Gladys Powsey/Hubble

b. 1903 Wilmington Gardens, Dartford, Kent, d. 1995, Nr. Ashford, Kent.



Gladys enjoying a liquid something or other by the liquid water she spent much of her performing life in, perhaps while on holiday.


Another photo of Gladys on holiday


Gladys and her first husband Charles...no one in Canada can remember his last name...Charles died of lung cancer.


Gladys on holiday...Spain?...Majorca?...she loved her holidays in the sun, including boat cruises.


Gladys at a small cottage in Smeeth, Kent, where she lived after spending a number of years living with brother Nick and his wife Lou.


A postcard that is obviously from her days working at the West Pier in Brighton.


A postcard photograph of Gladys doing her synchronised swimming.


Gladys the Contortionist.


Gladys Powsey


A touching photograph of Gladys as a young woman that she obviously gave to her parents Professor and Rose Powsey.

The Cumberland Canadian contingent have quite a few photographs, memories and anecdotes of Gladys, and more of these will be uploaded in future edits. Gladys visited Canada on a number of occasions in the 1970's, spending time with both branches of the family that live here, her brother Nick's sons and her brother Horace (Albert) and daughters.

Notes on the life of Gladys Powsey

Gladys was born in Wilmington Gardens in Dartford, Kent in 1903, the 6th surviving child of Rose and Albert Edward Powsey. Gladys would have been born just before Bert and Rose moved to Southport; Albert Edward's obituary indicates that Herbert took over at Herne Bay and Gladys joined Eugene's Bathing Belles; there must be an error somewhere. Gladys was 14 at the end of the first world war and remembered the wars ending vividly into her old age.

As noted in A. E. Powsey's obituary, Gladys was trained by the Professor as a diver and swimmer. She later worked swimming during the summers and during the winters as a dancer and contortionist on the stage.

She also dove and Clive Powsey remembers her telling him of a dive she made of 70ft or 110ft from a warehouse into the Thames River. She said she split her forehead open on impact as a result of hitting a matchstick floating in the water, and a couple of days later suffered a brain hemorrhage.

At some time in her career (presumably before WW2) Gladys made an attempt to swim the English Channel, and made 20 of the 23 miles before exhaustion and contrary tides forced her to leave the water, whereupon she found herself unable to walk. The Cumberland, Canada contingent of Powsey's had always heard that Gladys was attempting to become the first woman to swim the channel. The first woman to swim the channel was a Gertrude Ederle in 1926 and she beat the time of all the male swimmers who had succeeded to date. We don't know yet what year Gladys attempted her swim. It was an astounding feat by her, regardless.

During World War Two Gladys was employed as a 'clippie' on a double decker bus, and after woulds moved to the Ministry of Labour as a civil servant. Gladys married twice; her first husband was Charles ('uncle Charlie'), last name at the moment unknown. He and Gladys lived in London (St. Albans?) and he died of lung cancer.

Her second husband was Alfred Hubble with whom she lived in Dartford. He died in the late '50's or early '60's of Parkinson's disease.

Gladys says she worked until she was 60 which means she would have retired in 1963. She had a long and remarkable career, at a time when it was not common for a woman to be a 'career woman'. Shortly after retirement, in 1964 or 1965 she moved in with her brother Nick at 'Venture' in Smeeth, Nr. Ashford, Kent.

In her retirement Gladys travelled to Canada at least once with Nick and met her brother Horace (Albert) and his wife Clara who lived in the vicinity of Nick's eldest son Tony. Gladys died in Ashford, Kent in 1995.

The following is an edited and roughly transcribed conversation with Gladys that was tape recorded with Margaret and Tony Powsey, March 1994, Kennington, Nr. Ashford Kent. In it she recollects some of the momentous events in her life and also memories of family members including her brothers and sisters. 'G' is Gladys; 'M' is Margaret, and 'T' is Tony.

T- Tell something, Gladys, where were you born?

G- Dartford.

T- Dartford in Kent; the family lived there, right?

G- Wilmington Gardens.

T- Do you remember the house?

G- I was only about four...Grandad used to have curly hair and I used to put paper on it and curl it up more...

T- Grandad had curly hair? When I remember him he had pretty straight hair...

G- Oh well, I'm talking about Grandad Powsey, Grandad Powsey...

T- Yeah, Grandad Powsey, that's right...

G- Oh, I don't know about my Father...

T- Oh, you're talking about your Grandfather.... (we now know this to be William Henry Powsey--C.P.)

G- I'm talking about my Grandfather.

T- And was his name Powsey...it must have been...of course it would...

G- Lousy Powsey.

T- What did he do for a living, your Grandfather?

G- I don't know...

T- Can you remember?

G- ...retired... ( we've since discovered from the 1881 census that William Henry Powsey was a Coxswain in the Royal Navy working at a dockyard)

T- What about Great Grandma, then, can you remember her name?

G- Rose, and she was a submarine diver.

M- She wore a diving suit.

T- No, that was my Grandmother.

G- That's who I'm talking about.

T- You're talking about my Grandmother. I'm talking about your Grandmother.

G- Oh, I don't know about...

M- You can remember your Mother's name, Rose, can you remember her maiden name. Ellis?

G- Ellis.

G- When Archie was born...he had Ellismore (?)...Ellis Powsey...

M- Oh, he put her name in too...Archies not alive now?

G- No, he died last year.

T- So your Grandmother lived in Dartford as well as my Grandfather?

G- I don't think they're there...they've gone now...

T- So how many brothers and sisters did you have?

G- Archie, Eddie, Horace, Percy, Dolly, Gladys, Nickie and Bert.

M- Then there was the little one who died?

G- Hilda.

T- How old was she when she died?

G- Two.

M- The nurse dropped her, that's when they moved to Southport.

T- Did the nurse drop her?

G- Yes.

G- My Father was a teacher at Marleborough College.

T- Then you moved up to Southport, didn't you? Did you live on Virginia St. with them?

G- 79.

T- 79 Virginia St., and there was another one, Forest Road, was it Forest Road?

G- Yeah.

T- They were there before Virginia St., I was born (when we lived) on Forest Rd., at the hospital, I remember it vaguely, because I always remember climbing a big tree in the back garden.

G- Who's your Mother?

T- Louie...

G- Who?

T- Lou. Nick was my Dad.

G- That's right.

T- I remember living in Forest Rd. because I remember climbing this big tree and Grandad and Grandma below.

G- So you fell on them...!

T- No I didn't!

.

.

.

G- I had two Husbands.

M- I know you did, you had Charles and Alfred. That's Charles up there...(points to photo)

G- That's my Youngie, that's when he was coming to meet me.

T- Yeah, he was a nice man, I always remember Charles...

G- He was the love of my life.

T- Alfred was nice too...

G- Oh yes, they both thought the world of me.

T- He used to stay at home when you went out to work? What did you do up there in London?

G- I still get a pension.

T- Yeah. What was it you did?

G- He was at the offices at Euston Station.

T- You were there too?

G- I was working at the Ministry of Labour.

M- At Watford.

T- 'Cause Margaret and I came down and saw you one night, didn't we, wwe were going down to Southport on the motorbike, remember?

G- Uh...hmmm....

M- And you (Tony) slept with Alfred and I slept with Auntie Gladys and you told me you didn't move at night, and not to keep turning over and moving the bed clothes up because when you got up in the morning it looked like you hadn't even been in bed, and you didn't move all night...

G- Ha ha!

M- ....and you didn't move...all night...

G- I put my head down and go to sleep and that's that...lately I have to take a sleeping pill.

M- You should have a glass of your Advocaat, or whisky or something...

(to be continued...)

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