Jessie (Skinner) Howard
From abernant To Oxford
Jessie Skinner was our great-aunt. She was born 17th December 1897 at Abernant Farm, the first daughter of James and Rosa Skinner. Jessie attended school in Caerleon where she received a medal after not missing a day at school for 7 years! This was followed by the Girls’ Intermediate School in Newport. She showed a love and aptitude for learning and literature, something that she always attributed to her Scottish heritage.
Letters from the time portray an ambitious young woman with an enquiring mind, one who was keen to expand her horizons. Eldest brother Wallace called her “the one in the family with brains”. Jessie described herself as being different from her siblings, not sharing their love for the farm and outdoor pursuits such as “dangerous” horse riding. She expressed an admiration for those who mastered these activities but couldn’t understand them wanting to do it.
In 1916 James and Rosa paid for Jessie to attend university at Oxford. She passed the entrance exams and registered with St. Hugh’s College 26th October 1916 to study French, she was 18 when she arrived. Jessie expressed a deep gratitude to her parents for allowing her to stay in school longer than her brothers and for paying for her to go to Oxford. Some of Jessie’s experiences at university were captured in two letters she wrote to her uncle John Skinner in Nebraska.
It is clear that Jessie loved her time at Oxford and even described her pleasure in the reading homework she was given, she showed no desire to live at Abernant for a long time. Whilst at Oxford Jessie attended both the college chapel and St Mary’s Church. The letters also contain a frustration with her mother’s family, who didn’t understand her love of reading over amusements.
Jessie went on to achieve Third Class Honours in French Language and Literature in the Second Public Examinations in 1919. At this time, women were not allowed to matriculate (become members of the University) although they could take examinations. This meant that Jessie could not formally graduate at a ceremony, but In 1920 this changed. Those who had completed a course were now permitted to graduate providing that they matriculated and paid £5. Records showed that Jessie paid her dues.
Women who had not sat the relevant First Public Examination required for a degree while at Oxford were now permitted to sit whatever exams they had missed. Jessie returned to sit her First Public Examinations in Holy Scripture and Greek in Translation in 1921. Despite now having all of the criteria required to graduate, university records suggest that Jessie never attended a graduation ceremony.
On returning to Newport Jessie married John Edmund Howard (known as Jack Howard). The wedding took place 26th Sept 1923 at All Saint’s Church in Kemeys Inferior. Jessie was aged 25 and John 26. John was living at Penylan Farm in St Brides, Netherwent with his family. His father Bennett was a successful farmer and corn merchant, and John was working with him and learning the trade. His younger brother Geoffrey emigrated to Canada where he married in 1934 and raised a family.
In the year of their marriage, John Howard was listed in Kelly’s Business Directory as a Miller, based at Station Mills in Bassaleg, Jessie also worked, using her education she became a teacher going on to specialise in Religious Instruction and English History. Jessie’s teaching career started in 1921 when she worked as an Assistant Mistress at Clifton High School for Girls in Bristol from 1921-23, followed by spells at Lliswerry Infants School and St. Woolos Infants School in Newport. She did her teacher training at St Mary’s Training College in Cheltenham and gained a Board of Education Certificate. Jessie registered with the Teaching Council in 1931.
The couple lived in Newport, first at Innisfree on Risca Road and then Duffryn Court in Bassaleg. In 1935 they settled at number 35 on Bryngwyn Road, it was a substantial property and they stayed for 28 years. John and Jessie had three children: Gordon born in 1926, John 1928 and finally Vivienne in 1932.
In April 1949 John Howard had a moment of notoriety when he appeared in a small article on the front page of the Daily Mail. John and other merchants were in court due to the undersupply of corn that has been paid for by the government. He was listed by the paper as living at Cwrt Bleddyn in Llangibby. We can’t validate this address using other records from the period, so we suspect his business was registered there.
John became a successful director of a company selling farming machinery and they enjoyed a comfortable life together. Jessie raised the children and continued her teaching career. She remained close with her siblings and wider family and hosted her Sister Margaret on one of her trips home from South Africa. Their three children all married and raised families of their own.
John travelled extensively, this included business trips to South Africa, and to visit extended family in Australia. His aunty Susan Howard had emigrated to Australia in 1886 and married John Piper, their daughter Mary Piper married Robert Quick and had four children. John travelled to Australia to visit the Quick’s on several occasions. These photos with Mary Quick were taken in Sawtell, New South Wales on his 1951 trip.
In 1963 John sold his business and the couple retired, Jessie’s last position was Religious Instruction Organiser at Graig School in Bassaleg, Newport. They retired to Jersey to enjoy the favourable tax rates and were able to purchase one of the most notable properties on the Island, Les Grillons at Pont Marquet, St Brelade. The beautiful property was later selected for a modelling shoot with Carolyn Seaward, who was Miss England.
In 1971 James Skinner, an American cousin, and his wife came to Jersey and spent nine days with the Howards. He recalled what a thoroughly entertaining couple they were, happily bickering away with each other. Jessie had recently suffered a stroke but was able to regale her visitors with stories about the wonderful Skinner family. John would then take the Americans on tours of the island and tell them about all the skeletons in the Skinner family closet!
Jessie died aged 74 in St Helier, Jersey 1971, her death certificate listed her as a retired school teacher. Jessie’s passing was also recorded in the St Hugh’s College Chronicle. John then moved to Weston-Super-Mare where his sister Majorie lived; he died in 1973. They left a joint will which is held by Jersey Heritage, it left the estate to their children.
Following John’s death, the ashes of Jessie were flown home from Jersey, and they were buried together at the church of Saint Bridget in St Brides, Netherwent. It is set in quiet countryside and a short walk from John’s childhood home. The grave of John and Jessie is situated next to that of Dorothy Howard and Margaret Howard. They were John’s sisters who had both died in childhood. In the years following the death of his parents, eldest son Gordon Howard remained in close contact with his extended family in Wales.
