Julia Lennon
Encyclopedia
Julia Lennon 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 Jacqui, 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
."
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 in the district of Penny Lane
. Her mother died in 1945, and she had to take care of her father with help from her eldest sister.
theatres and cinemas, where he knew the usherette
s by name. 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. 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.
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". 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". 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. Her voice sounded similar to Vera Lynn's
, whilst Lennon specialised in impersonating Louis Armstrong
and Al Jolson
. She played the ukelele, the piano accordion
, and the banjo
(as did Lennon), although neither pursued music professionally. 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.
On 3 December 1938, 11 years after they had first met, she married Alfred Lennon after she had proposed to him. They were married in the Bolton Street Register Office
, although none of her family were present as she had not informed them about the wedding. She wrote 'cinema usherette' on the marriage certificate as her occupation, even though she had never been one. 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. She walked into 9 Newcastle Road waving the marriage licence and said to her family, "There!—I've married him." It was an act of defiance against her father, who had threatened to disown her if she ever cohabitated
with a lover. On their wedding night, she stayed at her parents' house, and Lennon went back to his rooming house. The next day, he went back to sea for three months, on a ship headed for the West Indies.
The Stanley family completely ignored her husband at first, believing him to be of "no use to anyone—certainly not our Julia". 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 arrived back in Liverpool 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 Lennon) in January 1940, but as the war had started he was sent to work as a merchant seaman during World War II
, sending regular pay checks back home. The checks stopped when Alfred went AWOL in 1943.
. Alfred was not present at Lennon's birth, as he was away at sea.
Lennon 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 then pick him up afterwards. 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. 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. 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 the five-year-old Lennon had to choose between his mother or him. Lennon chose Alfred (twice) so Julia walked away, but in the end Lennon (crying) followed her. Alfred lost contact with the family until Beatlemania
, when he and Lennon met again.
She took Lennon back to her house and enrolled him in a local school, but after few weeks she handed him back to Mimi. 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". Lennon blamed himself, saying later, "My mother... couldn't cope with me." He then lived continuously at Mendips, in the smallest bedroom above the front door, with Mimi determined to give him a "proper upbringing". Julia later bought Lennon his first guitar for £5/10- (five pounds, ten shillings) after Lennon had pestered her incessantly for weeks but insisted that it had to be delivered to her house and not to her sister's. As Lennon had difficulty learning chords, she taught him banjo and ukulele chords, which were simpler, and later taught Lennon how to play the piano accordion.
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. She played Elvis
records to Lennon and would dance around her kitchen with him. In 1957, when The Quarrymen
played at St. Barnabas Hall, Penny Lane, Julia turned up to watch them. After each song she would clap and whistle louder than everyone else and was seen "swaying and dancing" throughout the whole concert. Lennon frequently visited her house during that period, detailing his anxieties and problems, where she gave him encouragement to stay with music over Mimi's objections.
. In 1942, she met a Welsh soldier named 'Taffy
' Williams who was stationed in the barracks at Mossley Hill
. 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 the young Lennon a piece of chocolate or shortcrust pastry
the next morning for breakfast. She became pregnant by Williams in late 1944, though first claiming that she had been raped by an unknown soldier. Williams refused to live with Julia—who was still married to Alfred—until she gave up her son, which she refused to do. 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.
Alfred took Lennon to his brother Sydney's house, in the Liverpool suburb of Maghull
, a few months before Julia came to term
. Julia's daughter, Victoria Elizabeth, born in the Elmswood Nursing Home on 19 June 1945, was subsequently given up for adoption to a Norwegian Salvation Army Captain
(Peder and Margaret Pedersen) after intense pressure from the Stanley family. Lennon was not told about Victoria's birth—who was later re-named Ingrid Marie Pedersen—and it is not known if he ever knew of her existence.
in Liverpool as a wine steward
. She later moved into a small flat in Gateacre
with Dykins. He enjoyed luxuries, and had access to rationed goods like alcohol, chocolate, silk stockings and cigarettes, which was what initially attracted her. 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. 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.
Paul McCartney
later admitted to being sarcastic to Lennon about Julia living in sin with Dykins while she was still married. 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". 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. 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.
