Mary Isabel Edith Ogden was born in Allahabad, India on 23 January 1874. Her mother, Charlotte Edith Ogden (nee Warburton) apparently died in childbirth and her father, serving in the British Infantry in India, had her shipped back to her mother’s uncle Charles Richard Ogden Evans in Wolverhampton.
She was brought up mainly by this uncle and his wife Sarah Evans. She was also a significant presence in the family of Henry and Florence Evans after 1890. Her stepfather was away on duty for a considerable amount of time and the 1881 census shows her with Sarah Evans and her brother Henry. In 1901 she is a student in Edinburgh – but she must also have spent time in Ireland, where she was to spend the last half of her life.
She is known to our side of the family as Aunt Og and had a keen interest in family history. She was the first to draw up a full Evans family tree in the 1930’s not least to explain her own complicated lineage. Not only were her step-parents cousins to each other but so were her actual parents. We have copies of correspondence between her and Molly Downing of the 1930’s discussing this lineage, the family portraits and other facets of the Evans family.
She married Thomas Royse, Rector of Blarney, co Cork, in about 1912. She appears to have been close to her Aunt Emma Isabel Bruce (nee Warburton), a fellow Cork resident, who also lived into her 90’s. She was known as Zie and had married the Dean of Cork, The Very Rev Charles Saul Bruce in 1877. After her husband died in 1913, Zie lived on a further 27 years and appears to have been a constant companion to her niece.
Edith Ogden, herself, died in 1965 leaving a number of her possessions to Molly.
Related documents
Edith Ogden to Molly Downing letter 1936 recollecting her memories of visiting Rev John Evans of the Lloyd in 1881:
Extract of Edith Ogden’s letter to Molly Downing, 1936
…You see John was first cousin to your grandfather and to the great uncle of mine who brought me up. It was when I was pretty small that we were all staying with your Daddy & my Uncle said he would like to go & see his old cousin. So I remember his taking our Aunt & myself for a tremendous drive in a cab from Tettenhall to the Lloyd & the old fellow who was a sort of miser giving us tea. He only kept out a couple of silver spoons & forks of different sizes. Tea spoons ran short as there were 4 for tea, so he used a table spoon for his own which impressed me more than anything else. Where his wife & daughter were I know not. Of course it was long after when & he & his wife were dead that his daughter married Bradney Shaw-Hellier just because the two places adjoined I think, they were both quite elderly & most unsuited as far as I heard…
