A tribute to Jennifer Spencer

(b 6 June1929 d 3 November 2022)

I was very sad to hear of Jennifer's passing in November last year. Jennifer was one of the first of our UK relatives mentioned to me in relation to our Hardy family history. Much of the Hardy family history we have available to us today has been the result of research done by Jennifer. She was part of a very important group of Hardy family members who did much of their research in the days when this work involved many long hours pouring over hard copy records in churches, libraries and other repositories of records of births,marriages, deaths, ship passengers lists etc.

Jennifer's daughter Penny Spencer has very kindly provided me with a number of photos of Jennifer and a very helpful insight into her mother's life. Much of what follows is based on the information sent to me by Penny and was used in the very moving tribute recently given by Penny at Jennifer's Memorial Service.

Penny states that interest in the Hardy family history started for Jennifer around 1963. This was when her great aunt "Teff" (Effie Janet Hardy) died and left behind some papers and family histories she had created. Jennifer rescued these just before her father consigned them to a bonfire in the back garden of Aunt Teff's home. So began the many visits to village churches to look at parish registers.

The many years of research was very carefully compiled into folders and albums which Penny advises takes up some 15 feet of shelf space in her study for Jennifer's folders and albums. In addition there are books, pamphlets and journals taking up even more space.The records are all well labelled, colour coded and indexed on cards. Jennifer's approach to her research was to look into the social history of the times as well as the lives of the individual family members.

Aunt Effie's Notes

Below is an example of the notes left by Effie. She was born in 1874 and died in 1963.

Where Jennifer fits into the Hardy family

My great great grandfather Charles Hardy and his brother Robert Ebenezer (known as Ebbie) Hardy were both sent by their father to learn the trade of chemists. Charles took quite a different course in his life but Robert carried on this profession and established the very successful and multi-generational Hardy & Son Chemists business in Salisbury. The photo above shows the premises of the business in 1890.

Jennifer was a great granddaughter of Robert Hardy. Her parents were George Leslie Hardy (known as Leslie) and Marjorie Hardy nee Dransfield.

Jennifer was born and grew up in Salisbury. She was educated at the Godolphin School. Her father became the third generation to run the business, joining on his return from WW1 in 1919 and subsequently succeeding his father George Bonner Hardy as Managing Director. George Leslie was also a member of the local volunteer fire brigade and was in charge of the brigade during WW2.

Jennifer was age 10 when WW2 began and was 16 when it ended. On D-Day which was her 15th birthday Jennifer's father woke her early and took her to a window to watch the planes fly over Salisbury en route to Normandy - he wanted her to remember history being made.

Jennifer (known as Jen) loved dressing up from an early age and developed a great passion for acting which stayed with her throughout her life. Unfortunately she did not manage to develop acting as a career but instead initially trained as a radiographer. It was while training for this profession that she met her husband to be Peter Spencer. He had already qualified as a radiographer. They married in 1952.

Jen worked as a radiographer for a short time in Bristol and subsequently utilised her medical knowledge when she worked in both doctors and dental practices. She was Practice Manager of a busy multi GPs practice in High Wycombe for many years. This was alongside her interest in drama through acting in local amateur theatre productions in the Droitwich Theatre and Arts Club in Worcestershire and the Fourways Drama Group in High Wycombe. Jen also became involved in community organisations including being Chair of Wycombe Arts Festival, Buckinghamshire Arts Association and Buckinghamshire Council for Voluntary Services. In addition to her acting Jen also developed a great love of gardening and was able to create a beautiful garden at her home in Willoughby's Walk in Downley, High Wycombe, her home for 41 years. The photo at the top of this tribute was taken in her garden in 2009.

A portrait of Jen taken in 1949/50

Jen retired from work in 1996. This enabled her to spend more time with her family, in her garden and on her family history research. Penny advises that when she first started her research in the 1960s, her mum initially focused her research on the Wiltshire and Gloucester areas where her families came from but from there moved further afield and corresponded with distant relations in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

I know that Jen met with my cousin John Hardy and his wife Jill when they visited the UK in the mid 1990s. Jen also met and corresponded with Dulcie McClure who lived in Canada. I have recently learned that Jen also corresponded with Nanette Duxberry from Australia. Nanette is descended from Charles and Alice Hardy through their son George who migrated to Australia. From email correspondence with Penny and with Nanette I have learned that another member of the Hardy family in Australia, Geoffrey Ferrow had also conducted many years of research on the Hardy family.

I am sorry that I never met Jen. However I can see from the information that has been shared with me by many family members that she made a very significant contribution to our knowledge of the Hardy family's history. It is also clear she was a multi-talented woman with many interests in addition to her passion for family history.

Imagine the wonderful stories we would hear if we could get Jen, Dulcie and others together for a chat now!