The Matlock Bath photographer Harry Gill gave this photograph to Bernice Stoddart. On the back he had written a short note about the picture:

Lord Hartington & Miss Woodiwiss from the Upper wood her dress was of still silk & really old and grand thought you like one [sic].

Angelina Woodiwiss lived in a very small cottage in Matlock Bath's Upper Wood after the death of her mother^[1]; it was called Iris Cottage^[2] although was more widely referred to as Angelina's Cottage. Her house was next door to the Zoo Tea Gardens and opposite the Speedwell Cavern, where she collected the entry money during the summer months. She also provided teas in her garden for the trippers, as did other neighbours. Angelina was initially a dressmaker but later worked as a Hosiery Machinist at Lea Mills. She walked there and back each day, probably going down and up the Wapping as it was the most direct route^[3]. The Wapping is an ancient and relatively steep bridleway, connecting Upper Wood with the A6 described and as a lane "between high limestone walls that were dry built - no mortar - and subject to sometimes falling down" in the second decade of the twentieth century.^[3] It would not have been an easy walk.

Her grandparents, Charles and Elizabeth^[4], spent their married life in Matlock Bath and were buried at Holy Trinity although they didn't always live in the same household. Their daughter Sarah Ellen (1834-91)^[5] did not marry but had two children; Angelina (b. 1 Feb 1866) and Willoughby Edman/Edmund Harry (b.1871). According to the 1891 census their family home was on Temple Road. Sarah Ellen passed away not long after that census was taken and Angelina subsequently moved to her four roomed cottage in Upper Wood^[6].

Her brother Willoughby became a poultry farmer and went to live at Herne Bay^[7]. When Angelina died on 19 Feb 1940 the administration of her estate was granted to her nephew Willoughby Hayman Woodiwiss, a rigger, and the "attorney of Willoughby Woodiwiss"^[8] who had emigrated to the United States some years previously.

Whilst I cannot date the dress Angelina is wearing, the pattern has almost certainly been printed using a hand held wood block. She is holding a small cake.

The Marquess of Hartington who was photographed talking to Angelina was Edward William Spencer Cavendish (1895 - 1950), who later became the 10th Duke of Devonshire. It is possible that he was canvassing for an election as he represented the West Derbyshire constituency between 1923 and 1938. Although he had been unsuccessful the previous year, in the 1923 election he defeated Mr. W. C. Mallison, the Liberal replacement for Mr. Charles White, who had recently passed away^[9]. It is possible that this picture was taken in 1935 when Lord Hartington had "been discussing the question of the next general election with his constituents at Matlock Bath"^[10].

One Man's Photographic Memory (Harry Gill) has a picture of the 10th Duke with Queen, then Princess, Elizabeth outside Chatsworth House.

References (coloured links are to information elsewhere on this website):

^[1] Angelina was living with her mother and grandmother in the 1871 census. By the 1881 census her brother Willoughby was also in the household. They were all still together in the 1891 census.

^[2] 1939 Register.

^[3] Reminiscences of the late Mr. Frank Clay, from his private papers and notes owned by the web mistress. The bottom of the Wapping was considerably affected by the road widening of the late 1960s and early 1970s, with many of the properties being demolished. Its walls are still falling down!

^[4] Charles Woodiwiss was born in Bonsall, the son of Samuel and Sarah, and christened at St. James' Church on 11 Dec 1797. He married Elizabeth Young at Duffield on 10 Nov 1828. The couple had a number of children and can be found in Matlock Bath census returns.
See the 1841 census | the 1851 census (Charles) | the 1851 census (Elizabeth and children) - lower down the same page | the 1861 census (Charles) | the 1861 census (Elizabeth) | the 1871 census (Elizabeth, with her daughter and granddaughter).
They were both buried at Holy Trinity in Matlock Bath:
Charles Woodiwiss was buried on 9 Apr 1869, aged 71. His abode was Matlock.
Elizabeth Woodiwiss was buried on 30 Apr 1872, aged 80.

^[5] Sarah Ellen, Angelina's mother, was christened at St. Mary's Cromford on 7 Sep 1834. She died on 15 May 1891 and was buried at Matlock Bath on 17 May 1891, aged 54. See her MI in Holy Trinity's Churchyard.

^[6] She was in Upper Wood in the 1901 census and the 1911 census.

^[7] The 1911 census.

^[8] Probate records for England and Wales.

^[9] "Derbyshire Times" 22 December 1923. Also see: Matlock Bath: The White family of Bonsall, Scarthin & Matlock, about 1908.

^[10] "Derby Daily Telegraph", 9 January 1935.