Great Grandparents

John Mullaney married Elizabeth Bourne when she was nineteen years old and he was twenty five. It was a very unlikely match, but Elizabeth was trapped into the care of her father and brother, and John recognised in her a stability and social standing lacking in his own family. He persistently pursued her and she succumbed, much to the disapproval of relatives on both sides.

                                                                      Elizabeth and John

However, father James and brother Martin came to live in the marital home and life continued much the same except Elizabeth had to endure a physical relationship she found abhorrent. Together John and Elizabeth had four children, although Elizabeth was not very maternal or suitable for domestic duties. She always insisted she should only have had one child – her ‘golden boy’ Terry.

Terry and Dad

Family members were aware of her cold and demanding behaviour towards her brother Martin and she finally manipulated a situation, when he was old enough, whereby he felt he had no choice but to move away.

All of the children went to grammar school but none were allowed, by their mother, to stay through the sixth form. They were all expected to work and relinquish their earnings to mother. Her daughter, in fact, was bought (a fine for wasting a grammar school place) out of school before final exams at 16 – the reasoning behind that decision by mother was because mother had not completed her education so neither should her daughter.

Terry was subjected to the ‘call up’ system – compulsory training in the armed forces at the age of eighteen, however within that training he was sent to Cambridge University to study Russian.

Terence Mullaney

The remaining children all eventually, independently, continued their education for professional careers.

Martin and Elizabeth were reunited in the 1980’s when Martin was dying of heart disease. He confessed that he had found his father’s family when he left Elizabeth’s home and he claimed the remainder of his father’s inheritance which had originally been refused by James. Martin subsequently left all his possessions and money to Elizabeth in recognition of her fulfilling her duty towards him.