Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Sarah Margrave (176) 1889

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Plot 176 Sarah Margrave, later Loader

 Sarah Margrave was born in Berkhamsted on 13^th November 1806, the daughter of Mark Margrave and Sarah née Green. She was baptised at St Peter’s, Berkhamsted on 12^th April 1807. Her father was a shoemaker and the family lived in Berkhamsted High Street. Sarah had an older brother, George, born exactly two years before her on 13^th November 1804.

 Sarah became a Schoolmistress, but we do not know where she worked in the 1830s, 40s and 50s. The 1841 Census shows her, aged 30, living in Berkhamsted High Street with her parents. After her father’s death on 9^th November 1850, Sarah continued to live there with her mother until her mother’s death on 15^th September 1854.

 On Tuesday 6^th February 1866, Sarah married Mr George Loader, a 58 year old widower and a member of a well-established Berkhamsted family. The marriage took place at St Peter’s Church and was conducted by Rev, J Hutchinson, Rector. George, whose first wife Sarah née Tomlin had died five years earlier, was a Cordwainer - a boot and shoe maker - who lived in Castle Street. By the time of their marriage, 59 year old Sarah was Schoolmistress of the Bourne School in Berkhamsted.

 The 1871 Census shows George, 63, Cordwainer and Sarah, 64, Schoolmistress, living at “Bournes Girls School” in Berkhamsted High Street. Bourne’s Charity School had been founded in 1737 by London merchant Thomas Bourne, for the education of 20 boys and 10 girls. In 1854 it was extended, largely through a donation from General John Finch of Berkhamsted Place. In 1875, the children transferred to the National School in the Court House and in 1888, the building became the first home of Berkhamsted School for Girls. Located at 222 Berkhamsted High Street, it is now the Per Tutti Italian Restaurant. The coats of arms still clearly visible above the door are those of Berkhamsted, Thomas Bourne and John Finch. Sarah Loader née Margrave would have had the benefit of being Schoolmistress there when the building was newly renovated. By 1873 she had retired.

 George and Sarah were married for 8½ years before George died, aged 67, on 7^th November 1874, at his residence in Castle Street, to which it is likely George and Sarah returned after Sarah retired. He was buried with his first wife, Sarah née Tomlin and their young son William in Plot 173 at Rectory Lane. The inscription on his headstone includes the text “Bellringer at the parish church for 50 years.”

 After George’s death, Sarah continued to live in Castle Street, where, in 1881, she is recorded as a 74 year old widow, retired from work. She died, aged 83 on 26^th December 1889 and is buried with her parents Mark and Sarah Margrave in Plot 176 of this cemetery. She is commemorated on the Margrave headstone as “Sarah, their daughter” and is therefore recorded here as Sarah Margrave, although her surname was by then Loader.

 The sole executor of Sarah’s Will was her step-son George Loader (Junior), Bootmaker, the son of her late husband George by his first wife Sarah née Tomlin.