Elizabeth Ellen Osborne was born at Shipbrook, near Northwich, Cheshire, in 1914. Her father was an agricultural worker and the family lived in a tied cottage. When she left school at 14 she went to work at the bottom of the household pecking order as a 'between maid' at the local Rectory. Two years later she became a kitchen maid and after various other posts was employed as a lady's companion/help. Following her marriage she was a nurse, a 'dinner lady' and a much-loved foster mother. As a Royal British Legion welfare officer she rode round Mid-Cheshire on a 50cc motorcycle until she was 80 years old. Her life was one of service to her employers, to her large extended family and to the community.
Nellie also had a phenomenal photographic memory and her recollections of her early life paint a vivid picture of times which have gone for ever, when infant mortality was high, water was fetched from a spring, school discipline was brutal and her mother received second-hand clothes in lieu of wages. She describes the flashes and meadows, flowers and birds of her rural surroundings and can even list the names of all the other children at Davenham School in the early Twenties.
Her experiences in service evoke the days when the 'toffs' could not exist without an army of servants, toiling away for long hours and earning a pittance. But Nellie never let them break her spirit.
She died in June 2005.
In her later years she suffered from incurable and chronic leukaemia, which had the side effect of very painful arthritis. Nellie did not let this get her down. She wrote the book - originally for her grandchildren - when the pain was keeping her awake at night and she wanted to immerse herself in her memories as a distraction. Her remarkable memory was such that she could 'see' every detail as clearly as she did the first time she looked at something, seventy years before.
She said: "I spend a lot of time awake during the night now I'm older, and to help me pass the long hours I often take a trip down memory lane. I gather baskets of blackberries, and pick mushrooms, or bunches of honeysuckle. I listen to the skylark, and you would be surprised how these memories help the night to pass. It is a regular thing for me to say to my dear husband: 'I've had a lovely time. I went for a walk along the canal last night' or 'I've been for a trip to Boots Green, I feel better for it.'"
After her book was published, Nellie was encouraged to share her treasure-trove of memories and became a popular speaker at meetings of local organisations. She also contributed memories about her father, a farm horseman, to "Mid-Cheshire Memories, Volume 1", which described local occupations that are now gone for ever.
"...the amazing pensioner can still remember the buzzers blowing at the end of the First World War..." - Herald and Post, Northwich
"A story of bravery" - Northwich Chronicle
"An incredible achievement" - Northwich Guardian