Daily archives: March 1, 2026

Mary Jane Hill Bardgett of ‘Kia-Ora’ 16 Mikado Road, died in 1947, aged 83.  She was born Mary Jane Hill in Lincoln in 1864.  In 1891 she married James Bardgett, a saddler from Westmoreland.  They married in Leeds but moved to Cleethorpes to run a pub – the Leeds Arms, and then the Cross Keys. They then moved to Australia and spent the next 15 years living in Melbourne and Perth.  Although working as a saddler, James made several unsuccessful journeys into the bush, searching for gold during one of the later gold rushes.  Two sons were born in Australia: James William 1893-1972 and Clarence May 1898-1982.  In the early 1904 they moved to Nottingham, where another son was born – George Leonard (1904-1972). James then bought a saddler’s business at 9 Gibb St, just off the High Street, Long Eaton and the family lived above the shop.  By 1921 he was unemployed and they were at 9 Clifford St (probably the same house, as the saddler’s shop seems to have been on the corner of Gibb St and Clifford St).  He retired due to ill health in 1926 and died in 1929.  The shop disappeared when Woolworths (now B&M) was […]