Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

James Pearce – died 1904, aged 69 years James Pearce was born in 1835 in Berkhamsted, the eldest son of William Pearce and his wife Etty (nee Loader), who were married in 1835.  He was followed by two brothers – Joseph in 1938 and George in 1840. At the time of the 1841 Census the family were living in the High Street Berkhamsted, his father William was aged 31 and his mother Etty aged 30.   James himself was 6, Joseph 3 and George 1 year. William has listed his profession as ‘a sawyer’, which was a hard physical job mostly entailing sawing tree trunks into planks, either in a saw mill or by hand in a saw pit – a hole in the ground which enabled the planks to be sawn horizontally by a two-man saw! The family had grown by the time of the 1851 Census, as they had been joined by two daughters, Anne – born in 1842 and Sarah in 1845.  James was 15 and working as a sawyer like his father. On the 5th. July, 1857 James married Sarah Cook at Berkhamsted Parish Church, Sarah was 23 and had been born in Hemel Hempstead.  The couple set up home in Bridge Street, Berkhamsted and by the time of the 1861 Census had two small sons – Walter, born in 1869 and Fred, who had been born that year.   James’ younger brother George (aged 21) was also living with them and working as a sawyer. By 1871 the family were living in Victoria Road, Berkhamsted.  With James and Sarah (now aged 35 and 38) were Walter (12), Fred (10) – now joined by Sarah Ann (7), all attending the local school. The family also had a 10 month-old baby son named Albert (presumably in honour of Queen Victoria’s late husband, the Prince Consort, who had died in 1861). The family were still in Victoria Road at the time of the 1881 Census, but James (now 45) was working as a general labourer. Sarah was 48,  Walter had left home and son Fred is now 20.  Their daughter Sarah Ann is 17 and described as a teacher (school mistress) and young Albert is 10.   Interestingly, an article in the Herts. Advertiser dated 21 Aug 1880, on the results of the Diocesan Examination of 3rd. Year Pupil Teachers of Religious Knowledge, states that Sarah Ann Pearce (at 16) has satisfied the examiners – and similarly again in September 1882 as a 5th Year Pupil Teacher (at 18). By 1891 Sarah Ann had married and the only one of George and Sarah’s children still at home was 20 year-old Albert, now a grocer’s assistant.  Although James is now 55, he is once again listing himself as a sawyer.  Sarah, now 57, sadly passed away three years later in 1894. By the time of the 1901 Census, James, now a widower is living at 8 Corner Hall in Hemel Hempstead with a Thomas Hodsden (33), his wife Jane and their three children.  He is described as ‘a lodger’ and ‘a sawyer unable to work’ – which is not really surprising as he was 66! James died in 1904 aged 69 and was re-united with Sarah in Rectory Lane Cemetery.