Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

George Austin (145)

20/08/1849 –15/06/1892

Son of Thomas Austin; Inland Revenue clerk

Relatives

Thomas Austin (129) — father

Mary Austin — mother

Mary Ann Austin — wife

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 145 George Austin (1849-1892)

George was born 20 August 1849 in Berkhamsted, the eldest child of Thomas Austin, born in Berkhamsted, and his first wife Mary (née Manton) from Northchurch.

In 1851 the family were living in the High Street, Berkhamsted. Thomas was a plumber and house decorator employing two men, and the family also employed a live-in domestic servant. The household included a lodger, John Bennet and his wife and child. Possibly significant for young George’s future career, John Bennet was an excise officer.

George’s sister Caroline was born that year. (She was to marry Frederick Dwight, the brother of George’s future wife Mary Ann Dwight.)

His mother Mary died in 1854, following the birth of Thomas, who died in infancy that year, and his father remarried in 1855 to Mary Hards, a gamekeeper’s daughter.

Albert Edward, George’s half-brother, was born in 1863. He became Vicar of Halstead in Essex and he and his mother Mary are buried here in Plot 393.

The 1871 census records George as employed as a clerk in the Inland Revenue Excise branch and living in lodging in Portsmouth.

By the time of his marriage to Mary Ann Dwight in Berkhamsted in May 1876 George had moved to Melton Mowbray. He and Mary Ann were recorded at Thorpe End, Melton Mowbray in the 1881 census where George was described as an Officer of Excise.

They were to have four children: George William (b.1877 Melton Mowbray), Mary (b.1879 Melton Mowbray), Frederick Albert (b.1880 Melton Mowbray) and Thomas Henry (b.1885, Berkhamsted).

In the 1891 census the family were at 26, King Street, Luton, which is probably where George died 15 June 1892 aged only 43.He was buried here on the 20 June.

Mary Ann survived him until 1921 when she died aged 71 and was brought to lie with him here.

Mary Ann Austin

15/02/1850 –23/12/1921

Wife of George Austin

Relatives

Albert Edward Austin — other

George Austin (145) — husband

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 145 Mary Ann Austin (née Dwight) (1850-1921)

Mary Ann was born 15 February 1850 in Northchurch, the daughter of Matthew Dwight and Sophia (late Oakley, née Fenemore).

Matthew was a farmer and pheasant breeder and it was his son William, Mary Ann’s older brother, who developed the business of Dwight’s Pheasantries which continued well into the 20^th century – in 1965 they produced over 100,000 birds. (The site of the farm is now the Hunters Park housing estate off Gravel Path.)

(Mary Ann’s brother Frederick was to marry Caroline Austin, sister of Mary Ann’s future husband.)

In 1851 the family lived in Northchurch and in 1861 at Canal Side, next to the lock house.

Mary Ann married George Austin in May 1876 in Berkhamsted. George, who had been born in the town, had become an Excise Officer and was working in Melton Mowbray where the couple lived for at least five years after the wedding.

They were to have four children: George William (b.1877 Melton Mowbray), Mary (b.1879 Melton Mowbray), Frederick Albert (b.1880 Melton Mowbray) and Thomas Henry (b.1885, Berkhamsted)

In 1881 they were at Thorpe End, Melton Mowbray, employing two live-in servants, a nurse and a general domestic but by the time of the 1891 census the family had moved to 26, King Street, Luton. George was still an Excise Officer and all the children were at school.

George died 15 June 1892 aged only 43. He was buried here on the 20 June.

Mary Ann remained in King Street and the 1911 census shows her and her two eldest sons, both unmarried, living at number 32, a substantial eight roomed house, with a live-in domestic servant.

They were still there in 1921. George William had his wife and young daughter with him. Thomas Henry was still single. They continued to employ a general servant.

Mary Ann died 23 December 1921, aged 71, and was buried here with George on 27 December.