George Toogood Smith (1903 – 5 June 1955) was the maternal uncle, through marriage, of John Lennon. Smith operated his family's two dairy farms and a retail outlet with his brother, Frank Smith, in the village of Woolton, Liverpool. The farms had been in the Smith family for four generations, but after the start of World War II, they were taken over by the British Government for war work.

Smith started courting Mimi Stanley in the spring of 1932, but was thwarted by her indifference and her father's interference. After delivering milk to the hospital where she worked he gave her an ultimatum that she must marry him, "or nothing at all!" On 15 September 1939, she finally married him. They bought a semi-detached house called Mendips, named after the range of hills, at 251 Menlove Avenue, Liverpool.

Lennon lived with Smith and his wife for the majority of his childhood, and Smith taught the young Lennon to read, read him nursery rhymes at night, and later taught Lennon how to solve crossword puzzles. He also taught him to draw and paint and bought him his first mouth organ. Smith collapsed and died on a Sunday at his home of a liver haemorrhage, aged 52, and was buried in St Peter’s Church graveyard, Woolton.

Early years[link]

George Toogood Smith's parents, Francis and Alice Smith, had eight children in total; Mary, Eleanor, Francis, Robert, Alice, George, Alfred and one other who died. Robert was killed in action on the 30th August 1918 in World War I. George's paternal grandmother's maiden name was Toogood which was given to George as a middle name. His mother died in 1949.^[1] Smith operated his family's two dairy farms and a shop with his brother Frank in the village of Woolton. The farms had been in the Smith family for four generations.^[1][2] Smith delivered milk by horse and cart in the Woolton area. The raw milk he provided was stored in a large churn and was ladled out into the bottles and receptacles of customers.^[3]

When other girls were thinking of marriage, Mimi Stanley talked of challenges and adventures. She once confided that she never wanted to get married, as she hated the idea of being "tied to the kitchen sink".^[4] She became a resident trainee nurse at the Woolton Convalescent Hospital, to which Smith delivered milk every morning.^[4] Smith started seriously courting Mimi in the spring of 1932, but was constantly thwarted by her indifference and her father's interference. George Stanley (Mimi's father) would only allow the couple to sit in the back room of the family home in Newcastle Road when he or his wife were in the front room, and before it grew too late he would burst into the back room and loudly order Smith home.^[4] The courtship lasted almost seven years, but Smith grew tired of waiting, so after delivering milk to the hospital one morning he gave her an ultimatum that she must marry him, "or nothing at all!"^[4] The youngest sister of the Stanley family, Julia Stanley, had married Alfred Lennon nine months before, on 3 December 1938.^[5]

Marriage[link]

Mendips, Smith and Mimi's home

On 15 September 1939, Mimi finally married Smith. They bought a semi-detached house called called Mendips (named after the range of hills) at 251 Menlove Avenue (across the road from the Allerton Park golf course) in a middle-class area of Liverpool.^[6][7] After World War II started the British Government took over the Smith family's farmland for war work, and they had to find other sources of income.^[8]

Menlove Avenue suffered extensive damage during the war, and Smith and his wife often had to throw a wet blanket on incendiary bombs that fell in their garden.^[9] Smith was called up for military service, but was discharged three years later, and subsequently worked in an aircraft factory in Speke until the end of the war.^[8] Smith later left the milk trade and started a small bookmaker's business, which led his wife to complain that Smith was a compulsive gambler, and had lost most of their money.^[2][10] During 1942–1943, Mimi's sister Julia lived with Lennon at The Dairy Cottage; 120a Allerton Road, Woolton, which was owned by the Smith family.^[11]

John Lennon[link]

Lennon lived with Smith and his wife for the majority of his childhood when his mother Julia (under pressure from the local authorities, Mimi, and the Stanley family) was told that she was unable to care for her son. Julia was eventually forced to hand the care of Lennon over to Mimi and George, who had no children of their own.^[12] Lennon then lived continuously at Mendips, in the smallest bedroom above the front door.^[2][6] Lennon later talked about Mendips and the area around it: "I lived in the suburbs in a nice semi-detached place with a small garden and doctors and lawyers and that ilk living around... not the poor slummy kind of image that was projected in all The Beatles' stories".^[13][14]

