Biography:
Henry Carpenter (971)
13/04/1862 –28/10/1950
Henry Carpenter (971)
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Plot 971 Henry Carpenter (1862-1950)
Henry was born 13 April 1862 in Boxmoor, the son of Thomas Carpenter, a hay dealer, and Elizabeth (née Harrison), who had married in Hemel Hempstead in 1855.
In April 1871 he was living with his grandparents, Joseph and Fanny Harrison, a labourer and a straw plaiter, in Bovingdon. Also in the household were his mother Elizabeth Carpenter, Joseph’s daughter, described inaccurately, as unmarried, and her sons Thomas (aged 12), George (aged 9) and Henry (aged 6), all born in Boxmoor.
Henry was baptised 10 December that year in Bovingdon church. Where Thomas Carpenter snr. was, and whether he had abandoned his family, is something of a mystery but he appears to have moved to London.
In February 1877 Henry, aged 15, was admitted to Cottenham Road School, Islington by his father. His last school was given as the public elementary school in Bourne End which he had attended for seven years. Cottenham Road School was a fine building erected in 1873 (https://www.archiseek.com/2009/1873-schools-cottenham-road-holloway-london/) but Henry did not stay long, leaving on 13 May 1877. A note in the register records “no tables.”
His father remarried in 1878.
In 1881 Henry, aged 19, was living with his older brother Thomas, a bricklayer, and his wife and child, at 2, Travers Road, Southgate, Edmonton and was working as a general labourer, but by 1891 he was employed as a garden labourer and, with another young man with the same occupation, was a boarder in one of the cottages occupied by “farm servants” at Waters Place Farm, an isolated farm east of Ware.
He married Mary Jane Maydom 25 April 1896 in St Peter’s, Berkhamsted. His residence was given as All Saints, Rickling, Saffron Walden.
Daughter Minnie was born in 1897 and son Ernest in 1899, both in Rickling Green Essex.
In March 1901 the family were living at Brooklands Lodge, Birchanger, Essex, close to Bishop’s Stortford where Henry was employed as a “gardener (domestic)”, probably by George Gupper, a retired brewer, who lived at “Brooklands”.
By the time of the 1911 census the family had moved to 41, High Street, Berkhamsted and Henry was working as a self-employed jobbing gardener. It was an eight-roomed house which may have been acquired with the intention of taking in boarders. Certainly one, a retired butler, was in residence in April 1911.
The family was soon hit by tragedy. Minnie died in 1913 aged only 16 and Ernest died in 1917. Minnie is buried here with him.
Mysteriously, Mary Jane died in Vancouver, Canada, on March 1 1929 aged 57. She is entered in the cemetery burial records here as Jennie Carpenter, with the note that she died in Vancouver. When and why she had travelled there is unknown.
In the 1939 Register Henry was described as a widowed retired gardener and was lodging with a married couple in Bourne End.
He died 28 October 1950 aged 88.
View this burial in the cemetery
Plot 971 Henry Carpenter (1862-1950)
Henry was born 13 April 1862 in Boxmoor, the son of Thomas Carpenter, a hay dealer, and Elizabeth (née Harrison), who had married in Hemel Hempstead in 1855.
In April 1871 he was living with his grandparents, Joseph and Fanny Harrison, a labourer and a straw plaiter, in Bovingdon. Also in the household were his mother Elizabeth Carpenter, Joseph’s daughter, described inaccurately, as unmarried, and her sons Thomas (aged 12), George (aged 9) and Henry (aged 6), all born in Boxmoor.
Henry was baptised 10 December that year in Bovingdon church. Where Thomas Carpenter snr. was, and whether he had abandoned his family, is something of a mystery but he appears to have moved to London.
In February 1877 Henry, aged 15, was admitted to Cottenham Road School, Islington by his father. His last school was given as the public elementary school in Bourne End which he had attended for seven years. Cottenham Road School was a fine building erected in 1873 (https://www.archiseek.com/2009/1873-schools-cottenham-road-holloway-london/) but Henry did not stay long, leaving on 13 May 1877. A note in the register records “no tables.”
His father remarried in 1878.
In 1881 Henry, aged 19, was living with his older brother Thomas, a bricklayer, and his wife and child, at 2, Travers Road, Southgate, Edmonton and was working as a general labourer, but by 1891 he was employed as a garden labourer and, with another young man with the same occupation, was a boarder in one of the cottages occupied by “farm servants” at Waters Place Farm, an isolated farm east of Ware.
He married Mary Jane Maydom 25 April 1896 in St Peter’s, Berkhamsted. His residence was given as All Saints, Rickling, Saffron Walden.
Daughter Minnie was born in 1897 and son Ernest in 1899, both in Rickling Green Essex.
In March 1901 the family were living at Brooklands Lodge, Birchanger, Essex, close to Bishop’s Stortford where Henry was employed as a “gardener (domestic)”, probably by George Gupper, a retired brewer, who lived at “Brooklands”.
By the time of the 1911 census the family had moved to 41, High Street, Berkhamsted and Henry was working as a self-employed jobbing gardener. It was an eight-roomed house which may have been acquired with the intention of taking in boarders. Certainly one, a retired butler, was in residence in April 1911.
The family was soon hit by tragedy. Minnie died in 1913 aged only 16 and Ernest died in 1917. Minnie is buried here with him.
Mysteriously, Mary Jane died in Vancouver, Canada, on March 1 1929 aged 57. She is entered in the cemetery burial records here as Jennie Carpenter, with the note that she died in Vancouver. When and why she had travelled there is unknown.
In the 1939 Register Henry was described as a widowed retired gardener and was lodging with a married couple in Bourne End.
He died 28 October 1950 aged 88.
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