Elizabeth Perdue was born in Warrington, Lancashire in about 1880. Her parents were Thomas Perdue, a domestic coach driver who had been born in Cavan County in Ireland and Eliza. She had one elder sister and eventually 5 younger sisters and 2 younger brothers.
In 1881 she is with her parents & sister in 21 Heath Lane, Warrington. She is just 1 year old.
In 1891 she is with her parents, 3 sisters & 2 brothers at 67 Leigh Street Warrington. She was 10 years old and a scholar.
In 1901 she is with her parents, 4 sisters and 2 brothers at 67 Legh Street Warrington. She is aged 21 and a Restaurant Assistant. Just across the road at 60 Legh Street, her sister Annie, aged 17, a weaver is living with Charles Boardman and his brothers and sisters as a visitor.
This Charles Boardman was a Tripe Dealer in 1901 and was 23. It appears that he must have inherited his fathers shop shortly before. By 1911 Charles Boardman was married & had a family running a boarding house in Blackford, Lancs. The relevance of this will be shown below.
Elizabeth married William James Rue in Warrington in 1903.
They had three daughters although only two survived infancy. Florence Iris born and died in 1904, Mabel born in 1905 and Dorothy
born in 1911.
In a 1908 trade directory for Warrington we see a Mrs Rue as a Tripe Dealer at 125 Sankey Street. This appears to be our Elizabeth. In the 1895 directory at 125 Sankey Street was a Charles Boardman – Tripe Dealer. This seems to be the senior Charles Boardman as in the 1891 census there is at 60 Leigh Street Charles Boardman aged 45 a tripe dealer with his wife and 7 children including a 13 year old son, also called Charles. My assumption would be that between 1895 and 1901 the senior Charles died and left the shop to his son also Charles. By 1908, Charles had moved on with his own family and left the shop to Elizabeth.
It would have been quite unusual at that time for Elizabeth to run the shop as a lady. She had had 2 children by 1908, one of whom had survived infancy and yet Elizabeth must have been quite busy with the shop as well.
I have been to Sankey Street and the position of this shop is very impressive, directly opposite the town hall with its very grand gates. 125 has long been demolished and turned into a block of flats, however I have seen pictures in books of how the street looked in 1900 and it looks like a very pleasant place to be.
However by 1913 there is no 125 Sankey Street in the trade directory.
In the 1911 census we can see Elizabeth and family living at 7 Quay Fold, Warrington. William James Rue was 28, a worker in a wire works, Elizabeth was 30 with no occupation shown, Mabel was 5 and Dorothy just 1 month old.
Mabel went on to marry Thomas Bate in 1926, Dorothy married Thomas Rose in 1934.
It appears they all remained in Warrington.
Elizabeth died in 1953 and William died in 1955 both in Warrington.