Hohner Super Chromonica, a typical 12-hole chromatic harmonica, sometimes called a mouth organ, which Smith gave to Lennon

Smith was very fond of Lennon, and his softer approach to parenting was in stark contrast to his stern wife,^[2] who based everything on decorum, honesty, and a black-and-white attitude; either you were good enough or you were not.^[15] Pete Shotton—Lennon's school friend—later commented that "Mimi had a very strong sense of what was right or wrong".^[15] In contrast, Smith used to give the young Lennon "squeakers" (kisses) that his wife did not approve of.^[3]

Smith taught the four-year-old Lennon to read by reading out loud the headlines of the Liverpool Echo,^[16] read him nursery rhymes at night, and later taught Lennon how to solve crossword puzzles. Smith told Lennon that words did not have to be taken at face value, as they had many different meanings, which Lennon would later use in his writing.^[17] He also taught Lennon to draw and paint and bought him his first mouth organ.^[13][18] Mimi admitted that she never had the time to "go playing ducks in the bath with him" (Lennon) but that Smith would put Lennon to bed nearly every night. Mimi later said: "John [Lennon] loved his uncle George. I felt quite left out of that. They'd go off together, just leaving me a bar of chocolate and a note saying: 'Have a happy day.'"^[19]

Smith often took Lennon and his cousins to the cinema or the park, even though he worked at night and early in the morning on the farm and his milk round.^[20] When the cousins played outside Smith allowed them to eat meals with their hands in the garden shed.^[17] During the school holidays Lennon and his cousins were allowed to accompany Smith on his milk rounds, and every year he allowed Lennon to place a bet on the Grand National.^[2][8]

Death[link]

Smith collapsed on a Sunday at home of a liver haemorrhage (aged 52) and was buried in the graveyard of St. Peter's Church, Woolton, in the Smith family grave.^[1]

Sango Bay, Durness, which Lennon was visiting at the time of Smith's death

At the time of Smith's death, the fourteen-year-old Lennon was visiting members of the Stanley family in Sango Bay, Durness, Scotland, and was not informed until he returned home.^[21] Lennon's first reaction was to laugh hysterically, but then to privately grieve and cry,^[22] as he later did after hearing about the death of his mother three years later, and the death of Stuart Sutcliffe (The Beatles' first bass player) which were all major factors in Lennon's early life.^[2][23] In the same year as Smith’s death the McCartney family moved to 20 Forthlin Road, which is only ¾ of a mile (1.2 km) from Mendips.^[24] Lennon would later meet Paul McCartney for the first time at St. Peter's Church, where Smith was buried.^[25]

After Smith's death, Lennon insisted on wearing a large overcoat that had belonged to Smith, and even though it became worn and threadbare, Lennon wore it throughout his art college years.^[26] Mimi never used the downstairs sitting rooms again after Smith's death (only using the breakfast room and the kitchen)^[27] and never replaced the furniture, which became old and faded.^[28] Lennon continued to live at Mendips (and also for a time with his first wife Cynthia Lennon) until his early 20s, before moving to London.^[29]

When Lennon was living in America he asked his half-sister, Julia Dykins, to send the clock that was previously in the living room at Mendips, which had been passed down through Smith's family, and was inscribed with the words, "George Smith, Woolton Tavern",^[30] onto a metal plate on the back.^[31][32] In Lennon's last published interview, he said: "This image of me being an orphan is garbage, because I was well protected by my auntie and uncle [Smith and Mimi] and they looked after me very well, thanks".^[33]

Portrayal on film[link]

Smith, his wife and Lennon were portrayed in the film Nowhere Boy, by David Threlfall, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Aaron Johnson, which was released in the US on 8 October 2010.^[34][35]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Coleman, Ray (1987). Lennon. Mcgraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-011786-0. 
• Lennon, Cynthia (2005). John. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-89512-2. 
• Miles, Barry (1997). Many Years From Now. Vintage-Random House. ISBN 978-0-7493-8658-0. 
• Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles – The Biography. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-80352-6. 

