Product Description

A couple of years ago, Martin Knight began a quest to delve into his family history. He had a head start on many amateur genealogists as 30 years earlier he had produced a school project on the very subject. The project was based on the papers and oral history of his then elderly grandmother, Ellen Tregent. Martin dusted this off and began to assemble the chain of events that shaped his grandmother's life. He even made contact with several living relatives who had known Ellen or some of the people and events she described. Ellen Tregent was born in 1888 and died in 1988 - her lifetime encompassing an unprecedented century of social change and world upheaval. She was born into a poor working-class family in Battersea, London. Her grandfather had arrived from Ireland 40 years earlier to escape almost certain death as potato famine ravaged his country. In "Battersea Girl", Martin Knight charts Ellen's long and eventful life and the lives of her siblings. They encounter abject poverty, disease, suicide, murder, war and inevitably death, but, equally, the spirit of stoical people who were determined to make the most of their lives shines through in this enchanting book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #84586 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

From the Publisher
A compelling account of the 100-year life of an ordinary London woman

About the Author
Martin Knight is the author of a number of other books, including the novel Common People and, with Martin King, the terrace-culture classics Hoolifan and The Naughty Nineties. He lives in London with his wife and five children.

Customer Reviews

Evocative, a family life shared
Martin Knight has shared his family history with us and, although in part fiction, he has written something worthwhile. Recounting the life of his Grandmother, Ellen Bradshaw / Knight / Tregant (1888-1988) the book is essentially cameos of her family rooted in working class Battersea. There are no "poor but happy" clichés here, life was hard, cruel, certainly loving, often tragic and with surprisingly little humour. These people didn't suffer fools gladly being too close to the workhouse to flirt with sentimentality. Damn shame, not fair was the fate of many of the characters. But her boys came good in the end and went clerical (finding white collar jobs, not ecclesiastical vocations). This is a simple story of people, not a social commentary on Victorian, Edwardian or Inter War London. A little more detail on the working life on the river, so important in the families' employment, would not have diluted the narrative while the odd digression added texture (some things we think are modern have been around for a long time, battles over vivisection, little dogs and fighting medical students).

Half way through it occurred to me we could all write a similar book if we researched and recorded our relative's lives. We share Ellen's past even if not from Battersea. How little we know of what people had to endure, how events conspired to pull them down. There was a time - not long past - when people now obsessed with fitted kitchens would have struggled to afford food. In this family one person died from malnutrition, while smoking 60 cigarettes a day! Knight's book reminds us that whatever our problems just consider where we have come from.

This is a story of a strong woman, the fabric that made the home front and largely marginalised in formal history. But Ellen was in the front line, her life is inspiring and that is what you take from the book. More and more of us have researched our forbears but know little more than their names. This is flesh on the skeleton of one man's family history. It could be an excellent school text; I would have benefited more from this than D H Lawrence and Jane Austen. While this is not a " feel good " read, I was angry and sad through most of it, I would have enjoyed meeting almost all of them (especially poor Mags who died in the Blitz). Knight makes you feel you had met them, good informal history writing and a book that I am better for reading.

Battersea Girl: Tracing A London Life
Battersea Girl is a great read about a woman who lived to be 100-years-old and stayed in the same area of London all her life. It's a fact based story, tracing the family tree of modern day author and social commentator Martin Knight with the star of the book being Nell, Knight's grandmother. It follows Nell's family as they made their way from Galway in Ireland to set up home in Battersea, South London. Theirs is not a tale of fame and fortune, rather a story of everyday struggle that the majority of those who were born in 19th Century Britain endured. As well as being an enchanting tale with much humour, it is permeated with sadness as the author recounts the poverty, the illnesses and deaths that afflicted his forbearers. Nell was born before the Second Boer War broke out and lived through and survived both World Wars, although her immediate family was affected in one way or another by all three. As well as marking out events that took place within the capital, it delves into the life of those who sought to earn some kind of living from the River Thames and gives a fascinating insight into what it was like to live alongside what was, in previous times, the main artery of London. It is an inspirational work, showing that despite life's knocks, the human spirit can overcome most adversity and is a good indicator of how the working class made the best of their 'lot' and above all, sought to shrug off their troubles by laughing. If anyone wants a reason to trace their own family tree, they should read this book and get their inspiration from it. I liked it so much, I'm now considering moving to Battersea! =

I enjoyed this book
I thought this book was an interesting read and very much enjoyed it. I live in Battersea but even if you do not this would still be a good read as you get to see and understand how life was many years ago and how it changed over the decades. Parts of the book are very moving as the family go through a lot of hardships and loses. A pretty easy read but one I looked forward to picking up at the end of each day. Recommended!