Biography of Mary Ann Neighbour (Mary Ann Spurgeon, Mary Ann Kingshott)

Born in Brentford on 12 October 1880 to parents George (a bargeman) & Martha, Mary was baptised on 7 November 1880. The 1881 census records her living at 26 Eatons Buildings, Brentford with sisters Emma (3) & Martha (2). By 1891 the family has grown & she has 5 sisters; the family are living at 11 Boars Head Yard, New Brentford.

Age 20 (1901), Mary was a housemaid for a Church of England clergyman (James M Brooks) & his family, living at 20 Gledhow Gardens, Kensington. At the same time (1901) one of her younger sisters Ellen (Hellen, 17) was a servant for the Spurgeon family, living at 3 York Road, Old Brentford.

Mary married Cecil Spurgeon on 30 December 1905, heavily pregnant with their first child, Elsie, born 7 days after the wedding. Before their marriage they lived with Cecil's parents at 63 Whitestile Road, Brentford, and afterwards just around the corner at 25 Junction Road, Brentford.

A little over a year later, on 12 April 1907 her husband Cecil sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, arriving on 19 April 1907. Mary's second child Victoria was born on 24 May 1907 at 16 Board's Head Yard, New Brentford, but only lived a few months.

Mary's husband Cecil lived in Alameda, California, USA. He filed for divorce on grounds of desertion, and was granted an interlocutary decree on 29 October 1912. At the same time, the 1911 census shows Mary, 30, a dressmaker, living with her daughter Elsie (5) at he sister-in-law Emma's family at 48 The Ham, New Brentford.

On 23 December 1937 Mary married Wilfred Aurthur Kingshott; they lived at 50 Burford Road, Brentford. Mary died age 87 on 18 July 1968 while living at 51 Upham Park Road, Chiswick, London.