External links[link]

• Stanley Parkes talks about Smith

Mary Anna McCartney (previously McCartney-Donald) is a photographer. The first biological child of rock photographer Linda Eastman McCartney and Paul McCartney of The Beatles, Mary was named after her paternal grandmother, Mary McCartney.^[1]

Mary has an older half-sister named Heather McCartney (born Heather Louise See in 1962 to Linda and Joseph Melville See Jr.), who was adopted by Paul McCartney; a younger sister, Stella (born 1971); and a younger brother, James (born 1977). Mary's mother, Linda, died from breast cancer in 1998. Mary has a much younger half-sister, Beatrice Milly McCartney, born to her father and his second wife Heather Mills in 2003.

The most famous photograph of Mary McCartney was taken by her mother; it is a photograph of her as a baby, peeping out from inside her father's jacket. The photograph is featured on the back cover of her father's first solo album, McCartney (sometimes known as the "cherries" album).

After the birth of sister Stella, McCartney's parents formed the classic rock group Wings, with whom she and her siblings travelled the globe until 1980. She grew up to be a vegetarian and is passionate about animal rights like the rest of her family.^[2][3]

Professional life[link]

Following in the footsteps of her mother, McCartney became a professional photographer. She was photo editor for the music-book publisher Omnibus Press^[4] and in 1992 began taking photographs professionally, specializing in portrait and fashion photography.^[5] Because her paternal grandmother and her mother died after long bouts with breast cancer, she began campaigning for breast cancer awareness in the United Kingdom. As a result, she became close friends with Cherie Blair, wife of former UK prime minister Tony Blair. This led to McCartney being chosen to take the first official photo of the prime minister and his wife with their fourth child, Leo, born 20 May 2000.^[3][5] Before this, the most well-known photos of hers were the last photographs taken of her mother, three weeks before her death.^[6] McCartney has taken portraits of Sam Taylor-Wood, Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, and of her sister Stella, who is a fashion designer.

Her first public photography exhibition was titled Off Pointe: A Photographic Study of The Royal Ballet After Hours. It includes offstage pictures of members of The Royal Ballet as part of the Brighton Festival Fringe, and was meant to showcase the difference between their gruelling and often painful everyday lives and their storybook performances.^[7]

In 2001, McCartney produced the television documentary Wingspan, a story of her father's post-Beatles musical career, focusing on her parents' band Wings. She also interviews her father in the film. In 2005 she was employed by former Spice Girl Melanie C to be the official photographer for her album Beautiful Intentions. Melanie C then asked Mary to direct the video for her single "Better Alone."

McCartney now runs the picture department at her father's company, MPL Communications.^[6]

McCartney has written a vegetarian cookbook, simply titled Food, which was published in 2012.^[8]

Personal life[link]

In 1995, Mary McCartney's brother James introduced her to director and television producer Alistair Donald. After dating for three years, they set a wedding date for May 1998. Upon the death of her mother, the wedding was delayed and McCartney and Donald were married on 26 September 1998. On 3 April 1999, McCartney gave birth to Paul McCartney's first grandchild, Arthur Alistair Donald, making Paul the second Beatle grandfather (the first was Ringo Starr). The Donalds' second son, Elliot Donald, was born on 1 August 2002. For most of their married life, the couple lived in Lauderdale Mansions South in Maida Vale, London.

In April 2005, the couple announced their separation, but stated that the separation was only temporary and that they wished to reconcile for the sake of their two sons.^[9] Although there was no public confirmation of a divorce, by 2007 she had dropped the surname Donald and returned to using her birth name professionally.

On 11 August 2008, Mary gave birth to Sam Aboud, her first child with director boyfriend Simon Aboud.^[10] On 12 June 2010, McCartney and Aboud were married in a private ceremony in London at the Marylebone Register Office — the same location where her parents were wed in 1969.^[11] Her children were in attendance, but the wedding was kept secret and her father and siblings were not present.^[11]On 3 September 2011, Mary gave birth to her second son with Simon, Sid Aboud.

