Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

George Batchelor

1850 –1929

A gardener

Relatives

Emily Batchelor — wife

• Melanie Hilton

Unmarked Grave George Batchelor (1850-1929)

George was born in 1850 in Hawridge, Bucks to Joseph and Edith Batchelor. His father was an agricultural labourer.

In 1861 he was living in Heath End, Hawridge with his widowed father, now a carter.

His father died in 1867, the same year that Thomas Batchelor and his nephew George, both of Hawridge, were up before Chesham Petty Sessions. George was charged with resisting the police and Thomas with rescuing him from police custody. According to The Bucks Chronicle “…great disturbance had been occasioned by a number of roughs assembling on Cholesbury Common on Sunday evenings, of late, to the great annoyance of respectable residents.” Plain clothes police attended and arrested George for “using obscene language and being riotous”. Thomas and other men then rescued him from the police, but both were again arrested. Thomas was fined £2 3s 6d (Just under £200 in 2025) which he refused to pay, choosing instead to go to jail for 21 days. “Throwing his cap into the air he said he could do that on his head.” George was fined £1 13s 6d.

George became a gardener and married Lizzie Priest. Their children, Alice (1878), Frederick (1880) and John (1882) were all born in Hawridge.

The date of Lizzie’s death is unknown but George married Emily Collins in the Aylesbury district in 1886.

They moved to Wiggington where Lizzie (1887) and Bertha (1891) were born. The family was living at Chesham Lodge, Heath End, Wiggington in 1891.

Maggie (1892) and Frank (1894) were born in Wiggington. They then moved to Ashley Green, Bucks, where Daisy was born in 1897.

By 1901 the family had moved to 26, Kitsbury Road, Berkhamsted where George, a domestic gardener, would live for the rest of his life.

The 1911 census records him as a jobbing gardener. Daughters Bertha and Daisy were “coat hands” at the mantle factory in Lower Kings Road and son Frank was also a jobbing gardener, probably working alongside his father.

Emily died in August 1929 aged 74.

George died in October that year aged 79 and was buried with Emily.

Emily Batchelor

1854 –1929

A straw plaiter and wife of a jobbing gardener

Relatives

George Batchelor — husband

• Melanie Hilton

Unmarked grave Emily Batchelor (née Collins) (1854-1929)

Emily was born in 1854 in Hawridge Bucks to William and Elizabeth (née Keen) Collins. Her father was a labourer and her mother a straw plaiter.

By 1871 her father had died and Emily was living with her mother and younger sister and brother in Hawridge. All were straw plaiters.

Emily had two daughters – Alice (1876) and Sarah (1877). Their father is unknown, but possibly he was local bad boy George Batchelor whom she married in 1886.

In 1881 she was a straw plaiter living with her mother, sister and brother in Hawridge, along with her two daughters.

She married George Batchelor, a widower, in the Aylesbury district in 1886. He was a jobbing gardener. They moved to Wiggington where Lizzie (1887) and Bertha (1891) were born. In 1891 they lived at Chesham Lodge, Heath End, Wiggington where Maggie (1892) and Frank (1894) were born. Daisy (1897) was born in Ashley Green, Bucks.

By 1901 they had moved to 26, Kitsbury Road where they lived for the rest of their lives.

In 1911 daughters Bertha and Daisy were “coat hands” at the mantle factory in Lower Kings Road and Frank was a jobbing gardener, probably working alongside his father.

Emily died in August 1929 aged 74 and George died in October that year aged 79 and was buried here with her.