YMCA Volunteer. Served overseas.
Early life:
Margaret was born on March 11, 1869 and her birth was registered in Keighley by her parents Joseph and Margaret Ann Scaife née Carr.
Her father Joseph was a heald and reed maker. She was baptised Margaret Ann Scaife at St Andrew’s Church in Keighley on May 2 of the same year. They were living at Adelaide Street in Keighley. Her mother Margaret Ann died around the same time, possibly as a result of birth complications. She was just 23 years old.
In the 1871 census she was two and still at Adelaide Street. Her maternal grandmother Sarah Carr was living with them. Her father Joseph had changed his occupation to Livery Stable Manager and Sarah was a retired refreshment room keeper.
By 1881 Margaret was twelve and living at 68, Mornington Street in Keighley with grandmother Sarah Carr (described as a retired confectioner.) Scholar. Her father had also died aged just 36, so she was now an orphan and reliant on her grandmother Sarah.
In 1886 aged only 17 years and a few months, Margaret married shuttle maker David Burwin who was 31 years old and their marriage was registered in Keighley. By the time of the 1891 census, Margaret was 22 years old and they were living at Throstle Nest house on Lidget in Oakworth with her husband David Burwin and grandmother Sarah Carr. Also shuttle maker Thomas Burwin and housekeeper Betty Roberts.
By 1901 Margaret was 32, and with her husband David and grandmother Sarah had moved next door to Bank House. Her grandmother Sarah Carr died aged 76 in 1903.
In 1910, Margaret was the registered owner of several properties which she rented out, notably on Market Street in Keighley, possibly bought as property investments with her husband.
David and Margaret were closely involved with the choir at Slack Lane Baptist Church, Margaret in particular was a noted soprano and they were both members of the Keighley Musical Union. In 1911 Margaret was selected for the famous ‘Sheffield Choir’ which toured the world to great acclaim and was reported in the newspapers of the day. David accompanied her on this trip of a lifetime.
The Adelaide Advertiser, Monday 13th March 1911, page 12:
SHEFFIELD CHORAL SOCIETY. A WORLD TOUR.
(From our Special Correspondent.) London. February 10, 1911.
Starting from Liverpool on March 17, Dr. Henry Coward’s Sheffield Choir of 200 singers will made a tour of the world-one of the largest programmes ever undertaken by a choral society. Sir Edward Elgar, the famous composer, will accompany the choir to Canada and the United States, and, with Dr. Henry Coward and Dr. Charles Harriss will act as conductor. The choir will make an extensive tour of Canada and the United States, afterwards visiting Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, arriving back in England on September 30.
During the tour the Sheffield Choir will give over 140 concerts, their musical programme including 14 oratorios and cantatas and many glees, madrigals, and songs. Elgar’s “Kingdom” and “The Dream of Gerontius” will, for instance, be sung in all parts of the world. The latter will be performed at the following places: Canada and the United States – Montreal, May 27: Toronto, April 4; Indianapolis, April 21; Chicago, April 24; St. Paul, April 28. Australia-Sydney, June 15: Melbourne, July 17; Adelaide, July 27. New Zealand-Auckland, June 26; Wellington, June 29; Christchurch, July 3: Dunedin, July 6. South Africa Durban, August 22.
Programme of Tour.
A rough itinerary of the Sheffield Choir’s world tour, during which they will visit over 70 towns, is as follows:- March 17- Leave Liverpool for Halifax. March 24- Halifax, afterwards visiting many towns in Canada and United States. May 19- Sail for Victoria per steamer Zealandia. May 26-Arrive at Honolulu, where an afternoon and evening concert will be given. June 5- Arrive at Suva. Afternoon performance only. June 10- Brisbane. June 21- Sail for New Zealand. July 11-Leave New Zealand for Tasmania. July 13 Sail for Melbourne, afterwards visiting Adelaide, Ballarat, and Perth. August 3 – Sail from Perth for South Africa. August 21- At Durban, South Africa. September 10- Sail for England. September 30- Arrive in London.
The organisers of the tour are making careful arrangements to prevent the luggage of the singers getting mixed up on the journey.
Members’ Numbers.