References[link]

1. ^ Miles 1998 p3-4
2. ^ Peta's Animal Times. Autumn 2007. Page 3
3. ^ ^{a b} IMDB bio
4. ^ Miles, Barry; Andy Mabbett (1994). Pink Floyd the visual documentary ([Updated ed.] ed.). London :: Omnibus,. pp. [174] p. : ill. (some col.), facsims, ports (some col.) ; 29 cm. ISBN 0-7119-4109-2. 
5. ^ ^{a b} CAROLYN ASOME (2004-11-04). "Mary McCartney Donald: I wish I had a flat stomach". (London) Times Online. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,275-1342424,00.html. Retrieved 2007-10-05. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "Life behind the lens: Mary McCartney". BBC News. 2000-05-23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/760324.stm. Retrieved 2007-10-05. 
7. ^ "Off Pointe by Mary McCartney Donald". 2004. http://www.olympus.co.uk/gallery/. Retrieved 2007-10-05. 
8. ^ McCartney, Mary (2012). Food. Chatto & Windus. ISBN 978-0701186258. 
9. ^ "Mary McCartney splits from husband". Fazed.com. 2005-04-12. http://www.fazed.com/musicnews/Mary_McCartney_splits_from_husband.html. Retrieved 2007-10-05. 
10. ^ "Mary McCartney Welcomes Third Son". celebritybabyscoop.com. 2008-08-16. http://www.celebritybabyscoop.com/?p=12761. Retrieved 2008-08-16. 
11. ^ ^{a b} Simpson, Richard (2010-06-17). "Mary McCartney marries without even telling her father". London: mailonline.co.uk. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1287207/Mary-McCartney-marries-telling-dad.html. Retrieved 2010-07-07. 

External links[link]

• MaryMcCartney.com Official Site
• Mary McCartney at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Site for Wingspan
• Profile on ArtNet.com
• Off Pointe, by Mary McCartney Donald, 2004
• "Mary McCartney Splits From Husband", Fazed; 12 April 2005
• "Mary McCartney Donald: I Wish I Had A Flat Stomach", The Times; 4 November 2004
• "Life Behind the Lens: Mary McCarney", BBC News 23 May 2000
• Mary McCartney Donald's portrait of her younger sister, top fashion designer Stella McCartney, taken November 1998

Julia Lennon (née Stanley; 12 March 1914 – 15 July 1958) was the mother of English musician John Lennon, who was born during her marriage to Alfred Lennon. After complaints to Liverpool's Social Services by her eldest sister, Mimi Smith (née Stanley), she handed over the care of her son to her sister. She later had one daughter after an affair with a Welsh soldier, but the baby was given up for adoption after pressure from her family. She then had two daughters, Julia and Jackie, with John 'Bobby' Dykins. She never divorced her husband, preferring to live as the common-law wife of Dykins for the rest of her life.

She was known as being high-spirited and impulsive, musical, and having a strong sense of humour. She taught her son how to play the banjo and ukulele, and bought his first acoustic guitar, even though her eldest sister strongly disapproved. She kept in almost daily contact with Lennon, and when he was in his teens he often stayed overnight at her and Dykins' house. On 15 July 1958, she was struck down and killed by a car driven by an off-duty policeman, close to her sister's house at 251 Menlove Avenue. Lennon was traumatised by her death and wrote several songs about her, including "Julia" and "Mother." Biographer Ian MacDonald wrote that she was, "to a great extent... her son's muse."^[1]

Background[link]

