Biography:
Rachel Gates
1849 –1902
Rachel Gates
View full burial details
Unmarked grave Rachel Gates (1849-1902)
Rachel was born at Waterside, Berkhamsted, in 1849 the daughter of Job, a farmer’s labourer born in Berkhamsted and his wife Susan from Ringshall. She was their third daughter and in 1851 she also had an older brother and a new-born baby brother.
Ten years later her parents were living in Castle Street with their eldest son William and his wife; Rachel and her younger sister Emma. Both girls were attending school.
Rachel never married and she and Emma were the only ones left at home in 1871 when their parents had moved to Bridge Street. Job was working as a gardener and all three women were straw plaiters, producing straw plait for the hat industry in Luton and Dunstable. It was not well paid and had health risks from the risk of inhaling minute straw splinters, but was a source of income for many women and children in poor households.
By 1881 Rachel was employed as a live-in domestic servant by Thomas and Elizabeth King in the High Street. Thomas was a coachbuilder employing 13 men in the business.
The 1901 census reveals that Rachel was a live-in domestic servant in the household of Arthur and Julia Lydekker and their two sons in Harpenden. The family also employed another domestic servant and a nurse.
Rachel returned to Berkhamsted to live at 84, George Street Northchurch where she died 9 June 1902 aged 53.
View this burial in the cemetery
Unmarked grave Rachel Gates (1849-1902)
Rachel was born at Waterside, Berkhamsted, in 1849 the daughter of Job, a farmer’s labourer born in Berkhamsted and his wife Susan from Ringshall. She was their third daughter and in 1851 she also had an older brother and a new-born baby brother.
Ten years later her parents were living in Castle Street with their eldest son William and his wife; Rachel and her younger sister Emma. Both girls were attending school.
Rachel never married and she and Emma were the only ones left at home in 1871 when their parents had moved to Bridge Street. Job was working as a gardener and all three women were straw plaiters, producing straw plait for the hat industry in Luton and Dunstable. It was not well paid and had health risks from the risk of inhaling minute straw splinters, but was a source of income for many women and children in poor households.
By 1881 Rachel was employed as a live-in domestic servant by Thomas and Elizabeth King in the High Street. Thomas was a coachbuilder employing 13 men in the business.
The 1901 census reveals that Rachel was a live-in domestic servant in the household of Arthur and Julia Lydekker and their two sons in Harpenden. The family also employed another domestic servant and a nurse.
Rachel returned to Berkhamsted to live at 84, George Street Northchurch where she died 9 June 1902 aged 53.
Military graves