Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Plot x244 Richard Percy Meek (1874-1882)

Richard was born 20 June 1874 Pinner and baptised 19 July 1875. He was the son of jeweller and goldsmith Richard Meek and his wife Sarah Susannah, the daughter of John Lane, of Lane’s Nurseries, Berkhamsted.

In 1881, following the death of his father, his mother had moved back to Berkhamsted and Richard and his brother Arthur Cecil were living with their maternal grandfather, in the High Street.

The Hemel Hempstead Gazette for 12 August 1882, reported: “An inquest was held on Tuesday at the George Inn, Berkhampstead…on the body of Richard Percy Meek, aged 8 years…” On July 31 a witness saw boys playing in the road and one stepped backwards and fell under the wheels of a timber wagon. “Mrs Frederick Quincy Lane, of the nurseries, said the deceased was the son of the late Mr Richard Meek of Bond Street, London.” The child was carried to his mother’s house and the surgeon attending found he had a compound fracture of the thigh. “Tetanus set in and he died on Thursday last from lockjaw.” A verdict of accidental death was returned.

Richard was buried 10 August with his mother Sarah and two of his sisters