Mary Pickernell was born on 4 February 1840, at Buckland Portsea to John Pickernell, a cordwainer and his wife Eliza neé Bethell. She had a younger sister, Emily born c 1845.

Mary married William Earle on 24 April 1861 when she was 21 years old. They had several children together before she was widowed in December 1871. It would seem that Mary managed to raise her young family for some years possibly with help from other family members as I have as yet found no record of her re-marrying until March 1881, when she married Reuben Stollery, a licensed victualler and cab proprietor. Reuben had previously been married to Maria  Earle   On the 1881 census, Mary is living with Reuben at the Highland Tavern, Portsea together with her two youngest daughters by William Earle, Maria and Alice; Reuben’s two children by an earlier marriage (Anna aged 18 years and Reuben junior aged 16, a Printer compositor) and  Kate Stollery, his child by Maria.as well as Reuben's stepdaughter, Lily Blundell, (the child of Maria (William Earle’s sister) and Thomas Blundell) -  her details are under Lily Earle Blundell..

In 1901, Mary is to be found, aged 61, living at 12 Northcote Road, Portsmouth with Reuben Stollery, then aged 80 and who is described as a pensioner of the Royal Marines. Lily, now married to Frederick James Ranger and with a young son, Frederick junior is also living in the same house. Reuben was to die 4 years later leaving Mary a widow for the second time in 1905.  Kate Stollery, Mary's stepdaughter and Lily's half sister, who is described in 1901 as being deaf, is then working as a domestic servant for her  cousin and step-brother,  Edward Earle and his family in London. Some time after Reuben's death Mary moved to London where she died on 13th April 1930 aged 90 years, at 5a Oakmead Road Balham. Her death was registered by Lily Ranger ( nee Blundell) - her stepdaughter who was living at the same address.

John Pickernell was christened on 13^th September 1801 at St Mary’s Portsea which seems to have been the church for the family going back well into the 18^th century.

His father was James Pickernell and his mother Mary neé Hopkins. He had at least one brother James Pickernell born in 1794.

John Pickernell married Eliza Bethell on 15 May 1826 and they had six children so far known – Eliza, James (born c 1838), William (born c 1839) Mary (born 4 February 1840) Fanny Amelia (born c 1843) and Emily (born 1844/5).

John Pickernell was a cordwainer by trade and seems to have been a successful and well known bootmaker. His name appears in trade directories for Hampshire over several decades simply with the address Buckland, Portsea. His wife, Eliza died on 14 September 1878 at Buckland Road aged 72 years after a severe bout of diarrhoea lasting 1 1/2 months. Her death was registered by her daughter Eliza Shirley (now married and living in Havant) who had been attending her. Eliza Shirley was a Nurse SMS on the 1881 census - SMS standing for Subsidiary Medical services indicating that she had probably had some medical training in nursing.

In 1881, he is recorded in the census as living at 245 Fratton Street, Portsea, the home of his daughter Emily who has married Frederick Hill and has seven children, and Clara, her niece living there too. John Pickernell is 80 years old but still working at his trade- he is by now a widower. John Pickernell lived on until 30 October 1893 when he died (aged 94 years old) at 27 Grenville Road, Southsea - described as a shoemaker (jobbing) implying he may still have been working - cause of death is described as senile decay and exhaustion!! 

The name cordwainers by the eighteenth century had come to be used regularly for those who made boots and shoes (in contrast to cobblers who merely repaired them). The term ‘cordwainer’ derives from the fine Cordovan goatskin leather from the Spanish town Cordoba, which was used to make the shoes and boots.

From Roman times until the 20^th century boot and shoemakers were regarded as an elite among the working classes and they were known for their freethinking and independence. Many worked from home and the many processes involved in producing the finished goods may have employed a whole family if need be – the man and wife and their children. Henry Mayhew writing in 1850 thought they were ‘certainly far from an unintellectual body of men. They appear to be a stern, uncompromising and reflecting race. This perhaps is to be accounted for by the solitude of their employment developing their own internal resources..’ During the political troub;les of the early 19^th century shoe and bootmakers were often among the leaders. The majority of the 1820 Cato Street conspiracy – planning to assassinate the Cabinet – were footwear workers and towards the end of the century it was the Northampton shoeworkers who rallied to return the atheist and freethinking Charles Bradlaugh to Parliament.

Sadly by the end of the nineteenth century fewer shoes and boots were being made by the traditional cordwainers. Factories and workshops were beginning to be set up and the process of boot and shoe making was becoming mechanised. By the 1930s handmade shoes were becoming a luxury rather than the norm.

John Pickernell – was proud enough of his trade to be listed regularly  in the Hampshire trade directories from the 1830’s onwards. Aged 80 in 1881, John still worked at his trade, from his daughter Emily’s home in Portsea.

William Earle, shared the same trade – perhaps it was through this that he had come to meet and fall in love with Mary, John Pickernell’s daughter whom he married in 1861. He however also describes himself variously as a bootmaker and a shoemaker – and of course bizarrely in 1863 he is recorded as a licensed beer retailer! Was this an additional source of income or did he briefly flirt with the idea of following in his own father’s footsteps. Edward Dennis Earle having given up the bakery trade to become a licensed beer retailer.