Dykins later managed several bars in Liverpool, which allowed Julia to stay at home and look after their two daughters (Julia and Jacqui) and Lennon, who often visited and stayed overnight, at 1 Blomfield Road, Liverpool. Lennon and McCartney would rehearse in the bathroom of the house where the acoustics "sounded like a recording studio". Dykins used to give Lennon weekly pocket money
(one shilling
) for doing odd jobs, on top of the five shillings that Mimi gave him. 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".
(née Dykins - b. 5 March 1947) and Jacqueline (Jacqui) Dykins (b. 26 October 1949). As Jacqui was born prematurely
, her mother visited the hospital every day to see her.
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; sharing her sister's bed. 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". [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.
The Beatles' success allowed Lennon to buy a 4-bedroomed house in Gateacre Park Drive, Liverpool, for Baird and Jacqui to live in with Lennon's Aunt Harriet and Birch. They had previously been made legal guardians of the two girls; disregarding Dykins' parentage, as he had never legally married Julia. 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 Jacqui. I would prefer the girls to use it."
Baird and Jacqui later met their half-sister, Victoria/Ingrid, when they were present at the ceremony to place a Blue Heritage plaque
on Mimi's house; commemorating 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 Jacqui 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".
or stand in the garden when it was warm. 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. 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. 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.
Julia was struck and killed by a Standard Vanguard
car, driven by an off-duty constable
, PC Eric Clague, who was a learner-driver
. Clague was acquitted of all charges and given a short suspension from duty. When Mimi heard the verdict she was so incensed that she shouted "Murderer!" at Clague. 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
.
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. Lennon refused to talk to Walley for months afterwards, and Walley felt that Lennon somehow held him responsible. She was buried in the Allerton Cemetery
, in Liverpool
. 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 recently said that the Stanley family hope to finally put a headstone on her mother's grave, which she hopes "will be a private affair for the family and not for the public". A headstone was placed on Julia's grave (replacing a wooden cross), with the words "Mummy, John, Julia, Jackie [sic]" inscribed.
" 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. Lennon's first son, Julian
, born in 1963, was named after her. She has been described as "to a great extent... her son's muse."
(2000), and Nowhere Boy
(2009).
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, who was born during her marriage to Alfred Lennon
Alfred Lennon
Alfred "Alf" Lennon was the father of English musician John Lennon. He spent many years in an orphanage—with his sister, Edith—after his father died. He was known as being very witty and musical throughout his life—he sang and played the banjo—but not as being very dependable...
. After complaints to Liverpool's Social Services
Child welfare
Child protection is used to describe a set of usually government-run services designed to protect children and young people who are underage and to encourage family stability...
by her eldest sister, Mimi Smith
Mimi Smith
Mary Elizabeth "Mimi" Smith was the maternal aunt and parental guardian of the English musician John Lennon. Mimi was born in Liverpool, England and was the oldest of five daughters. She became a resident trainee nurse at the Woolton Convalescent Hospital, and later worked as a private secretary...
(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
Julia Baird
Julia Baird is the eldest daughter of John 'Bobby' Albert Dykins and Julia Lennon . Baird's older half-brother was late English musician John Lennon; she also had an older half-sister, Ingrid Pederson...
and Jacqui, with John 'Bobby' Dykins. She never divorced her husband, preferring to live as the common-law
Common-law marriage
Common-law marriage, sometimes called sui juris marriage, informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute, is a form of interpersonal status that is legally recognized in limited jurisdictions as a marriage even though no legally recognized marriage ceremony is performed or civil marriage...
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
251 Menlove Avenue
251 Menlove Avenue, named "Mendips", was the childhood home of John Lennon, singer and songwriter with the Beatles, and is now preserved by the National Trust....
. Lennon was traumatised by her death and wrote several songs about her, including "Julia" and "Mother
Mother (John Lennon song)
Mother is a song by British musician John Lennon, first released on his 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. An edited version of the song was issued as a single in the United States on Apple Records, catalogue 1827, about three weeks after the album. The single runs about fifteen seconds...
." Biographer Ian MacDonald
Ian MacDonald
Ian MacCormick was a British music critic and author, best known for Revolution in the Head, his forensic history of The Beatles which borrowed techniques from art historians, and The New Shostakovich, a controversial study of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich...
wrote that she was, "to a great extent... her son's muse
Muse
The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...
."
