We had a look for what was happening in the area in January 1873, 150 years ago.
This story appeared in the Grantham Journal on 1st Feb 1873.
Richard Morley (1818-1897) was a farmer, living at the Old Hall in Leadenham. He was also the steward for Colonel Reeve of Leadenham House. Richard and his wife Anne had 9 children.
Their 14-year-old daughter in the story was Mary Gertrude Morley, born in Bassingham in 1858. She did not marry, but became a self-employed midwife, qualifying with the London Obstetrical Society in 1899 and the Midwives Roll 5 years later.
On the 1901 census she was looking after the wife of a Tynemouth shipowner. In 1911 she was caring for a vicar’s baby in London.
She retired to Bede House, a block of 1930s apartments on Putney Hill, London. She died in Putney in 1948, aged 90.