Julia Stanley, later known by the family as Judy, was born at 8 Head Street, Toxteth, South Liverpool in 1914, and was the fourth of five sisters.^[2] Her mother, Annie Jane (née Millward), gave birth to a boy and then a girl, both of whom died shortly after birth. She then had Mary, known as 'Mimi' (1903–1991), Elizabeth 'Mater' (1908–1976), Anne 'Nanny' (1911–1988), Julia 'Judy' (1914–1958), and Harriet 'Harrie' (1916–1972).^[2][3] John Lennon would later comment that the 'Stanley girls' were "five, fantastic, strong, beautiful, and intelligent women".^[4] Their father, George Ernest Stanley, retired from the Merchant Navy and found a job with the Liverpool & Glasgow Salvage Association as an insurance investigator. He moved his family to the suburb of Woolton, where they lived in a small terraced house at 9 Newcastle Road near to Penny Lane.^[5] Her mother died in 1945, and she had to take care of her father with help from her eldest sister.^[6]

Marriage to Alfred Lennon[link]

Alfred 'Freddie' Lennon—always called 'Alf' by his family—was always joking but never held a job for very long, preferring to visit Liverpool's many vaudeville theatres and cinemas, where he knew the usherettes by name.^[4] At the Trocadero club, a converted cinema on Camden Road, Liverpool, he first saw an "auburn-haired girl with a bright smile and high cheekbones"; Julia Stanley.^[7] He saw her again in Sefton Park, where he had gone with a friend to meet girls. Lennon, who was dressed in a bowler hat and with a cigarette holder in hand, saw "this little waif" sitting on a wrought-iron bench. Julia (14 years old) said that his hat looked "silly", to which the 15-year-old Alfred replied that she looked "lovely", and sat down next to her. She asked him to take off his hat, so he promptly threw it straight into the Sefton Park lake.^[8]

Sefton Park, where Julia Stanley first met Alfred Lennon

Despite standing only five feet two inches tall in heels, she often caught the gaze of men in the street, being attractive and full-figured. She was always well-dressed and even went to bed with make-up on so as to "look beautiful when she woke up".^[8] A nephew later said that she could "make a joke out of nothing", and could have "walked out of a burning house with a smile and a joke".^[9] She frequented Liverpool's dance halls and clubs where she was often asked to dance in jitterbug competitions with dockers, soldiers, sailors, and waiters. It was remarked that she could be as humorous as any man and would sing the popular songs of the day at any time of day or night.^[8] Her voice sounded similar to Vera Lynn's, whilst Lennon specialised in impersonating Louis Armstrong and Al Jolson.^[10] She played the ukelele, the piano accordion, and the banjo (as did Lennon), although neither pursued music professionally.^[11] They spent their days together walking around Liverpool and talking of what they would do in the future: opening a shop, a pub, a cafe, or a club.^[10]

On 3 December 1938, 11 years after they had first met, she married Alfred Lennon after she had proposed to him.^[4] They were married in the Bolton Street Registry Office, although none of her family were present as she had not informed them about the wedding. She wrote 'cinema usherette' as her occupation on the marriage certificate, even though she had never been one.^[9] They spent their honeymoon eating at Reece's restaurant in Clayton Square (which is where their son would later celebrate after his marriage to Cynthia Powell), and then went to a cinema.^[9][12] She walked into 9 Newcastle Road waving the marriage licence and said to her family, "There!—I've married him."^[13] It was an act of defiance against her father, who had threatened to disown her if she ever cohabitated with a lover.^[4] On their wedding night, she stayed at her parents' house, and Lennon went back to his boarding house. The next day, he went back to sea for three months, on a ship bound for the West Indies.^[9]

The Stanley family completely ignored her husband at first, believing him to be of "no use to anyone—certainly not our Julia".^[4] Her father demanded that Lennon present something concrete to show that he could financially support his daughter, but Lennon signed on as a Merchant Navy steward on a ship bound for the Mediterranean. He returned after a few months at sea and moved into the Stanley home. He auditioned for local theatre managers as an entertainer but had no success. Julia found out that she was pregnant (with John) in January 1940,^[10] but as the war had started her husband continued to serve as a merchant seaman during World War II, sending money home regularly.^[11] The payments stopped after Alfred deserted in 1943.^[6]

John[link]