Background
Julia Stanley, later known by the family as Judy, was born at 8 Head Street, Liverpool in 1914, and was the fourth of five sisters. 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). Lennon would later comment that the 'Stanley girls' were "five, fantastic, strong, beautiful, and intelligent women". Her father, George Ernest Stanley, retired from sailing and found a job with the Liverpool & Glasgow Salvage AssociationLiverpool & Glasgow Salvage Association
The Liverpool & Glasgow Salvage Association was formed on 1 January 1924 from the merger of the Liverpool Salvage Association and the Glasgow Salvage Association....
as an insurance investigator
Insurance Investigations
Insurance investigations are usually conducted to investigate matters pertaining to insurance claims that are suspicious or otherwise in doubt for some reason. Investigators in this field have differing specialities and backgrounds...
. He moved his family to the suburb of Woolton
Woolton
Woolton is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward. It is located at the south of the city, bordered by Gateacre, Hunts Cross, Allerton and Halewood. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 14,836.-History:...
, where they lived in a small terraced house
Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
at 9 Newcastle Road in the district of Penny Lane
Penny Lane
"Penny Lane" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney. It was credited to Lennon–McCartney.Recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions, "Penny Lane" was released in February 1967 as one side of a double A-sided single, along with "Strawberry Fields Forever". Both songs were later included...
. Her mother died in 1945, and she had to take care of her father with help from her eldest sister.
Marriage to Alfred Lennon
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 vaudevilleVaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
theatres and cinemas, where he knew the usherette
Usher (occupation)
Ushers assist visitors by formally showing the way in a large building or to their appropriate seats. This may coincide with a security role. The word comes from the French huissier, with the same meaning , ushers were servants or courtiers who showed or ushered visitors in and out of meetings in...
s by name. 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. He saw her again in Sefton Park
Sefton Park
Sefton Park is a public park in south Liverpool, England. The park is in a district of the same name within the Liverpool City Council Ward of Mossley Hill, and roughly within the historic bounds of the large area of Toxteth 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
Waif
A waif is a living creature removed, by hardship, loss or other helpless circumstance, from his original surroundings...
" 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.
Stevedore
Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
, 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. Her voice sounded similar to Vera Lynn's
Vera Lynn
Dame Vera Lynn, DBE is an English singer-songwriter and actress whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular during World War II. During the war she toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops...
, whilst Lennon specialised in impersonating Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
and Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
. She played the ukelele, the piano accordion
Piano accordion
A piano accordion is an accordion equipped with a right-hand keyboard similar to a piano or organ. Its acoustic mechanism is more similar to that of an organ than a piano, as they are both wind instruments, but the term "piano accordion"—coined by Guido Deiro in 1910—has remained the popular...
, and the banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
(as did Lennon), although neither pursued music professionally. 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.
On 3 December 1938, 11 years after they had first met, she married Alfred Lennon after she had proposed to him. They were married in the Bolton Street Register Office
Register office
A register office is a British term for a civil registry, a government office and depository where births, deaths and marriages are officially recorded and where you can get officially married, without a religious ceremony...
, although none of her family were present as she had not informed them about the wedding. She wrote 'cinema usherette' on the marriage certificate as her occupation, even though she had never been one. 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
Cynthia Lennon
Cynthia Lillian Lennon is the former wife of musician John Lennon, and mother of Julian Lennon. She grew up in the middle-class section of Hoylake, on the Wirral Peninsula in North West England. At the age of twelve, she was accepted into the Junior Art School, and was later enrolled in the...
), and then went to a cinema. She walked into 9 Newcastle Road waving the marriage licence and said to her family, "There!—I've married him." It was an act of defiance against her father, who had threatened to disown her if she ever cohabitated
Cohabitation
Cohabitation usually refers to an arrangement whereby two people decide to live together on a long-term or permanent basis in an emotionally and/or sexually intimate relationship. The term is most frequently applied to couples who are not married...
with a lover. On their wedding night, she stayed at her parents' house, and Lennon went back to his rooming house. The next day, he went back to sea for three months, on a ship headed for the West Indies.
The Stanley family completely ignored her husband at first, believing him to be of "no use to anyone—certainly not our Julia". 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 arrived back in Liverpool 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 Lennon) in January 1940, but as the war had started he was sent to work as a merchant seaman during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, sending regular pay checks back home. The checks stopped when Alfred went AWOL in 1943.
