Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

‘Charlie’ Bryant was a gardener. He married Mathilda Rosetta in c. 1903 and their daughter Beulah May is buried at the top in Plot 1150. They were living at 49 Charles Street in 1911.

His gravestone is carved with a dove, an olive branch and a rose, a poignant reference to Charlie’s occupation and a life spent in the fertile occupation of tending English domestic gardens.

The following further information provided by Melanie Hilton.

Plot 606: Charlie Bryant (1876-1930)

Charlie Bryant was born in Northchurch in about 1876 and baptised there, (as Charlie, not Charles), 12 April 1879. He was the son of George Bryant, a labourer, and his wife Jane.

He married Matilda Rosetta Davis in 1902 in Berkhamsted and in the 1911 census they are recorded living at 49, Charles Street. Charlie was employed as groom and domestic gardener and he and Mathilda had one child, Beulah May (b.1908). The family shared their five-roomed home with a lodger, James Kemp, a police constable.

In 1921 the family still lived at 49, Charles Street and Charlie was employed as a gardener by Major McBride, MD, at Falkland House.

Charlie died in 1930. Matilda survived him until 1958 and is buried in plot 1150 with their daughter Beulah who died in 1944.