Mary Ann Keetley was born in November 1877, at 11 Herbert Street, St Anns Nottingham, the daughter of Clara Keetley. Mary Ann's father is unknown and was not recorded in the birth registration although William Bunting was also living at 11 Herbert Street in 1877 and later married Mary Ann's mother. Clara was a millhand in the local cotton industry. By 1881 Clara and William Bunting were living at her parents home in Fleet Place, St Mary's. Mary Ann was just 3 years old, her mother was 21. Interestingly however the census shows Mary Ann as the daughter of Christopher and Mary Keatley, who were in fact her grandparents. This was a common practice at a time when it was scandalous for someone to have a baby when unmarried at only 18 years of age. It may be that William Bunting was the father but we will probably never know.

Fleet Place, Leenside

Ten years later and Clara and William have a house of their own at Redferries Yard, North Street, Sneinton. By this time Mary Ann was 13 and had adopted the name Bunting. She had two sisters and one brother also living with them. Elizabeth, like Mary Ann, had been born before Clara's marriage to William. George and Emily were born after the marriage. In 1898, at the age of 20, Mary Ann married Thomas Noble, a 22 year old cotton repairer of Hooton Street. The couple moved in with Mary Ann's parents and by 1901 they were all living at 1 Harveys Terrace in St Anns. It is not clear whether the marriage of Thomas and Mary Ann was to last. They had two children, William was born at Harvey Terrace in 1901 and in 1904 George Henry Noble was born to Mary Ann in the Nottingham Workhouse at Bagthorpe. During this period Mary Ann and the children appeared to be in and out of the Workhouse finally being admitted in 1908 for one month, after which Thomas discharges the children to his home at 2 Ash Yard but leaves Mary Ann behind. Mary Ann's address at the time is given as 1 Harvey Terrace and her nearest relation as "Mrs Bunting, of the same address".

By 1911 the children are living with their mother again at Windmill Row, Carlton. Mary Ann Noble is recorded as 'Mrs Hannah Noble - boarder' to a Robert Thompson. Along with William (10) and George (7), there is Christopher (1). It is unlikely that Thomas was the father of Christopher as Mary Ann and Thomas had by this time seperated. Sadly Christopher died within a year of his birth. Mary Anns husband is recorded in the same census as living in Ash Yard with his parents John and Charlotte Noble. At this time Mary Ann is working as a 'Gasser' in a Cotton Doubling Mill.

Just three years later and shortly after the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Mary Ann contracts pneumonia and dies on 11 December aged just 37. Her mother Clara Bunting was present at the death and possibly took the children in from this point on.