The Weeping Time is the true story of Nellie Joyce Watson's parents and grandparents. The account spans the life of Nellie's mother, Alice, from 1890 till her death at the age of eighty-six in 1976. ln those eighty-six years she was to know real hardship. She brought up twelve children and was widowed three times. Born Alice Gale in Canning Town, East London, AIice grew up in poverty, her father squandering what little money the family had on drink and womanising. Her mother took in washing and at the age of twelve Alice started work at the match factory. Nellie's father was Alice's third husband. He worked as a crane driver for the Gas Light and Coke Company at Beckton Gasworks, and died at the age of seventy-six in 1956.