EUGENIE
Eldest daughter of Charles Nicod.
An actress, her stage name was Jessie Elvin.
She also worked for Timothy Whites (chemist) and 'dressed-up' for some kind of advertising
When my mum (Kathleen), aged three, lost her mother in 1917, she went to stay with her Aunt Eugenie who lived in St Augustine Road, Southsea. I can remember my mum telling me that although she was only 3, she stayed there for 1-2 years. She remembered her stay very well, especially the clothes she had to wear and the horrible navy serge knickers which used to make her sore.
Eugenie died in a mental hospital/home called Napsbury near St Albans and was buried in the cemetery opposite where Violet Nicod now lives.
My Aunt Vi tells me that her Uncle Alfred used to visit them often and would talk about Eugenie and her madness. Eugenie was reported to be her father's favourite but her unusual behaviour evidently drove her brothers away from home.
Eugenie was married in 1894 on the 3rd of December at Edmonton register
office to George Frederick Collins. She gave her age as 20, he gave his as 21 years. His occupation was given as french polisher/journeyman and Eugenie's as spinster. The witnesses were Catherine Collins and Harriet Alice Nicod. Eugenie's residence was given as 5a St Roy's Road Tottenham.
It was said she had married at the age 16 to another actor. They married possibly in Paris but the family were not aware of the marriage and she would remove her wedding ring if any were present. For how long this marriage lasted is not known but for part of her life, Eugenie lived with a man known as Uncle Norton. It would seem that she played-up Norton terribly and may have lived a life of rather loose morals earning a bad reputation, especially with her family.
Apparently Eugenie had a daughter which she had adopted and when the child was older, persuaded her brother William to get the young girl back into her care. However, it did not work out and nothing is known of what happened to the young girl.
I can also remember my mother (Kathleen) telling me about Jessie Elvin and how she used to escape from her room (presumably in the home) and run around naked because she thought she was Venus!
When Eugenie was in the mental home (NAPSBURY at London Colney, Herts), her brother William (Vi's father) visited her and was told by the Doctor that her mental state was caused by syphilis. She must have had very strange ways
(notes mainly by Joyce Bannister from Charles - William - Kathleen - Joyce)
(Eugenie may well have become an alcoholic. I recall my mother telling a tale of her father , Eugenie's brother Alfred, visiting someone in a home and taking her a bottle of spirits. Such was her craving she practically bit-off the top of the bottle. (Terry)
In 1908, Eugenie was at the Palace Theatre, Newcastle with her acting. She was not made too welcome by many of the family in Hebburn.
When Eugenie died, she had beautiful rings which were passed-on to her cousins in the North. Vi says one cousin (Rita who was too young) was left out and her father purchased a brooch for the cousin which she says, her stepmother Amy was not very pleased about.
Another of these rings (perhaps?) was sent by Eugenie's brother Alfred to his daughter Charlotte in America. It was a diamond and ruby ring, hidden in a plaster frame of a 5"x 6" children's picture. Charlotte's daughter Joan still has the picture with the hole in the side and says 'I now have the lovely ring. I was about nine when the picture arrived and can still remember my Dad digging it out of the frame according to Grandfather's instructions.'
HARIETTE
Worked as a ladies maid. Did some unusual crochet work using hair from her head gathered from combing.
Apparently Hariette also ended her days in the Knutsford home because of Eugenie's influence on her. Harriet died in the first quarter of 1916 aged 38. Her death was registered in St. Albans and would seem to confirm that she was also an inmate of the Napsbury hospital {now Knutsford?).