EDGOOSE:
In search of Ancestry
VICKERS, Ethel
1897 - 1976 (79 years) Has 2 ancestors and one descendant in this family tree.
- Yes, date unknown-
Name VICKERS, Ethel Birth 26 Apr 1897 Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, England 
Gender Female Death 3 Jun 1976 Palmerston North, New Zealand Person ID I7558 Edgoose Last Modified 30 Jan 2026
Father VICKERS, Arthur d. Yes, date unknown Mother [VICKERS], Ellen d. Yes, date unknown Family ID F2738 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family 1 BAILEY, Alphonzo Miles, b. 1894, Hucknall Torkard, Nottinghamshire d. 20 Jan 1918, Active Service In World War 1 (Age 24 years) Children 1. VICKERS, Arthur Bailey, b. 10 Apr 1917, Mansfield Registration District, Nottinghamshire d. 5 Jul 1958, Fitzrovia, London, England (Age 41 years)Family ID F2601 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 27 Jan 2026
Family 2 CALVERT, Reginald Arthur William d. 19 Aug 1935, New Zealand Marriage 8 Mar 1920 Seatown, Wellington, New Zealand Family ID F2735 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 27 Jan 2026
Family 3 WOODHEAD, Harold d. 1963, New Zealand Marriage 1959 Wellington, New Zealand Family ID F2736 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 27 Jan 2026
-
Notes
ETHEL WOODHEAD formerly WOODHEAD formerly CALVERT née VICKERS 1897-1976
Ethel, daughter of Arthur and Ellen VICKERS, was born at Moor Cottages, Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, England, on 26 April 1897.
(GRO June Q 1897 Basford [includes Bulwell] 7b 241.
Her parents had a shop at 2 Thoresby Road, Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire.
She was the first in her family to get a scholarship to Queen Elizabeth's Girls' Grammar School.
From the 1911 census of 2 Thoresby Road, Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire:
Arthur VICKERS, head, aged 38, married, farmer, employer, born at Hucknall Torchard, Nottinghamshire;
Ellen VICKERS, wife, aged 37, married 18 years, 6 children all living, Born at Wigan, Lancashire;
Mary Ellen VICKERS, daughter, single, aged 17, born at Bulwell, Nottinghamshire;
*Ethel VICKERS, daughter, aged 14 born at Bulwell, Nottinghamshire;
John VICKERS, son, aged 7, born at Woodhouse Manssfield, Nottinghamshire;
Margerie VICKERS, daughter, aged 5, born at Woodhouse Mansfield, Nottinghamshire;
Ivy VICKERS, daughter, aged 2, born at Woodhouse Mansfield, Nottinghamshire;
Nina Evelyn VICKERS, daughter, aged under 3 months, born at Woodhouse Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
(RG14/20274)
When she left school she worked in the offices of William Hollins and company's Mansfield cotton mill.
The birth of Arthur B. VICKERS was registered in 1917. Arthur Bailey VICKERS was born at Mansfield Woodhouse on 10 April 1917. No father's name was recorded on the birth certificate, but it is known that his name was Alphonso Miles BAILEY. Hiiis parents were to have been married on his first leave from the Royal Navy but Alphonso was killed when HMS Raglan was sunk in the Dardanelles on 20 January 1918. The BAILEY family knew him as he used to visit them. Ethel VICKERS is said to have received an allowance from the Royal Navy for Alphonso's son.
(GRO June Q 1917 (VICKERS) Mansfield 7b 121)
(Stephanie GRIEVE)
Later Ethel moved to the Army Pay Department in Nottingham and stayed with an aunt whilst Arthur was looked after by her mother and sisters.
She met Reginald Arthur William CALVERT whilst he was on leave recovering from a war wound. He asked her the way to the nearest post box and she replied that she was going that way and would show him. A sapper in the Canterbury Regiment of of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force he had been wounded at the battle of Passchendaele (31 July to 10 November 1917) on 25 October.
He was stationed at Brockenhurst, Hornchurch, Codford, and Boscombe and had two sessions of leave. He returned to France on 17 September 1918. He and Ethel became engaged before he returned to New Zealand on 3 February 1919.
When, as a 22 year old single clerk, Ethel left Plymouth for Auckland, New Zealand, on 15 January 1920 aboard the Athenic it was her intention to send for her son Arthur as soon as she and her future husband Reginald CALVERT had established themselves on a Returned Serviceman's farm. Unfortunately the price of butter fat collapsed in the recession of the 1920s and they were forced to abandon the farm in 1927, never earning enough money to send for Arthur.
Much later, Ethel tried to persuade Arthur to join them in New Zealand but he refused to leave either the grandfather who had brought him up or his work in the market garden adjoining the shop in Thoresby Road, Mansfield Woodhouse.
She married Reginald at St. George's Church, Worser Bay, Seatoun, Wellington, New Zealand, on 8 March 1920, just three days after arriving in New Zealand. As a "war bride" they had to marry within seven days.
Her husband died of his war wounds on 19 August 1935.
Her second husband was Harold WOODHEAD whom she married at Wellington, New Zealand, in 1959. He died in 1962 or 1963.
She died at Palmeston North, New Zealand, on 3 June 1976.
NOTES & QUERIES:
The majority of the information on Ethel VICKERS was kindly provided by her granddaughter Stephanie GRIEVE of New Zealand.
(revised 13.07.2013)