Alice in the Bacon Box

If, as we like to believe at Derby Uncovered, the true history of any place lies in the history of the people that lived in it, and in the stories of the lives of those people, then the story of Alice Grace is both a story filled with sadness and one that deserves to be remembered – it’s the true story known to some as ‘Old Alice in the Bacon Box’.

Born on July 2, 1853, Alice was the daughter of stocking maker William Grace and Alice Bunting. At the time of her birth, the family lived in Holbrook and alongside Alice and her parents she also had an older brother – Joseph. By the time she was three, the family had moved to nearby Morley where Samuel and Charles became her younger siblings – born in 1856 and 1859 respectively.

Alice Grace.

Tragedy seemed to stalk the early years of Alice’s life and that of her family. In 1864, at the age of only 14, Alice’s older brother died. Only two years after that her youngest sibling – Charles – also died at the tragically young age of seven.

Perhaps in an attempt to start anew and leave, as best they could, the tragic memories behind, the remaining family moved to Little Eaton where they made their home on Blacksmith's Row by the Gang Road.

For Alice it seemed that no move would stop the litany of tragic and cruel events that were occurring in her life. In 1877, the now 24-year-old Alice, fell deeply in love with what she thought was the love of her life. After Alice became pregnant, her lover cruelly rejected her and many felt that this life event was the one that she never recovered from after the shock it had heaped upon her.

The tragedies kept coming – her baby daughter died in 1878 and by 1891 she had also lost both of her parents and her one remaining brother. The run-down cottage where she lived was in desperate need of improvements and Alice decided to withhold her rent in the hope of forcing her landlord to make the necessary repairs.

However, the inevitable happened and she was evicted which started her journey towards poverty and homelessness.

Though initially she attempted to live in a shed and a stable, she was forced out of both and found herself fashioning her own accommodation from an old bacon box that would have previously been used to pack sides of ham whilst using another to keep her belongings in.

Located on the canal wharf near the Clock House, sympathetic locals would sometimes provide her with food and occasionally allow her to bathe. Though attempts were made to remove her to the workhouse, she always resisted as many of the time would have done due to their fearful reputations. Cleverly, Alice would always make sure she had a sixpence on her to prove she was not destitute and she continued to work at the local paper mill for a period of time.

When she did lose her job, she survived by begging and also by telling fortunes and though the box would change occasionally, and though she moved around the village, into the quarries and on to Whitaker Lane, Alice lived this life for almost twenty years. During this time she became something of a celebrity with people coming from far and wide to see her with many taking photographs and her image was even featured on postcards.

Of course twenty years of living rough inevitably took its toll on Alice, and both her health and appearance began to deteriorate and she was eventually taken to the workhouse at Shardlow. Though two versions of how this happened exist – one being that she was too ill to resist and the other stating that she no longer had even a penny to prove that she was not destitute – it seems that all accounts agree that she actually found happiness in the workhouse and settled into a job there until her death in 1927.

It's nice to know that after a lifetime full of tragedy she finally found some happiness and peace, but the story also perhaps reminds us of the harshness of life, even in this country a relatively short time ago. Perhaps as we remember Alice and ensure that her story is never forgotten, we should also count our own blessings for what we have.