Eva Forsdick

Eva was born on the Isle of Wight in 1901, her mother was Alice Bertha Rice who was from Pagelsham and her family were Oyster Dredgers. Aged just 12 Alice went into Domestic Service as her parents couldn’t afford to feed her. Alice hated it so much that she ran home and hid, offering not to eat so that she could stay with them. She must have survived being sent back as later, Alice worked for a Doctor’s family who lived in the Isle of Wight where Eva’s father Austin Guy worked as a gardener. They married in 1895.

The family moved to Southend before the Great War and lived in Newlands Road, Westcliff-on-Sea. Eva had a brother , George who was 3 years older than her who she doted upon. George joined the Isle of Wight Rifles and was killed at Gallipoli in 1915. Eva never stopped mourning him.

Eva worked at a local Parachute Factory during the Great War, where she met Walter Forsdick and they married in 1926. Eva and Walter reportedly had a very happy marriage but never had children and in 1948 Walter died of a burst appendix. Eva lived in Southend until she was 104 in 2005. She is buried at North Road Burial Ground in Westcliff.

Eva Forsdick

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