Emmy Tiarks
Emmy Tiarks lived at Woodheath and later Foxbury with her husband Frank, from 1900 until they moved to Somerset in 1937.
Emmy Brödermann was born in Hamburg in 1875, though her mother was Polish, and her maternal grandmother was born in Mexico. She was introduced to Frank by her brother Alfred while Frank was in Hamburg learning the ropes, after leaving the Royal Navy, and they quickly determined to marry. However, Emmy had to remain in Hamburg while Frank was sent to New York for 15 months, returning to London in 1898. During this time Frank and Emmy wrote to each other daily. They married in Hamburg in 1899, and after a honeymoon in Italy, came to live at Woodheath in 1900.
She spoke little and broken English, with a very strong German accent. Out of the six servants at Woodheath, four were German women, including Marie Buls, the ladies maid, who was to work for her for the remainder of her life. She was apparently a hard mistress to please, and it is rumoured that all the house bedlinen had to be washed every day.
Her catholic faith was extremely important to her, and she worshipped at St Mary’s church in Chislehurst, where she persuaded her husband to be a regular benefactor. Later, when she moved to live at Foxbury, a small chapel was built there for her devotions. Having borne five children during their first ten years of marriage, she appeared relaxed about Frank’s later relationships with other women, which were reputedly many. Around 1930 Emmy was badly injured in a car accident in London, which left her an invalid. She appears to have developed dementia shortly afterwards, and required nursing for the rest of her life. She died of pneumonia in Loxton in 1943, aged only 68. She is buried in the churchyard at St Mary’s Church.