Biography:
Harriet Letitia Timson
1845 –05/01/1937
Harriet Letitia Timson
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HARRIET LETITIA TIMSON; 1845 – 1937
Harriet was born in Hatfield in 1845. Her father was James Hinton, a farm labourer. The first census in which we can trace Harriet is that of 1861. Harriet was then 17 and was working as a domestic servant in St Pancras in London. She was working for John Shoebrook, a piano forte maker, and his wife Elizabeth. Also living in the same household were John’s mother the couple’s one year old daughter and a second domestic servant.
In 1871 Harriet had left service with the Shoebrooks and was working as a housemaid at the Church Mission Society’s children’s home in Islington. The Church Missionary Society (CMS) had set up a college to train missionaries for work abroad, the first Anglican institution to do so. The CMS opened a home for the children of missionaries overseas in Milner Square in London in 1843, but moved in 1853 to a purpose built home for 50 children on the corner of Highbury Grove and Highbury New Park. Harriet was one of a number of housemaids who worked at the home, nurses, cooks and governors and governesses alsobeing employed.
Harriet married William Timson on 21st June 1875. William, a butcher, came from Berkhamsted. The wedding took place at the church of St John the Baptist in Shoreditch London. It is not obvious how William and Harriet met. The address given for William on the marriage certificate is 116 Wenlock Street and for Harriet 114 Wenlock Street. It may be that William sometime after the 1871 census when he was still in Berkhamsted, had moved to London and became Harriet’s neighbour. However, William’s Wenlock Street address may have been no more than a convenience. The cheapest Church of England marriages involved the reading of banns. The banns had to be read over three successive Sundays in a parish church and the parties had to be living in the parish for at least a week before banns were read. Often, therefore, the address on a marriage certificate was no more than an address of convenience.
We do know, however, following the marriage, Harriet and William moved to William’s home town of Berkhamsted. When the couple’s only child, Charlotte, was born two years later in 1877, the birth was registered in Berkhamsted. The 1881 census reveals that William, Harriet and Charlotte were living in Park Street, but by 1891 they were living with William’s father, Thomas, at 232 High Street, from where Thomas had run a butcher’s business for many years. William’s mother, Charlotte, had died in 1884, so it is likely that William and Harriet moved in with Thomas to help care for him and run the butcher’s shop. (Thomas was 68 years old when his wife died.) Thomas died in 1894
The census of 1901 confirms that Harriet and William were then still at 232 High Street, William continuing to run the butcher’s business. However, by the time of the next census of 1911, William and Harriet had given up the butcher’s shop at 232 High Street and had moved to North Villa, North Road. William is noted as being a “retired butcher” but the final column of the census return notes the fact he was paralysed. The census return should have been signed by William as the head of the household, but is in fact signed by William’s daughter “Charlotte Letitia Timson for William Thomas Timson.”
William lived on for another 8 years at North Road, cared for by Harriet and Charlotte. He died on the 1st August 1919 at the age of 69 years.
Harriet continued to live in North Road with Charlotte. Charlotte was to die on 21st November 1921 and was buried in the same plot in Rectory Lane Cemetery in which William had been buried. Harriet continued living at North Road until her death on 5th January 1937 at the age of 91.
The Bucks Examiner of 8th January 1937 carried the following notice if Harriet’s death:
“Ninety-one-Year Old Resident’s Death.
Berkhamsted lost one of its oldest residents in the passing, on Tuesday, of Mrs Harriet Timson of North Villa, North Road. She was in her 92nd year, and was the widow of Mr William Timson formerly a prominent local butcher. She had been in failing health for several months but remained fairly active until last summer.”
She too joined her husband William and daughter Charlotte in the grave in which they had been buried.
View this burial in the cemetery
HARRIET LETITIA TIMSON; 1845 – 1937
Harriet was born in Hatfield in 1845. Her father was James Hinton, a farm labourer. The first census in which we can trace Harriet is that of 1861. Harriet was then 17 and was working as a domestic servant in St Pancras in London. She was working for John Shoebrook, a piano forte maker, and his wife Elizabeth. Also living in the same household were John’s mother the couple’s one year old daughter and a second domestic servant.
In 1871 Harriet had left service with the Shoebrooks and was working as a housemaid at the Church Mission Society’s children’s home in Islington. The Church Missionary Society (CMS) had set up a college to train missionaries for work abroad, the first Anglican institution to do so. The CMS opened a home for the children of missionaries overseas in Milner Square in London in 1843, but moved in 1853 to a purpose built home for 50 children on the corner of Highbury Grove and Highbury New Park. Harriet was one of a number of housemaids who worked at the home, nurses, cooks and governors and governesses alsobeing employed.
Harriet married William Timson on 21st June 1875. William, a butcher, came from Berkhamsted. The wedding took place at the church of St John the Baptist in Shoreditch London. It is not obvious how William and Harriet met. The address given for William on the marriage certificate is 116 Wenlock Street and for Harriet 114 Wenlock Street. It may be that William sometime after the 1871 census when he was still in Berkhamsted, had moved to London and became Harriet’s neighbour. However, William’s Wenlock Street address may have been no more than a convenience. The cheapest Church of England marriages involved the reading of banns. The banns had to be read over three successive Sundays in a parish church and the parties had to be living in the parish for at least a week before banns were read. Often, therefore, the address on a marriage certificate was no more than an address of convenience.
We do know, however, following the marriage, Harriet and William moved to William’s home town of Berkhamsted. When the couple’s only child, Charlotte, was born two years later in 1877, the birth was registered in Berkhamsted. The 1881 census reveals that William, Harriet and Charlotte were living in Park Street, but by 1891 they were living with William’s father, Thomas, at 232 High Street, from where Thomas had run a butcher’s business for many years. William’s mother, Charlotte, had died in 1884, so it is likely that William and Harriet moved in with Thomas to help care for him and run the butcher’s shop. (Thomas was 68 years old when his wife died.) Thomas died in 1894
The census of 1901 confirms that Harriet and William were then still at 232 High Street, William continuing to run the butcher’s business. However, by the time of the next census of 1911, William and Harriet had given up the butcher’s shop at 232 High Street and had moved to North Villa, North Road. William is noted as being a “retired butcher” but the final column of the census return notes the fact he was paralysed. The census return should have been signed by William as the head of the household, but is in fact signed by William’s daughter “Charlotte Letitia Timson for William Thomas Timson.”
William lived on for another 8 years at North Road, cared for by Harriet and Charlotte. He died on the 1st August 1919 at the age of 69 years.
Harriet continued to live in North Road with Charlotte. Charlotte was to die on 21st November 1921 and was buried in the same plot in Rectory Lane Cemetery in which William had been buried. Harriet continued living at North Road until her death on 5th January 1937 at the age of 91.
The Bucks Examiner of 8th January 1937 carried the following notice if Harriet’s death:
“Ninety-one-Year Old Resident’s Death.
Berkhamsted lost one of its oldest residents in the passing, on Tuesday, of Mrs Harriet Timson of North Villa, North Road. She was in her 92nd year, and was the widow of Mr William Timson formerly a prominent local butcher. She had been in failing health for several months but remained fairly active until last summer.”
She too joined her husband William and daughter Charlotte in the grave in which they had been buried.
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