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Madeline Cross QMAAC

20 York Road, Walmer
24 York Road, Walmer
38 York Road, Walmer
29 Beech Court, Park Road, Deal

Occupation: Cook, QMAAC, Domestic Servant

Boatman William Robert Cross married Harriet Ann Brett in 1880, and Madeline was the seventh of their nine children. 

After being enrolled in Walmer Parish Infant School in 1903 she remained in education until she was 13 ½, after which she appears to have been in Domestic Service. As many middle and upper class people employed not just Domestic Servants but also Cooks, and perhaps with the view to improving herself, she took a cookery course.  

At the start of WW1 Madeline was 17 years old and she, along with most other women of her time, would not have then envisaged herself in military uniform. 

But early in 1917 posters were being displayed, along with adverts placed in local newspapers, appealing for women to join the WAAC. With the offer of a uniform, meals, a roof over their heads and wages along with a certain amount of independence, the appeal for young women, like Madeline, must have been great.

Deal, Walmer & Sandwich Mercury October 13 1917

Madeline would have seen these adverts in the Mercury and, seeing that they required cooks acquired an application form which she duly filled in. This was sent to the Employment Exchange at Dover. The form required her to give the names of three people to provide references for her. Two, the instructions stated, must be British Householders one of whom was, if possible, to be her present or previous employer. Another was to hold a position such as a Teacher, Town Councillor, Doctor or Solicitor and all must have known her for two or more years. The form also stated that “One of the three must be a woman.”   

Her referees were Mrs Williams of Hill End, Walmer for whom Madeline had only been employed for 5 weeks working mornings, at 7s a week. Mrs Williams was the widow of Rev.T.B.Williams, who said that she was “very satisfactory in housework.” Bookseller, Mrs Snow, of 45 The Strand, said that Madeline “cooks exceedingly well” and had been working for her since July 1917 and was paid £19 a year; Miss Strong of Brandfield House, 45 The Strand, was a Lodging House keeper who had known Madeline “many years” who she describes as “reliable, industrious and trustworthy” She had employed her as a Domestic servant and concurred with Mrs Snow that she “cooked exceedingly well.”

Once her application and references had been accepted, she travelled to Canterbury on March 26, 1918, where she found herself before the Examining Officer who asked her questions as laid out on the ‘Form of Enrolment in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.’ The obvious questions of  name, address, age were all asked along with “Have you any dependents” to which she stated that she “partially” supported her father. Madeline’s mother, Harriet, died in 1916 so William was by then a widower living with Madeline and her youngest sister Alice both of whom were in low paid domestic service. Her answer to the question “Are you willing to be enrolled for service  a) at home and abroad or  b) at home only?” placed Madeline in category ’B’. 

From Madeline’s Service Record, we know that she was accepted as an Assistant Cook and that she started her service on April 8, 1918. This was to be for a twelve-month period or for the duration of the war. She was classed as a ‘Mobile’ as she was willing to live away from home.

Her Medical Examination Record describes her as being 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 153 lb (11 stone) with fair hair and grey eyes. She also had one tooth that was a stump and had two toes of one foot amputated due to  hammer toe the previous year.

Cooks of the Women’s Legion

Although we don’t have a photo of Madeline in her WAAC uniform we do know that she would have worn one similar to the above. While not in the WAAC these ladies are Cooks of the Women’s Legion which was formed in 1915 to cook for the Army. Although it was not actually part of the Army, its members adopted a military-style uniform. In February 1917 all 7,000 Women’s Legion cooks and waitresses were transferred into the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. the previous year.

Connaught Club. The Graphic 18 January 1908

Madeline originally found herself posted to the Connaught Club, Seymour Street, London. The club was founded as an establishment for business men. It was taken over by the War Office in April 1917 as the QMAACs Headquarters and Hostel. In July 1918 she was posted back to Kent, to No. 3 Rest Camp South Front Barracks, Dover.  The South Front Barracks, on the Heights, was used as a rest camp for soldiers on leave from France and Madeline remained there until 1919. Her record states she was officially demobilised on June 6, 1919, on ‘compassionate grounds.’ No information is given in her records what the compassionate grounds were but by this time the army was trying to demobilise men and particularly the women of the services so this could have just been an excuse. As Madeline was graded as a ‘Mobile’ and had signed up for a twelve-month period she received 28 days furlough.

South Front Barracks – Dover Western Heights

On August 1, 1919, she married Private Matthew Potts of the RMLI and settled down to married life living a few doors down from her childhood home, at 38 York Road. 

Matthew remained in the RMLI until 1923 when he was invalided out of the service.  

Matthew Potts

Matthew was born in Sheffield, he enlisted into the RMLI on September 4, 1914 and was sent to the RM Deal Depot where he remained until May 1915, then he transferred to Plymouth from where he embarked on HMS Warrior on January 1, 1916. The Warrior was one of 250 ships that took part in the largest battle of the First World War. The Battle of Jutland took place from May 31 until June 1, 1916. At its conclusion there were 6,000 British and 2,500 German sailors dead. The Germans had lost 11 ships and the British 14, one of those was HMS Warrior. Before she foundered Warrior was taken in tow by HMS Engadine who took off the surviving 743 men, Matthew was amongst them. The men were returned to Plymouth from where Matthew embarked on the newly built HMS Glorious, on October 13th. Glorious took part in what is described as a naval skirmish, fought on November 17, 1917, near the island of Heligoland in the North Sea. After which Matthew returned home and transferred to Chatham. In April 1919 he was sent back to the Deal Depot where he remained until just before he was invalided out of the service in March 1923.

We don’t know when Matthew and Madeline first met. It may have been when Matthew first came to Deal in the early months of the war or on his second posting in 1919. If he knew at the time of his marriage that he had a heart condition we also don’t know. But it seems most likely that it was for this reason that he was discharged from the RMLI in 1923.

Matthew died at home on October 26, 1934, of Heart Failure caused by Valvular Heart Disease. 

Madeline obviously needed to support herself so it appears that she went back into Domestic Service. She quite possibly had to do this before Matthew’s death. The 1939 Register shows that she had moved from York Road and was a live-in Domestic Servant working for Catherine Radcliffe at Beech Court, Park Road, now Rectory Road.  

In 1941 Madeline met and married twenty-four year old Leslie John Matterface. Madeline was by then forty-four. As Leslie can not be found on the 1939 Register, he was more than likely already in the services. But which service and what he was doing in Deal in 1941 is not known. The couple may well have moved to Leslie’s home city of Rugby after the war but sadly it is not known what he did for a living. 
In 1971, after living apart for at least five years, Madeline and Leslie divorced and Madeline returned to Deal where she died in 1973.

Sources and further reading:
WAAC/QMAAC Records for Madeline Cross
https://blog.forceswarrecords.com/centenary-of-the-womens-royal-naval-service/
https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/59482-qmaac/
https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1919/dec/08/connaught-club-marble-arch
https://collection.nam.ac.uk/
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-was-the-battle-of-jutland