John
She gave birth to John 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. She ran, as she later recalled, "as fast as my legs could carry me". Lennon was named after his paternal grandfather and Winston ChurchillWinston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
. Alfred was not present at Lennon's birth, as he was away at sea.
Lennon 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 then pick him up afterwards. 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. In July 1946, Alfred visited Mimi's house, Mendips at 251 Menlove Avenue, and took Lennon to Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
for a long holiday, but he was secretly intending to emigrate to New Zealand with him. 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 the five-year-old Lennon had to choose between his mother or him. Lennon chose Alfred (twice) so Julia walked away, but in the end Lennon (crying) followed her. Alfred lost contact with the family until Beatlemania
Beatlemania
Beatlemania is a term that originated during the 1960s to describe the intense fan frenzy directed toward The Beatles during the early years of their success...
, when he and Lennon met again.
She took Lennon back to her house and enrolled him in a local school, but after few weeks she handed him back to Mimi. 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". Lennon blamed himself, saying later, "My mother... couldn't cope with me." He then lived continuously at Mendips, in the smallest bedroom above the front door, with Mimi determined to give him a "proper upbringing". Julia later bought Lennon his first guitar for £5/10- (five pounds, ten shillings) after Lennon had pestered her incessantly for weeks but insisted that it had to be delivered to her house and not to her sister's. As Lennon had difficulty learning chords, she taught him banjo and ukulele chords, which were simpler, and later taught Lennon how to play the piano accordion.
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. She played Elvis
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
records to Lennon and would dance around her kitchen with him. In 1957, when The Quarrymen
The Quarrymen
The Quarrymen are a British skiffle and rock and roll group, initially formed in Liverpool in 1956, that eventually evolved into The Beatles in 1960...
played at St. Barnabas Hall, Penny Lane, Julia turned up to watch them. After each song she would clap and whistle louder than everyone else and was seen "swaying and dancing" throughout the whole concert. Lennon frequently visited her house during that period, detailing his anxieties and problems, where she gave him encouragement to stay with music over Mimi's objections.
Victoria
During 1942–1943, Julia lived with Lennon at The Dairy Cottage; 120a Allerton Road, Woolton. The cottage was owned by Mimi's husband, George Smith, and Mimi wanted Julia to live there so they would be closer to her house and also out of the Stanley house. As Alfred was often away at sea, Julia started going out to dance hallsNightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
. In 1942, she met a Welsh soldier named 'Taffy
Taffy was a Welshman
"Taffy was a Welshman" is an English language nursery rhyme with anti-Welsh lyrics, which was popular in England between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19237.-Lyrics:Versions of this rhyme vary...
' Williams who was stationed in the barracks at Mossley Hill
Mossley Hill
Mossley Hill is a district of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward. It is located to the south of the city, bordered by Aigburth, Wavertree, Childwall and Allerton. At the 2001 Census, the Mossley Hill ward had a population which was recorded at 12,650.-Notable...
. 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 the young Lennon a piece of chocolate or shortcrust pastry
Shortcrust pastry
Shortcrust pastry is a type of pastry often used for the base of a tart or pie. It does not puff up during baking because it usually contains no leavening agent. It is possible to make shortcrust pastry with self-raising flour, however...
the next morning for breakfast. She became pregnant by Williams in late 1944, though first claiming that she had been raped by an unknown soldier. Williams refused to live with Julia—who was still married to Alfred—until she gave up her son, which she refused to do. 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.
Alfred took Lennon to his brother Sydney's house, in the Liverpool suburb of Maghull
Maghull
Maghull is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, in Merseyside, England. The town is located eight miles north of the City of Liverpool and south of Ormskirk in West Lancashire. The area of Moss Side also contains HM Prison Kennet and Ashworth Hospital. Maghull had a...
, a few months before Julia came to term
Birth
Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring. The offspring is brought forth from the mother. The time of human birth is defined as the time at which the fetus comes out of the mother's womb into the world...
. Julia's daughter, Victoria Elizabeth, born in the Elmswood Nursing Home on 19 June 1945, was subsequently given up for adoption to a Norwegian Salvation Army Captain
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
(Peder and Margaret Pedersen) after intense pressure from the Stanley family. Lennon was not told about Victoria's birth—who was later re-named Ingrid Marie Pedersen—and it is not known if he ever knew of her existence.