Each member of the choir has been allotted a number, and this number, in figures 6 in. high, must be painted on his boxes and trunks. Instructions have been given for these figures to be painted in different colours, according to the voice of the singer, as follows:- First soprano, light red; second soprano, dark red; first contralto, light yellow; second contralto, dark yellow; first tenor, light blue; second tenor, dark blue; first bass, light green; second bass, dark green.
Artists and Repertory.
The solo vocalists of the tour are:- Soprano, Miss Jenny Taggart, Miss Maud Wilby, and Lady Norah Noel; contralto, Miss Gertrude Lonsdale and Miss Alice Heeley; tenors, Mr. Henry Turnpenny and Mr. Wilfrid Virgo; and basses, Mr. Robert Charlesworth and Mr. Robert Chignell. The organist and accompanist will be Mr. J. E. Hodgson, Mus. Bac. Lady Norah Noel, who is among the sopranos, is a daughter of the Earl of Gainsborough, and therefore sister of Viscount Campden, who will also be one of the company. The choristers will take with them an extensive repertory, including “The Messiah,” “Elijah,” “Gerontius,” “Golden Legend.” “The Kingdom,” “Sing ye to the Lord” (Bach), “Faust” (Berlioz). “Requiem” (Verdi), “Blest pair of sirens” (Parry), and innumerable choruses, part songs, glees, and madrigals by English composers dead and living, while special “Empire” programmes will be sung, dealing chiefly with patriotic music.
The utmost care has been taken to ensure the safe and comfortable transit of so large a body of men and women round the globe, and the minutest instructions are given to each member of the choir in a booklet specially printed for their guidance. The passport for the whole tour will be a badge which Dr. Harriss will present to each member of the choir, and will take the place of tickets and coupons, Weather permitting, rehearsals will take place while crossing the Atlantic. Banking arrangements have been made for the members in every part of the Empire. The little guide already referred to clauses with concise hints how to avoid sea sickness and how to walk on a rolling ship, finally praying all members of the choir to be of stout heart and take cheerfully throughout the tour the rough with the smooth.
Margaret’s name appears on a passenger list of SS Haverford which was bound from Liverpool on the 29th of July 1914, arriving at Philadelphia on the 10th of August 1914.
David sadly died at the age of 61 on September 18, 1915. He left £7900 in his will to Margaret. He is buried in Slack Lane Baptist Chapel graveyard.
War service
Margaret served with the Young Men’s Christian Association during the Great War and her obituary in the local newspaper states that she travelled with the YMCA to Italy and France to serve drinks and food to serving soldiers, as part of the large support network of wooden huts and comfort provided by supporters of our armed forces in the conflict. She is listed in the 1919 Electoral Rolls as an absent voter under the qualification ‘NM’ meaning Naval/Military so her absent voter status was classed under military service.
Post war:
Margaret’s life came to an end in tragic circumstances and she was last seen alive on July 27, 1920. Her body was found on August 10 by a concerned neighbour and she had committed suicide. Margaret was 51 and after cremation, her remains were buried with David at Slack Lane. She left £5600 in her will to George Scaife. In her newspaper obituary, she was said to have been a noted horsewoman around the village and had given local talks about her travels overseas, so she was able to share her experiences. Keighley Library archives hold a recipe book and one photograph of her on horseback on Slaymaker Lane in Oakworth.
Keighley News obituary:
Saturday 14th August 1920.
OAKWORTH LADY’S TRAGIC END. POISONED BY GAS.
WELL-KNOWN VOCALIST AND Y.M.C.A. WORKER.
Mrs. Margaret Ann Burwin, the widow of Mr. David Burwin, shuttlemaker, was found dead on Tuesday at her residence, Bank House, Oakworth.
Mrs. Burwin, who was 50 years of age and of independent means, had had staying with her for some time previous to July 27 a Hawes lady, but on that date the visitor left, and it is stated that Mrs. Burwin had expressed her intention of leaving the same day for the Dales. Apparently she was not seen again alive, but no suspicion was aroused until Tuesday, as it was thought possible she had gone away for a few days, as she had been in the habit of doing from time to time. On Tuesday, however, Mrs. Frances Burwin, her sister-in-law, who resides near, went to Bank House.
THE DOORS LOCKED.
