Mr. Baxter recalls a surprising family discovery that brought long-lost mementos back into his life. “My mother told me years ago that the hair had been thrown out,” he said. “I had seen the locks as a youngster and remembered my grandmother telling me the sandy-colored strands belonged to my great-great-grandmother.”
Ann Walton, formerly Bailey, was born in 1847 in Somersham and later lived in Whittlesey. She married Benjamin Walton, a builder believed to have constructed many properties that still stand in Whittlesey today. Her hair was preserved as a keepsake after her death in 1897.
In a second paper bag, Mr. Baxter found a thicker, darker ponytail, which he noted resembled one he used to wear himself. “This was a lock from my great-grandmother, Emma Marie Walton,” he explained.
Emma Marie Walton was born in 1877 and also lived in Whittlesey before passing in 1910. Around 1908, she took a job as a nanny in Bloomsbury, London. Mr. Baxter believes a photo of her from that period shows her with shorter hair, as the position required. The ponytail, cut off for the role, was saved.
Mr. Baxter plans to preserve these locks, despite some family and friends finding it “a bit bizarre.” For him, they’re treasured reminders. “I’m very pleased to have them,” he said, relieved they weren’t discarded long ago.
According to Robert Bell, curator at the Wisbech and Fenland Museum, it was common for people to keep locks of hair as keepsakes. “Hair’s chemical properties allow it to avoid decay,” he explained. “Victorians especially prized hair mementos, often incorporating them into jewelry like lockets and brooches.”
While he’s familiar with locks of hair preserved in small forms, Bell noted, “I have never before seen such long tresses as those of Mr. Baxter’s ancestors.”
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