Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Sarah Tompkins was born Sarah Emmett and baptised on 16 November 1795 in St Giles, Camberworth, Surrey.    Her parents were Charles and Sarah Emmett.

On 1 April 1828, she married Francis Tompkins born in Berkhamsted on 4 April 1795.  Together they ran a successful butcher’s shop in Berkhamsted High Street, operating from premises on Berkhamsted High Street 1841 -1851 (85 High Street in 1851, according to the census).  The business is listed in Pigots Directory 1839.

Her husband died in 1851 and she continued to run the butchers with her youngest son Thomas and daughter Harriet in 1861.

John Tompkins and his son Charles also continue to run a butcher’s business a few doors away on the High Street.

Sarah and Francis had 5 children:

• Francis born 1830
• Sarah born 1831
• Charles born 1832
• Thomas born 1834
• Harriet born 1 August 1839

When she died on 11 March 1869, the butchers shop business passed on to her youngest son Thomas Tompkins as requested in her late husband’s will.