‘Send party to cottage Newland opposite cinema. I trapped’ – this message was relayed to the local emergency services at 17:19 on 30 September 1940 by Maude Steele (1901-1997), the supervising telephonist at Sherborne Telephone Exchange who was later awarded the George Medal for her bravery that day when she refused to leave her post during the bombing of Sherborne.
Maude’s message referred to Elizabeth Marden (1865-1940), the widow of William Marden (1857-1921) who, after the death of her husband in 1921, had with her daughter Gladys taken over the running of the family bakery business in Upper Newland.
Born Elizabeth Annie Davies in Manchester on 14 May 1865, Elizabeth was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Davies,
From 1888 to 1891 Elizabeth trained as a nurse at the Royal Hospital Salford, Manchester, and then undertook special maternity training at Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. She returned to nurse in Manchester in October 1894, with subsequent nursing appointments at Swanage in 1895 and Alfreton in 1896.
In July 1897 Elizabeth was appointed town nurse at Sherborne in Dorset, but in March 1899 she resigned when her health ‘necessitated rest’.
On 6 July 1904, Elizabeth, then aged 39 years old and living in the Westbury area of Sherborne, was married by licence in Sherborne Abbey to 47 year old William Marden (1857-1921) who ran a bakery in Upper Newland. Their daughter Gladys Mary Marden (1905-1999) was born the following year on 23 July 1905 and went on to attend Lord Digby’s School in Newland.
In 1984, Rodney Legg interviewed Edward J. Freeman, wartime District Air Raid Precautions Controller, about his memories of the bombing of Sherborne on 30 September 1940. Mr Freeman recalled that ‘the strangest debris came from the midnight bakery next to the Picture Palace in Newland [it was actually on the opposite side of the road]. They had hoarded silver coins which were thrown on to the cinema roof and retrieved by my ARP warden.’ (Rodney Legg, Sherborne and Castleton: Abbey, Town & School (Halsgrove, 2004), p.127)
The bakery described by Edward J. Freeman was that run by Elizabeth and Gladys Marden where, tragically, Elizabeth Marden was killed during the bombing of Sherborne on 30 September 1940.
Elizabeth Marden was buried at Sherborne cemetery on 4 October 1940.
The December 1940 issue of the Lord Digby’s School magazine included the following note: ‘Since the last issue of the Magazine, the war has come very near to us… We wish to extend our sympathy to members of the Staff and Old Girls who were affected, and especially to Gladys Marden in the loss of her mother in such tragic circumstances.’
Elizabeth Marden is remembered on the Civilian War Memorial in Half Moon Street, Sherborne, and also on the roll of honour in the Lady Chapel of Sherborne Abbey.
Gladys Marden never married and died on 23 October 1999, aged 94.
Rachel Hassall
20 September 2025
See also:
- Alberta Gartell (1867-1940): civilian casualty of the bombing of Sherborne
- Maude Steele GM (1901-1997): awarded the George Medal for her bravery during the bombing of Sherborne
- Annie Warren (1909-2004): lost 3 children in the Sherborne Blitz
- Margaret Hayter (1923-1943): only Commonwealth War Grave to a woman who died on service in World War Two
- Monica Hutchings (1917-1977): author and campaigner
- Margaret Billinger (1883-1942): Headmistress of Lord Digby’s School 1917-1942
- Civilian casualties of the bombing of Sherborne on 30 September 1940