Oliver, Mrs Mary, Redgate, Salterton Road, Exmouth
Mary Rose Conroy (1856-1917) was born in Perth, Western Australia. Her father John Augustus Conroy who, at the time of her birth, was Commissioner of Police in Western Australia. He died when Mary was 11, by which time the family had moved back to England and were living in Kent. In time the family moved to Wimbledon and it may be there that Mary met her husband-to-be, Edgar Oliver, the son of a Wimbledon solicitor. They were married at Wimbledon parish church on 10 July 1883 and set up home in Wimbledon where Edgar was a wine merchant. Ten years later they moved, with their four children, into Redgate, Salterton Road, Exmouth – a spacious house with thirteen rooms, where they had three servants. Mary served on the St Thomas Board of Guardians[1] and in 1905 chaired the meeting of the Women’s Local Government Society meeting to discuss ‘the present possibilities of women in public work.[2]
She took her place on the platform to support suffragists at a public debate on ‘Women and the Vote’ at King’s Hall Exmouth in 1912[3] and presided at the Exmouth NUWSS meeting when Miss Frances Sterling, of the Executive Committee of the NUWSS gave an address.[4] She served on the committee of the Exmouth NUWSS and in November 1913 the south-west branch of the NUWSS held a fund raising event in Exeter – a Fete and Forest of Christmas Trees; Mary took part in that event on behalf of the Exmouth branch.[5] In 1914 she took her place on the platform at a large NUWSS meeting that was held in the Public Hall in Exmouth when Miss [Jessie] Montgomery of Exeter presided and the main speaker was Mrs [Helena] Swanwick who outlined the arguments for and against women’s suffrage. She put forward a resolution ‘that this meeting is of the opinion that the political enfranchisement of women is a reform both just and expedient’; it was unanimously carried.[6]
During WW1 Mary worked to support the Exmouth families of serving soldiers and sailors and, as a representative from the Exmouth NUWSS alongside Joan Retallack, was involved in the registration of women for work.[7] In October 1915 Mary’s 25 year-old son 2nd Lieut C G Oliver of the 3rd Devons who was serving with the 2nd Yorkshire Regiment was killed at the Front. This, and her anxiety over another son serving at the Front, had an impact on Mary’s health, and she died two years later on 16 October 1917[8]. Her husband Edgar died a year later at Redgate, Exmouth.[9]
Entry created by April Marjoram, June 2018
[1] ExJ, 14 Feb 1903; DEG, 9 Jun 1914.
[2] ExJ, 15 Feb 1905.
[3] WT, 24 May 1912.
[4] DEG, 28 Jun 1912.
[5] WT, 29 Nov 1913.
[6] DEG, 23 Apr 1914.
[7] DEG, 1 Jun 1915.
[8] DEG, 20 Oct 1917.
[9] Probate Register.