals but they returned to news of a fatal accident to their father just months before the end of the war. Lizzie’s life as a suddenly bereaved widow had to carry on for the sake of her younger children still at home. Alongside Lizzie’s story, local and national events are described including: Thomas Coram foundlings; Queen Victoria’s jubilee; conscription; rationing; women’s contributions to the war effort; perilous rescues at sea; the first female Town Crier in the country. And who knew that school children were encouraged to collect conkers to aid the war effort, or that families were able to post a single egg to soldiers at the front in France? Significantly, Lizzie lived to see one of her precious dreams fulfilled – to vote as a woman in a general election. Comprehensively illustrated with over 150 pictures, postcards, news cuttings and advertisements of the day, this is the tale of an assertive, stoical, resilient and loving woman, who believed in women’s strengths and also their rights, but who was also devoted to her family through all their experiences, tragedies and triumphs.