Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Mary Ann Pearce  - died 1917, aged 78 Mary Ann Pearce nee Mary Ann Cave, was born in 1839 in Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, the daughter of George Cave, a maltster and his wife Mary, nee Benbow. She was the fifth of their six children. The 1841 Census reveals that the family seemed to be separated.   Mary (aged 28)  was living with three of the children at the Pig Market, Stony Stratford West – William is 8, Richard is 6 and Mary Ann is 3.  George (aged 32)  was living  in Winslow with a James Brooks and his wife and children.  George and Mary had an older son, John, aged 10, who is listed as living with his grandparents – George and Ann Cave in Wolverton End, Potterspury.  It is worth noting that the surname in earlier records is given as Caves, but from the later census returns they seem to have dropped the ‘s’ at the end. By 1851 the family are reunited and living in Buckingham Road, Winslow.  George, now 42 and a maltster’s labourer – the trade of maltster consisted of making malt from grain for use in brewing and distilling.  Mary is 38, and they have all six children living with them. John is 19 and a groom, William (17) a labourer, Richard (15) a servant.  Of the younger three – Mary Ann (12) and James (9) are at school and the baby George is 2 years old. Taking the above into consideration and looking at the birth places of the children, young Mary Ann seemed to have had quite an unsettled childhood? Two of the children were born in Winslow, three in Stony Stratford and one in Wavenden! By the time of the 1861 Census George and Mary, aged 53 and 50 respectively are living at the Pightle in Berkhamsted (this is an old name for an area meaning a small enclosure or close and was latterly named Highfield Close) Only two children are still at home, Mary Ann is 22 and working as a shoe binder (this was someone who stitched the parts of a shoe together before the sole was nailed on) and young George is 11 and at school. Also living at the Pightle with his family was a young lad called Joseph Pearce, he and Mary Ann married the following year in 1862. Joseph was a sawyer by trade, which mostly involved cutting tree trunks into planks, and was quite hard physical work. By 1871 Joseph and Mary Ann were living in George Street with their two young sons Arthur, aged 8 and Archie, who had been born that year. The 1881 Census tells us that Joseph and Mary Ann are now living at the Rose and Crown public house in the High Street at Northchurch. Their two sons – Arthur (18) is working as a clerk and Archie at 10 years old is still at school –are living with them. Though he is still listed as a sawyer, Joseph appears to give that up during the next few years (he is now 43 and was maybe finding his job as a sawyer too physically demanding).  By the time of the 1891 Census he is listed as a publican at the Rose and Crown.  Arthur has left home and Archie is now aged 20 and working as a builder's apprentice. Archie sadly died in 1893, aged just 23, which must have been very hard for both his parents. By the time of the 1901 Census they were still at the Rose and Crown, Joseph was 63 and Mary Ann 62. That same Census tells us that their son Arthur was now married and he and his wife, Louisa, and their baby son Sidney were living in the High Street Berkhamsted, so not too far away from them.   An article in the Watford Observer of 11th. November, 1905 states that, at the Petty Sessions that week, the License of the Rose and Crown, Gossoms End, Northchurch was transferred from Joseph Pearce to a Frederick George Baker. By 1911 Joseph (73) and Mary Ann (72) were living at 6 Ravens Lane, Berkhamsted and had been married for 49 years, probably quite a rare thing in those times!  Arthur and Louisa and their son Sidney (now 11) were living in Chapel Street and would have been able to celebrate his parents Golden Wedding with them the following year. Joseph and Mary Ann both passed away in the summer of 1917 and are buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery.