Ada was the ninth child born to Alfred and Emily Wray on 9 April 1898. She was baptized on 14 October 1900.
As a young woman, Ada went into service as a ‘tweenie’ at the nearby Bowes Lyon Estate at St Pauls Walden which was the home of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
She married William Charles Strong, who was a golf course groundsman, at Eton in 1919. They moved to Berkshire. William was gassed while fighting during World War 1 and apparently died in 1920. His legacy was a daughter, Frances Strong (known as Mary), who was born on 14 March 1920.
Ada returned to Hitchin and to domestic work. She married Frank Littlefield (whose family ran a dairy in Luton) in 1928. Frank had been in the Merchant Navy. The following year, their son Eric was born. Frank and Ada moved to London, but Mary was unable to settle there and she was sent back to Preston where she was brought up by Emily Wray and the rest of the family. This explains why she features in so many of the photographs at Chequers Cottages, Preston of this time.
Frank and Ada were now living in Catford. When World War Two began, Frank enlisted in the army where he served at El Alamein as one of the ‘Desert Rats’. Ada worked in a bottle factory at Charlton, London while Eric was evacuated to Kent.
In 1946, Frank began working as a labourer in the building trade and Ada worked as a ‘domestic’ in a hospital at Grove Park. They regularly went to ‘The Joiners Arms’ in Lewisham where they made friends with Charlie Hitchman.
Charlie was a confirmed batchelor and became their lodger. Frank passed away with cancer and it was a natural progression for Ada to marry Charlie.
Ada was an excellent cook and it is thought she worked in London for a judge and
also opened a small cafe there. She made her own Christmas puddings (which all the
children stirred -
Ada was a little strait laced and ‘didn’t have much education’ -
Ada Strong with daughter, Mary 1923c.
Ada and Frank Littlefield
The memoriies and photographs of Dorothy Littlefield.
