Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Arthur Edward Stapleton

1890 –24/01/1942

A brush maker who served in Ireland with the Army

Plot 989 Arthur Edward Stapleton (1890-1942)

Arthur was born in 1890 in Berkhamsted to Elizabeth Stapleton. His father is unknown and he was brought up by her parents, George and Charlotte Stapleton, with their children, the youngest of whom was only six years older than him.

George was a stationary engine driver and in 1891 the family were living in Highfield Road, Hemel Hempstead. Arthur is shown on the census as “grandson”. However, by 1901, when they had moved to 2, Constance Villas in Boxmoor, he is recorded as “son”. He may not even known himself what the truth about his parentage was.

In 1897 his mother Elizabeth married Henry Stone and their daughter Hilda May was born in 1901.

George died in 1907 and in the 1911 census Arthur was living with his grandmother Charlotte at 5, Bright Buildings, Apsley End. He is recorded as her son. Also with them was his true mother, Elizabeth Stone, and her daughter Hilda May Stone, aged 9. Elizabeth is shown as having had three children of whom one was still living, so it appears that Arthur’s parentage was still a secret.

Both Arthur and his mother were employed in brush making and Arthur is recorded as a “Boner”. This may have involved shaping or cleaning animal bones to make handles or brush backs.

It is likely that he served during the 1^st World War, however the surviving records for men of the same name do not have sufficient detail to be certain.

In 1919 Arthur is recorded in the electoral registers for Hemel Hempstead at 17, Weymouth Street with a Reginald Crawley. In Spring 1920 he is on the “Absent Voters” roll at the same address, stating that he was a corporal in the 17^th Middlesex Regiment

In June 1921 Arthur was a “lance sergeant” in the 1^st Battalion Middlesex Regiment. (The establishment of an infantry battalion included eight lance-sergeants, two in each company. It was an appointment given to some corporals, rather than a rank in its own right. It survives only in the Foot Guards and the Honourable Artillery Company today). He was stationed in Balmoral Camp, Belfast.

There was a significant British military presence in Ireland from 1919 because of the Irish War of Independence/Anglo-Irish War. In May 1921, Ireland was partitioned under British law by the Government of Ireland Act, which created Northern Ireland.

“A ceasefire began on 11 July 1921. The post-ceasefire talks led to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921. This ended British rule in most of Ireland and, after a ten-month transitional period overseen by the Provisional Government, the Irish Free State was created as a self-governing Dominion on 6 December 1922.”  (Wikipedia)

It has not proved possible to trace Arthur in the records after that date.

Elizabeth died in 1923 and his grandmother, Charlotte, in Berkhamsted in 1931.

Arthur died 24 January 1942 at 14, Ravens Lane, aged 52.