She found the doors locked and the windows barred, and on entrance being effected by means of a key. Mr. James Rushworth found Mrs. Burwin in a sitting position in a vapour bath in her bed-room. There was a gas tube in the mouth and it had been tied round the neck, evidently to keep it in position. The gas was half turned on. Dr. Evans was called and he attributed death gas poisoning, and expressed the opinion that the idy had been dead from seven to ten days. It is understood that Mrs. Burwin had not been well for some little time past.
The news of Mrs. Burwin’s tragic death will occasion the deepest regret not only in the Keighley district, but much wider afield, for she was well known as a lady of many estimable qualities, and one ever ready to lend a helping
hand in good causes.
WORK IN FRANCE.
She had a kindly and sunny disposition, which doubtless contributed largely to the success of the Y.M.C.A. work in which she engaged both in France and Italy over a period of three or four years. It was, perhaps, as a soprano vocalist that she was best known. She was at one time a member of the Devonshire Park Wesleyan and the Slack Lane Baptist choirs and the Oakworth Musical Union; she had sung in the Leeds Festival chorus, and in 1911 she made, along with her husband, the world tour with Dr. Coward’s Yorkshire Choir. She was also an accomplished horsewoman and a good swimmer, and had travelled a good deal, having paid several visits to the Canary Islands and lectured on her return. Her husband, who was a bass singer, died about five years ago, and there are no children.
In Italy she had the privilege of engaging in Y.M.C.A. work in the largest camp out there, and she was the first British woman to go out to that country specially for canteen and social work.
THE INQUEST.
DEPRESSED AT TIMES.
At an inquest held by Mr. J. E. Newall (deputy coroner) at the Oakworth District Council Offices on Wednesday afternoon a verdict of “Suicide, ‘Suicide, by poisoning herself with coal gas during mental depression” was returned.
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Margaret Jane Blades, of Hill House, Gayle, Hawes, said the deceased woman was 51 years of age, and the widow of Mr. David Burwin, a retired shuttlemaker, Witness said she stayed with Mrs. Burwin from January to July 27, when she went away on holiday. Her friend had a nervous breakdown in January, but was all right when she (witness) left her. She was depressed at times, but better after- wards. So far as witness knew there was no reason why she should take her life,
GAS TUBE IN MOUTH.
Dr. Evans said he attended Mrs. Burwin in November last, when she suffered from gastric trouble and sleeplessness. She had also had some mental depression. She became very much better, however, and he ceased attending her on November 28. Dr. Evans said that death. which was due to gas poisoning, must have taken place at least a week ago. She was seated in a vapour bath, with a rubber tube connected with a gas bracket fastened into her mouth. Above the vapour bath there was a small bracket. The burner had been screwed out and put on to the window sill. The tube had been attached to the bracket and inserted in her mouth, and made fast by means of a ribbon tied round her head.
The Deputy Coroner: I may take it that the depression from which she was suffering would tend to cause her to do something?
Dr. Evans: Yes, I think it would. That is the only reason I can assign for her doing such a thing. I have no idea what was the cause of the breakdown. She has not been in her normal health for twelve months.
James Rushforth, of 6, Grange Terrace, Leeds, a distant relative, who Chapeltown, was staying next door, spoke to finding the body. He said she had not been seen for some time, and an entrance was affected. The gas was turned about half way on. Witness said he could assign no reason for her committing this act. I think she has had some great trouble which nobody has known but herself. She was a most lively person,” he added.
THE FUNERAL.
The remains of Mrs. Burwin were interred yesterday afternoon, after cremation at Scholemoor, in the Slack Lane Baptist burial ground. A short service was conducted in the chapel by the Rev. Rowland Evans, of Bradford, and there were a number of relatives, friends, and members of the general public present.
Information sources:
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1910
1871 England Census
1881 England Census
England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915
1891 England Census
1901 England Census
Pennsylvania, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, 1798-1962
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995
Electoral Registers, 1840-1962
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current
Burwin family gravestone, Slack Lane Bapist Churchyard, Oakworth
Burial or Cremation Place: Keighley, Metropolitan Borough of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England
Keighley News obituaries, Keighley Library.
The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 – 1931) – SHEFFIELD CHORAL SOCIETY account.
