Lilian Ethel Brown

  General Notes:

Lilian Ethel was born 15th Aug 1893 at Queen Charlotte Hospital, and baptized Aug 17th 1893 at St. Mark, Marylebone Road, Westminster.
By 1901, Lilian moved with grandmother Mary to Wrecclesham, Farnham and lived with Stepfather Daniel, and cousins William (b 1888) and Alfred (b 1890).
Lillian worked as a barmaid while in her early twenties at the Queens Arms between Crondall and Ewshot. When she was first married, she lived in Pankridge Street, Crondall, and worked at Hills the builder, at the top of Redlands Lane. Redlands Lane at the time was less a road, more a track, and was very hilly. Lillian would take her two toddlers, Doug and George (in his pushchair), her goat and her dog Peggy to work with her.
Lillian later got a job closer to her home, cleaning and laundering for Manns, at the corner of Redlands Lane and Pankridge Street. To do her weekly shopping, she would cycle to Farnham about 4 miles away and return with 6 bags tied to her bike and her handlebars.
Lillian was an excellent cook and would consistantly win prizes in the village events. She would win with her baking, cakes and apple pies. It must have been the practice with the rook pies that helped. She also made homemade wine of dandelions and elderberries. She would take her grand children in the fields to pick dandelions with her for wine.
When Greensprings was built, she moved in to the house opposite Redlands Lane, in the area that had become so much part of her life. Here she had front garden of grass and catoneaster bushes, and in the back yard, vegetables of all types, with tomatoes in her greenhouse. Her grandchildren would pick and eat her rhubarb, runner beans and gooseberries, and Lillian would never complain. There was always enough left to make her famous gooseberry pies.
From 1930's to 1970's Lillian delivered all the newspapers in the village. She worked from 6am and would not be finished before noon. There was a half page article in the Daily Mirror, with her pictures delivering the whole village news papers on her bike in all weathers for 35 years.

Extract from Farnham Herald, October 1981:
The death occurred in Frimley Park Hospital on September 29th of Mrs. Lilian Ethel Dimes of 14 Green Springs, Crondall, after a short period of ill-health. Eighty eight years of age, Mrs. Dimes lived at Wrecclesham as a girl but for the past 54 years had lived in Pankrudge Street and latterly of Green Springs.
Always keenly interested in village activities she joined the Womens Section of the Home Guard during the war, and as her special wartime job, took on the delivery of newspapers in the village and surrounding countryside, a job she continued for 35 years. She cycled all over the village and out as far as Mill Lane and Itchel, at times knee-deep in snow so that she had to complete her journey on foot. She will be remembered with gratitude by many people for whom she did small helpful errands as well as deiverying their papers. She never left home without a pocketful of biscuits and made friends with every dog in the village.
For several years Mrs. Dimes was a member of Crondall WI committee and belonged to the WI Handbell Team which flourished in the Sixties. Laterly she was a familiar figure at meetings of the Red Cross Evergreen Club where she ran the raffles and was a renowned cafemaker for all festive occassions. Any event which entailed "dressing up" attracted her and she enjoyed wearing her genuine Victoria outfit with its jet-trimmed cape and bonnet at local dances and shows. Gardening was another of her interests. She won many prizes at flower shows for her flowers and vegetables and her garden was admired by many when it was opened to the public on Gardens Day.
A widow for the past nine years, Mrs. Dimes leaves two sons, Mr. George Dimes and Mr. Douglas Dimes, both of Crookham, and a daughter, Mrs. Agnes Mellins of Crondall. There are six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. The funeral service at Crondall parish church on Tuesday was conducted by the vicar of Crondall, the Rev. James Voake, and cremation followed at Aldershot where the service was conducted by the former vicar of Crondall, the Rev, John Prior. The many beautiful floral tributes were placed on the grave of the late Mr. Dimes in Crondall churchyard where interment of the ashes takes place next week.

Lilian had a relationship with someone Thomas William Paice, son of Thomas Paice and Frances Planck Whiley. (Thomas William Paice was born on 25 Jul 1882 in Barnet, Hertfordshire, England and died in 1969 in Merton, Surrey, England.)

Lilian next married Walter George Dimes, son of George William Dimes and Louisa Hobbs, in 1920 in Crondall, Hampshire, England. (Walter George Dimes was born on 10 Jul 1897 in Crondall, Hampshire, England, christened on 29 Aug 1897 in Crondall, Hampshire, England, died on 4 Aug 1972 in Crondall, Hampshire, England and was buried in Aug 1972 in Crondall, Hampshire, England.)