She gave birth to John Winston Lennon on 9 October 1940, in the second-floor ward of the Oxford Street Maternity Hospital in Liverpool, during World War II. Her eldest sister, Mimi, phoned the hospital and was told that she had given birth to a boy. According to Mimi, she went straight to the hospital during the middle of an air raid, and was forced to hide in doorways to avoid the shrapnel from falling bombs. She ran, as she later recalled, "as fast as my legs could carry me".^[14] Lennon was named after his paternal grandfather and Winston Churchill. Alfred was not present at Lennon's birth, as he was at sea.^[15][14]

John started at his first school in November 1945—Mosspits on Woolton Road—so she found a part-time job at a café near the school so that she could take him to school and pick him up afterwards.^[5] After numerous criticisms from the Stanley family about their still-married daughter 'living in sin' with Dykins and considerable pressure from Mimi—who twice contacted Liverpool's Social Services to complain about the infant Lennon sleeping in the same bed as Julia and Dykins—she reluctantly handed the care of Lennon over to her sister.^[16][17] In July 1946, Alfred visited Mimi's house, Mendips at 251 Menlove Avenue, and took Lennon to Blackpool for a long holiday, but he was secretly intending to emigrate to New Zealand with him.^[18] Julia and Dykins found out and followed them to Blackpool. Alfred asked Julia to go with them both to New Zealand, but she refused. After a heated argument, Alfred said their five-year-old child had to choose between his mother or him. He chose Alfred (twice) so Julia walked away, but in the end but her son (crying), followed her.^[19] Alfred lost contact with the family until Beatlemania, when he and his son met again.^[20]

She took John back to her house and enrolled him in a local school, but after few weeks she handed him back to Mimi.^[20] Various reasons have been suggested for her decision, such as Dykins' unwillingness to raise the young boy, Julia's inability to cope with the responsibility, or a punishment forced on her by Mimi and her father for "living in sin".^[20] Lennon blamed himself, saying later, "My mother... couldn't cope with me."^[20] He then lived continuously at Mendips, in the smallest bedroom above the front door,^[21][22] with Mimi determined to give him a "proper upbringing".^[20] Julia later bought Lennon his first guitar for £5/10- (five pounds, ten shillings) after Lennon had pestered her incessantly for weeks, but insisted it had to be delivered to her house, not her sister's.^[23] As Lennon had difficulty learning chords, she taught him banjo and ukulele chords, which were simpler,^[11] and later taught Lennon how to play the piano accordion.^[24][25]

As Mimi refused to have a record player in her house, Lennon learned how to play his favourite songs by going to Julia's house.^[26] She played Elvis records to Lennon and would dance around her kitchen with him.^[27] In 1957, when The Quarrymen played at St. Barnabas Hall, Penny Lane, Julia turned up to watch. After each song she would clap and whistle louder than everyone else and was seen "swaying and dancing" throughout the whole concert.^[28] Lennon frequently visited her house during that period, detailing his anxieties and problems, where she gave him encouragement to continue with music over Mimi's objections.^[28]

Victoria[link]

During 1942–1943, Julia lived with her son at The Dairy Cottage; 120a Allerton Road, Woolton.^[29] The cottage was owned by Mimi's husband, George Smith, and Mimi wanted Julia to live there because they would be closer to her house and also out of the Stanley house.^[30] As Alfred was often away at sea, Julia started going out to dance halls. In 1942, she met a Welsh soldier named 'Taffy' Williams who was stationed in the barracks at Mossley Hill.^[31] Alfred later blamed himself for this, as he had written letters telling her that because there was a war on, she should go out and enjoy herself. After an evening out, she would often give her young son a piece of chocolate or shortcrust pastry the next morning for breakfast.^[32] She became pregnant by Williams in late 1944, though first claiming that she had been raped by an unknown soldier.^[33] Williams refused to live with Julia—who was still married to Alfred—until she gave up her son, which she refused to do.^[34] When Alfred eventually came home in 1944, he offered to look after his wife, their son, and the expected baby, but she rejected the idea.^[35]

