DOLLY.
Emma May, affectionately known throughout the family as Dolly, was a most exceptionally lovely person. My memories of her are filled with emotion as I recall her wonderful smile and the welcoming arms that would press me to her ample bosom whenever we visited her Derbyshire home, 23 Archer Street, by the canal at Alvaston.
Dad would come home from work on a Saturday morning and declare that he was "off to our Dolls". In no time, we were boarding the train to Derby and, via a bus from the city centre, were soon walking the last few yards to "Aunt Dolly's". They would greet each other with a love which had its roots firmly established in early twentieth century squalor. Theirs was not a childhood of sufficiency afforded to the middle classes of Edwardian England - for them it was an existence based on survival in a world where poverty and despair was the norm. Their family love, which was so evident whenever they met, had enabled them to overcome the tremendous difficulties of their childhood.
Emma May and William Shaw were married at Caverswall on the 11th of June, 1916. I have discovered an address for them after they were married. It was 61 Temple Street, Fenton, and it was from their home that William Lee's death was registered in 1924. Their first child, Dorothy, was born at Stoke-on-Trent on 8th of May, 1920. Then followed Ronald, Kenneth, Donald, William (1929), and Marjorie, all born in Stoke-on-Trent. It was after Marjorie's birth in 1931, that William and Emma moved to Derby. At Derby they had two more children, Peter in 1935 and Paul in 1941.
I know that Dorothy, the eldest, lives at Peacehaven, on the South coast of England but apart from that, my knowledge of the family is restricted mainly to two of my cousins, William (Bill) and Paul.
Bill emigrated to Canada in the fifties and now has an extended family in British Columbia. We correspond regularly and he has become a close friend. He was the original genealogist of the family and has been instrumental in the formation of this book. On a recent visit to England, we met, and together with his lovely wife Joyce, spent an enjoyable day doing the ancestral tour. I hope we will have the chance to do it again some day.
Paul lives at Findern near Derby with his wife Janice. Our Christmas get togethers are one of the highlights of my year. Very much like Aunt Dolly is Paul; warm, unpretentious, comfortable to be with and the "Norcop" mischievous twinkle in his eye is never far from the surface. He has a smallholding which houses a number of creatures, all well loved and cared for. Paul and Janice are highly placed among my favourite people.
Emma May Norcop - Shaw died on the 15th of October, 1962 at Derby. Her husband, William Shaw, died seven years later, on the 21st of January, 1970 at Derby. They had been together for forty six years.