Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

EDWIN WEBB (1840-1923) Edwin was born in Chesham in 1840, the third of seven children of Treacher Webb and Sophia Spurrier. At the time of the 1851 Census, Edwin, his parents and siblings – Elizabeth (1836-1913), Benjamin (1837-1902), Emma (1841-1916), Fanny (1844-1932), Sarah (1846-1930), and Henry (1849-1937) – were living together at Townfield Yard, Chesham.  Edwin’s father was a successful turner and wood ware manufacturer of Chesham and Townfield Yard would’ve likely been his place of work.  Many of these yards incorporated small cottages for workers and their families. Over the next decade, the family moved to Newtown, Chesham and Edwin had begun work as a wood turner, following in the footsteps of his father. In 1863 Edwin married Jane Rogers, daughter of William Rogers and Mary Gascoine. On the first Census as a married man, Edwin was residing in Newtown, Chesham with Jane and their children – Louisa Jane (1864), Rosa (1866), Albert (1868), Charles Edwin (1869) and Frank (1870).  Sadly, the couple lost their daughter Ellen who was born early 1867 and died later that year. The couple went on to have three more children – Alice (1872), Thomas (1873) and James (1874).  Like their parents, all of the Webb children were born in Chesham.  However, by the time James was three years old, the family had relocated to Berkhamsted where they welcomed their tenth and final child, Ernest (1877-1877).  Sadly, Ernest died in infancy at just a few months old. While the reason for the move to Berkhamsted is unclear, it is possible that Edwin wanted to branch out on his own.  There were many wood ware and brush making businesses in Chesham, one of the earliest and most successful was owned by Edwin’s Uncle Robert Webb, who founded Robert Webb & Sons in 1829.  Although there is no evidence of Edwin starting his own business in Berkhamsted, he was certainly employed in the wood turning profession throughout his working life. Bridge Street was home to the Webb family at the time of the 1881 Census and where they remained a decade later, with the exception of Edwin and Jane’s eldest daughters, Louisa and Rosa, who had married and started families of their own.  Louisa was in nearby George Street and Rosa, in Park Street.  Apart from Alice, all the children in the family home were working in 1891 – Albert was a band sawyer; Charles, a stove brush handle maker; Frank, a tailor’s apprentice; Thomas, a postman and James, a draper’s apprentice. As more children flew the nest, Edwin and Jane moved the short distance to 9 Holliday Street.  In 1901, the family home consisted of Edwin, Jane and three of their children – Charles, Alice and Thomas.  Their son Frank had moved to Great Missenden and was working from home as a tailor on his own account but by the next Census, he had returned to the family home which was now at 6 Chapel Street, joining his parents and three siblings. Sadly, Edwin’s wife Jane died on 26 January 1916 leaving Edwin a widower.  He never remarried and seven years later, died in Hemel Hempstead on 09 January 1923.  He and Jane are buried together here in Rectory Lane.