Alfred took John to his brother Sydney's house, in the Liverpool suburb of Maghull, a few months before Julia came to term.^[34] Julia's daughter, Victoria Elizabeth, born in the Elmswood Nursing Home on 19 June 1945,^[36] was subsequently given up for adoption to a Norwegian Salvation Army Captain (Peder and Margaret Pedersen) after intense pressure from the Stanley family.^[37] Lennon was not told about Victoria's birth—who was later renamed Ingrid Marie Pedersen—and it is not known if he ever knew of her existence.^[19]

John 'Bobby' Dykins[link]

Julia started seeing Dykins a year after Victoria's birth (although they had known each other before) when she was working in the café near Lennon's primary school; Mosspits.^[5][38] Dykins was a good-looking, well-dressed man who worked at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool as a wine steward. She later moved into a small flat in Gateacre with Dykins.^[39] He enjoyed luxuries, and had access to rationed goods like alcohol, chocolate, silk stockings and cigarettes, which was what initially attracted her.^[39] The Stanley sisters called him "Spiv", because of his pencil-thin moustache, margarine-coated hair, and pork-pie hat, and the young Lennon called him "Twitchy" because of a physical tic/nervous cough.^[39] Julia's family and friends remembered that he also had a fiery temperament, which could result in his being violent when drunk. Lennon remembered his mother, upon a visit to Mimi's when her face was bleeding after being hit by Dykins.^[39]

Paul McCartney later admitted to being sarcastic to Lennon about Julia living in sin with Dykins while she was still married.^[17] Although Julia never divorced Alfred, she was considered to be the common-law wife of Dykins. She wanted Lennon to live with them both, but he was passed between the Stanley sisters and often ran away to Mimi's where she would open the door to find Lennon standing there, "his face covered in tears".^[39] Julia was accused by the family of being frivolous and unreliable—she never enjoyed household chores—and was once seen sweeping the kitchen floor with a pair of knickers on her head. Her cooking methods were also haphazard, as she would mix things "like a mad scientist", and even put tea "or anything else that came to hand" in a stew.^[19] A favourite joke would be to wear a pair of spectacles that had no glass in them, and then to scratch her eye through the empty frame.^[40]

1 Blomfield Road, Liverpool, where Julia and the Dykins lived

Dykins later managed several bars in Liverpool, which allowed Julia to stay at home and look after their two daughters (Julia and Jackie) and Lennon, who often visited and stayed overnight, at 1 Blomfield Road, Liverpool.^[41] Lennon and McCartney would rehearse in the bathroom of the house where the acoustics "sounded like a recording studio".^[27] Dykins used to give Lennon weekly pocket money (one shilling) for doing odd jobs, on top of the five shillings that Mimi gave him.^[42][5] In December 1965, Dykins was killed in a car crash at the bottom of Penny Lane, but Lennon was not told about his death for months afterwards, as it was "not [Stanley] family business".^[5]

Julia and Jackie[link]

Julia later had two daughters with Dykins: Julia Baird (née Dykins - b. 5 March 1947) and Jacqueline (Jackie) Dykins (b. 26 October 1949).^[43][44] As Jackie was born prematurely, her mother visited the hospital every day to see her.^[5] When Lennon was 11 years old, he started to visit the Dykins' house, and often stayed overnight. Baird would give up her bed to him, then share her sister's bed.^[45] Baird remembered that after Lennon had visited them, her mother would often play a record called, My Son John, To Me You Are So Wonderful, "by some old crooner, and sit and listen to it".^[5] [Baird probably meant "My Son John"—sung by David Whitfield—which was released in 1956]. After Julia's death, the two girls (aged eleven and eight) were sent to stay in Edinburgh at Aunt Mater's and were only told two months later by Norman Birch (Lennon's uncle) that their mother had died.^[46] The Beatles' success allowed Lennon to buy a 4-bedroomed house in Gateacre Park Drive, Liverpool, for Baird and Jackie to live in with Lennon's Aunt Harriet and Birch. They had previously been made legal guardians of the two girls; Dykins' parentage had been disregarded as he had never legally married Julia.^[5] After Lennon's death and Harriet died, Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono, wanted to sell the house—as it was still in Lennon's name—but she later gave it to the Salvation Army on 2 November 1993, even though Lennon had once written a letter, stating: "I always thought of the house he's in [Birch] as my contribution towards looking after Julia [Baird] and Jackie. I would prefer the girls to use it."^[5]

