Phoebe Hager was probably the last woman who lived in the Forest of Dean who had worked underground in a mine. Phoebe was born in Woolaston, the Forest of Dean in 1847, the daughter of John Hager and Mary Batty. Soon after her birth, the family moved to Cwmbran where John obtained work in the iron mines.
When Phoebe was nine years old, she started working in the iron mine with her father. Her job was to sort the lumps of ore from the earth as it was thrown back by her father from the face where he was extracting the ore often using explosives.
She worked in the mine for two years and then started to work making bricks in a brickyard. The bricks were handmade and she claimed she could work as fast as any man making up to 12 bricks a minute. While the blast furnaces at Tredegar were being built, she had the task of making the special lining bricks. As the last load was being taken from the yard, the other workmen lifted her onto the truck which carried her to Tredegar to see the results of her labour.
The only schooling Phoebe received was when she attended Sunday school. However, when she grew up, she educated herself and enjoyed reading, playing cards and going to the cinema.
Her first child, Joe, was born in 1870 in Cwmbran. Her partner was Charles Kent and they went on to have seven children. Charles was one of the workers involved in building the Severn Tunnel between 1873 and 1886. According to the census:
In 1881, she was living on Parkend Road in Bream with Charles and 4 children. Charles was working as a labourer in an iron works.
In 1891, she was living in Bream Eaves. Charles was working as a labourer in a coal mine.
In 1901, she was living in Bream Eaves. Charles was working as a labourer.
In 1911, she was living in Bream Eaves. Charles was working as a labourer in a coal mine.
Charles died in 1917
Phoebe and Charles had five sons Joe, Charles, John (Jack), William and Fred. Three of these men served in the military during World War One. Sadly, Joe died in a prisoner-of-war camp in December 1918. They had two daughters Julia and Elizabeth.
When Phoebe moved to Bream she gained a reputation for her cooking abilities. When Charles met with an accident in a local colliery, she earned some income by baking bread and cakes often using three sacks of flour a week. The cakes were in great demand and up to the age of 79 she supplied the cakes for the Non-Conformist Sunday School events in the village. She was especially noted for her toffee cakes and lardees. She also made little pads and iron holders to give away to visitors.
In the last period of her life, she became known as Granny Kent and she lived with her daughter Julia and son-in-law Sam Cox. She died in 1939 at the age of 92.
A picture of Granny Cox can be found on the Sungreen website . .https://www.sungreen.co.uk/Bream_1/Granny-Kent.htm
Further details of the life of Joe Kent can be found in Ian Hendy’s book ‘Retrieving Wenty’s Bird’, The Story of the Bream Cenotaph 1921 – 2001, (Lydney: Black Dwarf Publications, 2001) 60- 64.
References
Ancestry
Dean Forest Mercury 24 February 1939.
Sungreen