Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Alice Mary Spragg

1865 –1931

a domestic servant; originally from Portsea, but boarded with a family in Berkhamsted

• Melanie Hilton

Unmarked grave Alice Mary Spragg (1865-1931)

Alice lived a life that was, at times, very hard, and which has not been easy to untangle.

She was born 1865/6 in Portsmouth to Robert and Rebecca Webber. Her father was a naval pensioner and in 1871 they lived at 9, Primrose Alley, Portsea.

Alice went into domestic service and in 1881 she was a live-in domestic servant in a Portsmouth household.

She married Thomas Spragg, a labourer, in Portsea in 1883. Thomas Frederick was born in 1884 followed by Alice MM (1887) and Annie Elizabeth. By the time Annie was baptised in All Saints, Portsea on 13 February 1889 the family lived at 55, Hertford Street.

Robert James was born in 1891 when the family was living at 28, Mary Row, Portsea and

Frances Ann followed in 1892.

May 1893 The Portsmouth Evening News reported on a case of indecent assault on a child, Annie Elizabeth Spragg aged 4, witnessesd by her brother Thomas, aged 8, at 6, Paradise Court, Commercial Road while their mother Alice Mary Spragg was out of the house.

In February 1894 “Alice Mary Spragg, a young woman, was convicted of being drunk and disorderly in Commercial Road, Landport…She promised to reform and on that condition the Magistrates let her off.” (The Hampshire Post).

Alice was admitted to the Portsea Union Workhouse between 9 and 20 July 1895, although the children are not mentioned in the record, nor her reason for being there.

Alice has not been found in the 1901 census, nor has any trace been found of Thomas.

By April 1911 the census records her as married and a servant, living with labourer Edward John Beasely and his daughter Lilian Martha at 21, Mill Street. It is not possible to tell whether she was a servant to someone else and lodging with the Beaselys or was his servant, or, possibly, they were in a relationship.

Whatever the situation, Alice was to spend the rest of her life with John Beasley. In June 1921 she was shown as a boarder with the Beasleys at 16, Holliday Street. Both she and John Beasely are shown as married, but there is no sign of a spouse for either of them.

Alice died in October 1931, aged 66, at 16, Holliday Street.