Baird and Jackie later met their half-sister, Victoria/Ingrid, when they were present at the ceremony to place a Blue Heritage plaque on Mimi's house to commemorate the fact that Lennon had lived there. Stanley Parkes (Lennon's nephew) was on the ladder fixing the plaque to the wall and said, "I think I can see Ingrid" [walking towards the house]. Baird and her sister were surprised, as it meant that Parkes had seen Ingrid before, even though Baird and Jackie never had. When all three finally met for the first time Baird was shocked that Ingrid did not look anything like the Stanley family, as she had "pale blue eyes and fair hair".^[5]

Death[link]

Julia visited Mimi's house nearly every day, where they would chat over tea and cakes in the morning room or stand in the garden when it was warm.^[41] On the evening of 15 July 1958, Nigel Walley went to visit Lennon and found Julia and Mimi talking by the front gate. Lennon was not there, as he was at the Blomfield Road house.^[47] Walley accompanied Julia to the bus stop further north along Menlove Avenue, with her telling jokes along the way. At about 9:30, Walley left her to walk up Vale Road and she crossed Menlove Avenue to the central reservation between two traffic lanes, which was lined with hedges that covered disused tram tracks.^[48] Five seconds later, Walley heard "a loud thud", and turned to see her body "flying through the air"—which landed about 100 feet from where she had been hit. He ran back to get Mimi and they waited for the ambulance, with Mimi crying hysterically.^[48]

Julia was struck and killed by a Standard Vanguard car, driven by an off-duty constable, PC Eric Clague, who was a learner-driver.^[49] Clague was acquitted of all charges and given a short suspension from duty.^[50] When Mimi heard the verdict she was so incensed that she shouted "Murderer!" at Clague.^[51] Clague later left the police force and became a postman. Coincidentally, in 1964, part of his round was to deliver bags of fan mail to the McCartney house at 20 Forthlin Road.^[40]

Lennon could not bring himself to look at his mother's corpse when he was taken to the Sefton General Hospital, and was so distraught that he put his head on Mimi's lap throughout the funeral service.^[40] Lennon refused to talk to Walley for months afterwards, and Walley felt that Lennon somehow held him responsible.^[52] She was buried in Allerton Cemetery, in Liverpool.^[53] Her gravesite is unmarked, but it was recently identified as "CE (Church of England) 38-805". The graveyard's location is approx. 1.19 miles east of 1 Blomfield Road. Baird said that the Stanley family hoped to finally put a headstone on her mother's grave, which she hoped "will be a private affair for the family and not for the public".^[5] A headstone was later placed on Julia's grave (replacing a wooden cross), with the words "Mummy, John, Julia, Jackie" inscribed.^[54]

Influence on John Lennon[link]

Her death traumatised the teenaged Lennon, and for the next two years he drank heavily and frequently got into fights, consumed by a "blind rage".^[55] It contributed to the emotional difficulties that haunted him for much of his life, but also served to draw him closer to McCartney, who had also lost his mother at a young age.^[55] Julia's memory inspired songs such as the 1968 Beatles song "Julia", with its dreamlike imagery of "hair of floating sky glimmering", recalling Lennon's boyhood memories of his mother.^[1] Lennon remarked that the song "was sort of a combination of Yoko [Ono] and my mother blended into one."^[56] "Mother" and "My Mummy's Dead" were both written under the influence of Arthur Janov's "Primal Scream" therapy, and released on his solo album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band in 1970.^[57] Lennon's first son, Julian, born in 1963, was named after her.^[50] She has been described as "to a great extent... her son's muse."^[1]

Portrayals on film[link]

She was portrayed by Christine Cavanaugh in In His Life: The John Lennon Story (2000),^[58] and by Anne-Marie Duff in Nowhere Boy (2009).^[59][60]

Notes[link]