Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Ann Pearce – died 1891, aged 51 years Ann Pearce was born Ann Chidwick in 1839 at Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire.  She was the sixth child of Thomas Chidwick, a shoemaker, and his wife Mary nee Haynes. Ann – aged just 1 year - appears in the 1841 Census at Chalfont St. Peter with her parents and four of her siblings – Mary (16), Elizabeth (11), Edy (8) and Thomas (5). Her eldest brother Isaac (17) had already left home. By the time of the 1851 Census her parents were living in Amersham Road, Chalfont St. Peter with just Ann, aged 10 and her youngest brother Benjamin aged 7. Both of them were attending the local school. The 1861 Census tells us that Ann, aged 22, has now left home and is working as a live-in kitchen maid at Haresfoot, Berkhamsted.  This was the rather grand home of Robert A. S. Dorien who was a local J.P. and also the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Hertfordshire Militia.  His household consisted of his wife Mary Ann, their 15 children, 3 visitors  and 15 servants, so Ann was a very small cog in a large wheel! In the summer of 1862 she married George Pearce, a sawyer of Berkhamsted.  At the time of the 1871 Census the couple were living in Highfield Road with their four children William (8), Edith (6), Richard (5) and Etty (3). The 1881 Census lists the couple as living in Back Lane, Berkhamsted – George and Ann are both now 41. Their four  children are still with them. William, aged 18, is working as a cooper (a barrel maker) – Edith (16) is a dressmaker – Richard (or Dick as he was known to his family) is 15 and working as a boat builder and Etty aged 13 is listed as a brush maker. At the taking of the 1891 Census George and Ann are living at Court House, Berkhamsted.  Daughter Etty is still with them, aged 23, but has no occupation   listed , so she may have been nursing her mother as Ann died later that year. Though George re-married after her death, he is buried with her in Rectory Lane Cemetery.