Bessie Kershaw nee Holland
(nb records may show her as Betsy - an error!)
 

Born 16-02-1901, died of old age in a rest home in Timperley, south Manchester 29 July 1997. With her husband George Kershaw, she produced 1 child Elizabeth.

Her parents were: Thomas Holland and Margaret Holland nee ?.

She had 6 siblings: Edith, Jane,Madge, William.Jack, & Jim

We always called her "Big Nan", to distinguish her from our other grandmother Flora Shaw who, being diminutive, was "Little Nan".
Bessy came to the north west from Wales in her youth to seek employment, and largely lost her Welsh roots, although some family connections persisted in the form of sporadic visits at major family events.  She had two medical conditions of archival note.   Her youth was plagued with tonsillitis, leading to the deep septic infections of the tonsils called quinseys.  The infected tonsils were removed on the kitchen table (presumably after a crude anaesthetic), after which she had erratic tonsil stumps but robust good health.  Secondly, in the palm of her left hand developed a Dupuytrens contracture, a hereditary condition (said to be of viking ancestry) that her grandson Peter inherited.

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