John 'Bobby' Dykins
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. Dykins was a good-looking, well-dressed man who was several years older than Julia and worked at the Adelphi HotelBritish Transport Hotels
British Transport Hotels was the brand name of the hotels and catering business associated with the nationalised railway system in Great Britain from 1953 to 1983.- Organisation :...
in Liverpool as a wine steward
Sommelier
A sommelier , or wine steward, is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, commonly working in fine restaurants, who specializes in all aspects of wine service as well as wine and food matching...
. She later moved into a small flat in Gateacre
Gateacre
Gateacre is a district of Liverpool, England, located approximately from the city centre. It is bordered by Childwall, Woolton and Belle Vale...
with Dykins. He enjoyed luxuries, and had access to rationed goods like alcohol, chocolate, silk stockings and cigarettes, which was what initially attracted her. The Stanley sisters called him "Spiv
Spiv
In the United Kingdom, a spiv is a particular type of petty criminal, who deals in stolen or black market goods of questionable authenticity, especially a slickly-dressed man offering goods at bargain prices...
", 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
Tic
A tic is a sudden, repetitive, nonrhythmic, stereotyped motor movement or vocalization involving discrete muscle groups. Tics can be invisible to the observer, such as abdominal tensing or toe crunching. Common motor and phonic tics are, respectively, eye blinking and throat clearing...
/nervous cough. 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.
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
later admitted to being sarcastic to Lennon about Julia living in sin with Dykins while she was still married. 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". 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. 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.
Dykins later managed several bars in Liverpool, which allowed Julia to stay at home and look after their two daughters (Julia and Jacqui) and Lennon, who often visited and stayed overnight, at 1 Blomfield Road, Liverpool. Lennon and McCartney would rehearse in the bathroom of the house where the acoustics "sounded like a recording studio". Dykins used to give Lennon weekly pocket money
Allowance (money)
An allowance is an amount of money set aside for a designated purpose.Allowing another person to have some money is often referred to as an allowance.-Construction contracting:...
(one shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
) for doing odd jobs, on top of the five shillings that Mimi gave him. 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".
Julia and Jacqui
Julia later had two daughters with Dykins: Julia BairdJulia Baird
Julia Baird is the eldest daughter of John 'Bobby' Albert Dykins and Julia Lennon . Baird's older half-brother was late English musician John Lennon; she also had an older half-sister, Ingrid Pederson...
(née Dykins - b. 5 March 1947) and Jacqueline (Jacqui) Dykins (b. 26 October 1949). As Jacqui was born prematurely
Premature birth
In humans preterm birth refers to the birth of a baby of less than 37 weeks gestational age. The cause for preterm birth is in many situations elusive and unknown; many factors appear to be associated with the development of preterm birth, making the reduction of preterm birth a challenging...
, her mother visited the hospital every day to see her.
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; sharing her sister's bed. 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
Crooner
Crooner is an American epithet given to male singers of pop standards, mostly from the Great American Songbook, either backed by a full orchestra, a big band or by a piano. Originally it was an ironic term denoting an emphatically sentimental, often emotional singing style made possible by the use...
, and sit and listen to it". [Baird probably meant "My Son John"—sung by David Whitfield
David Whitfield
David Whitfield was a popular British male tenor vocalist. This operatic-style tenor had a formidable and predominantly female fan base in the 1950s.-Life and career:...
—which was released in 1956].
After Julia's death, the two girls (aged eleven and eight) were sent to stay in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
at Aunt Mater's and were only told two months later by Norman Birch (Lennon's uncle) that their mother had died.
The Beatles' success allowed Lennon to buy a 4-bedroomed house in Gateacre Park Drive, Liverpool, for Baird and Jacqui to live in with Lennon's Aunt Harriet and Birch. They had previously been made legal guardians of the two girls; disregarding Dykins' parentage, as he had never legally married Julia. After Lennon's death and Harriet died, Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
, 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 Jacqui. I would prefer the girls to use it."
Baird and Jacqui later met their half-sister, Victoria/Ingrid, when they were present at the ceremony to place a Blue Heritage plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
on Mimi's house; commemorating 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 Jacqui 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".
