Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

CHARLES DOUGLAS EDMONDS; 1876- 1946

Charles was born on 22nd February 1876. He was one of six children born to Orlando and Mary Edmonds. Orlando Edmonds was a prosperous banker and the family lived in Stamford Le George, Lincolnshire, in a large imposing property, Northfield House and in 1881 four domestic staff were employed at the house, a housemaid, cook, nurse and under nurse. Although the family was not local to Berkhamsted, not only Charles, but also his older sister Helen, were to be laid to rest in Rectory Lane Cemetery.

We learn from the 1891 census that Charles, then 15 years old, was a student at Clifton College in Bristol. Clifton College had been funded in 1862 and in its early years was notable (in comparison to most public schools at that time) in emphasising science rather than classics in the curriculum, and for being less concerned with social elitism, e.g. by admitting day-boys on equal terms and providing a dedicated boarding house for Jewish boys, called Polack’s House. Whilst Clifton College may have promoted the sciences over classics, Charles’ talents evidently lay with the latter. On leaving Clifton, he went to Cambridge where he attained a first class degree in classics.

Charles went on to become a teacher, a profession he was to follow until his retirement in 1936. His first teaching post came in 1899. He was appointed as a Classical Form Master at Aldenham School. Aldenham, like Clifton College, was (and still is) a public school. Charles moved from Aldenham in 1905 to become an assistant master at the Royal Naval College, Osborne on the Isle of Wight.  The College had been opened in 1903 and was a training college for Royal Navy officer cadets. Boys were admitted at the age of thirteen. The cadets wore naval uniform and generally stayed for two years of initial training, divided into six terms, then from about the age of fifteen they continued their studies at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. The college was funded like other boarding schools, charging fees of £75 a year for each boy, not including clothes and travelling expenses, but with no compulsory extras, so the cost of educating a boy at Osborne was rather less than at a traditional public school.

It was in 1908, during Charles’ time at Osborne, that one of the cadets, George Archer-Shee was wrongfully accused of stealing a postal order worth five shillings and he was expelled from the College. Archer- Shee was successfully defended by the eminent barrister and politician, Sir Edward Carson and the trial became a cause-celebre and later the inspiration for Terence Rattigan’s play “The Winslow Boy”.

On 3rd August 1905, Charles married Ethel Moulton Slater.The marriage took place at Rosslyn-Hill Chapel, Hampstead. Late the following year Ethel gave birth to a daughter, Joan Mary Edmonds. The marriage was not to be a long one; Ethel died on 4th October 1910 in tragic circumstances as the following newspaper report explains.

“Mrs Ethel Edmonds, wife of a master at the Royal Naval College, lost her life by mistaking perchloride of mercury for sal volatile. While tying up some chrysanthemums in her garden at the Warren, York-avenue, East Cowes, Mrs Edmunds complained of the heat of the sun. It affected her head and she went indoors and took what she believed to be sal volatile.”

The  inquest into her death returned a verdict of death through mis-adventure. “The evidence showed that…the deceased, feeling bilious, drank a quantity of poison used for photographic purposes in mistake for sal volatile.”

(Sal Volatile – smelling salts- were most frequently used to revive patients who had fainted, but a liquid form was also used to treat a variety of illnesses including fever, diarrhoea, fainting and coughs. Sal Volatile was a very common remedy throughout the Victorian period.)

Charles remained at R.N. College Osborn until 1918. The 1911 census reveals that Charles was still living at the Warren in East Cowes with four year old Joan. He employed a cook and nurse to care for Joan.

In January 1919 Charles became a master at Berkhamsted School, where he taught classics, English and History. He was to remain at Berkhamsted School until his retirement in 1936.

It is probable that Charles came to know of Berkhamsted School through his sister Helen. Helen had married Herbert Leonard Hutchins in 1898. Her husband was an officer in the Indian Army. Herbert retired in 1908 and the family settled in Berkhamsted. Helen had five children, a daughter who attended Berkhamsted Girls Grammar School, and four boys, who were all pupils at Berkhamsted School. The oldest boy left the school in 1919 and the youngest in 1928, so they may have been taught by their uncle Charles.

In 1921 Charles married a second time. His bride was Eleanor Dorothea O’Grady. Eleanor was a widow. She had been married to Hardress Moore O’Grady who himself had been a master at Berkhamsted School and Eleanor was the headmaster’s secretary. (Hardress O’Grady is also buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery.) Eleanor had two children a daughter Clodagh born about 1906 and Michael born about 1910. Prior to his marriage to Eleanor, Charles lived in Boxwell Road, after the marriage he moved with his new family to live at 272 High Street. Charles retired in 1936 and in 1939 he and Eleanor were living at 270 High Street.

Charles died in West Hertfordshire Hospital on 1st September 1946. He was 70 years old.