Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Arthur John Holloway (x101)

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Plot x101 Arthur John Holloway (1842-1891)

Arthur was born 13 February 1842 to Stephen and Lucy Holloway and was baptised in St Peter’s 27 February. His father was a plasterer and interior decorator and Lucy was his second wife. In all Arthur was to have five half-siblings and eight full siblings.

Arthur did not join the family firm but left Berkhamsted for London. The 1861 census found him as a lodger in Clerkenwell and employed as a railway carrier’s clerk. Five years later he married Rose Jane Alleway in London.

Their first child, Kitty, was born in Nice in France, in 1870 and was baptised in Berkhamsted in July that year. Perhaps Rose had gone there for her health during her pregnancy.

In 1871 the family were living in Hornsey, Middlesex. Arthur was the secretary to a mining company and they could afford a live-in domestic servant.

Rose Helen was born in Berkhamsted in 1873 and Georgian Mary was born in 1876, also in Berkhamsted.

By 1878 the family had moved to Blackpool and Arthur was the manager of the Clifton Arms Hotel, Talbot Road, Blackpool. This is now a Grade II listed building in the heart of the town and must have been a highly profitable business.  It had twenty one guests on census night and employed a staff of fourteen.

In September 1878 Arthur had to appear before the magistrates on a charge of keeping the hotel open during prohibited hours on Sunday 15 September. His defence was that he was not present at the time and that during a heavy rainstorm 30 or 40 people had taken refuge in the hotel and that those present were either bona fide travellers (to which by law he was obliged to give refreshment) or hotel guests. However, one was discovered to have been the gust of a guest and not a traveller and a fine of 20s and costs was imposed.

In October 1878 when the register of electors was being revised there were objections to Arthur’s inclusion on the list on the grounds that he did not pay rates. This was upheld by the mayor.

In April 1879 Rose Helen was baptised in Blackpool. Her father, meanwhile, was involving himself in the development of Blackpool’s attractions and became a director of the Raikes Hall Company. In 1871, Raikes Hall’s house and grounds were bought by the Raikes Hall, Park, Gardens and Aquarium Company. They greatly extended the house and a theatre was built. This new and exciting attraction in the town rapidly popular with locals and those further afield. The extensive pleasure gardens also included a lake, skating rink and an aviary. From 1888 to 1899, it was the home to Blackpool FC and, was the thirteenth ground ever to be used for a football league game. Now only The Raikes Hall pub survives.

In August 1882 the great actress Sarah Bernhardt stayed at the Clifton Hotel and had to cancel a performance due to an ulcerated throat. This ended up as a court case with the Winter Gardens management suing the actress. Arthur had to give evidence.

By February 1886 Arthur was licensee of the St Anne’s Hotel in St Anne’s-on-the Sea, Blackpool (St Anne’s is the seaside part of Lytham St Anne’s). As The Blackpool Herald reported on 2 April that year, he found himself in court on a charge of permitting card playing for money there on 6 February, which, according to the two police witnesses, resulted in him winning several games. He was also accused of using bad language to the officers which he denied. He was fined £5 and his licence endorsed.

In August 1890 he applied for planning permission to enlarge the dining room, which was granted.

However, he was not in residence on census night in April 1891 and Rose was running the hotel which had 24 guests that night. His whereabouts has not been established, but he died 21 June 1891 in Northampton aged 49.

He was brought back to Berkhamsted to be buried. His parents lie in plot 61, his brother Thomas and his wife in x100,. His nephews Harry and Harvey are also buried in this cemetery.