Death
Julia visited Mimi's house nearly every day, where they would chat over tea and cakes in the morning roomConservatory (greenhouse)
A conservatory is a room having glass roof and walls, typically attached to a house on only one side, used as a greenhouse or a sunroom...
or stand in the garden when it was warm. 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. 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
Hedge (gardening)
A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and tree species, planted and trained in such a way as to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area. Hedges used to separate a road from adjoining fields or one field from another, and of sufficient age to incorporate larger trees, are...
that covered disused tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
tracks. 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.
Julia was struck and killed by a Standard Vanguard
Standard Vanguard
The car used a conventional chassis on which was mounted the American inspired semi-streamlined four-door body, which resembles a Plymouth. Suspension was independent at the front with coil springs and a live axle and leaf springs at the rear. Front and rear anti-roll bars were fitted. The brakes...
car, driven by an off-duty constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
, PC Eric Clague, who was a learner-driver
L-plate
An L-plate is a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in many countries if its driver is a learner under instruction, or a motorcycle rider with provisional entitlement to ride restricted motorcycles.- Australia :In...
. Clague was acquitted of all charges and given a short suspension from duty. When Mimi heard the verdict she was so incensed that she shouted "Murderer!" at Clague. 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
20 Forthlin Road
20 Forthlin Road is a National Trust property in south Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is the house in which Paul McCartney lived for several years before he rose to fame with The Beatles. It was also the home of his brother Mike.- History :...
.
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. Lennon refused to talk to Walley for months afterwards, and Walley felt that Lennon somehow held him responsible. She was buried in the Allerton Cemetery
Allerton Cemetery
Purchase of the land for Allerton Cemetery was completed in October 1906, the Church of England section was consecrated by the Bishop of Liverpool on 24 September 1909, and the first burial in the cemetery took place on 29 December 1909...
, in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. 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 recently said that the Stanley family hope to finally put a headstone on her mother's grave, which she hopes "will be a private affair for the family and not for the public". A headstone was placed on Julia's grave (replacing a wooden cross), with the words "Mummy, John, Julia, Jackie [sic]" inscribed.
Influence on John Lennon
Her death traumatised the teenage Lennon, and for the next two years he would drink heavily and frequently get into fights, consumed by a "blind rage". 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. 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. Lennon remarked that the song "was sort of a combination of Yoko [Ono] and my mother blended into one." "MotherMother (John Lennon song)
Mother is a song by British musician John Lennon, first released on his 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. An edited version of the song was issued as a single in the United States on Apple Records, catalogue 1827, about three weeks after the album. The single runs about fifteen seconds...
" and "My Mummy's Dead" were both written under the influence of Arthur Janov
Arthur Janov
Arthur Janov is an American psychologist, psychotherapist, and the creator of primal therapy, a treatment for mental illness that involves repeatedly descending into, feeling, and expressing long-repressed childhood pain. Janov directs a psychotherapy institute called the Primal Center in Santa...
's "Primal Scream
Primal therapy
Primal therapy is a trauma-based psychotherapy created by Arthur Janov, who argues that neurosis is caused by the repressed pain of childhood trauma. Janov argues that repressed pain can be sequentially brought to conscious awareness and resolved through re-experiencing the incident and fully...
" therapy, and released on his solo album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was received with high critical praise upon release. Critic Greil Marcus remarked, "John's singing in the last verse of 'God' may be the finest in all of rock." In early 1971, the album reached number eight on the UK and went to number six in the US, spending eighteen...
in 1970. Lennon's first son, Julian
Julian Lennon
John Charles Julian Lennon is an English musician, songwriter, actor, and photographer. He is the son of John Lennon and Lennon's first wife, Cynthia Powell. Beatles manager Brian Epstein was his godfather. He has a younger half-brother, Sean Lennon. Lennon was named after his paternal...
, born in 1963, was named after her. She has been described as "to a great extent... her son's muse."
Portrayals on film
She was portrayed on film in In His Life: The John Lennon StoryIn His Life: The John Lennon Story
In His Life: The John Lennon Story is a television film produced in 2000 by Michael O'Hara Productions and NBC Studios . The film was written by Michael O'Hara and directed by David Carson.-Plot:...
(2000), and Nowhere Boy
Nowhere Boy
Nowhere Boy is a 2009 British biopic about John Lennon's adolescence, his relationships with his guardian aunt and his birth mother, the creation of his first band, the Quarrymen, and its evolution into the Beatles. The film is based on a biography written by Lennon's half-sister Julia Baird...
(2009).