Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Clara Gardener

1857 –1936

An unmarried mother

• Melanie Hilton

Unmarked grave Clara Gardener (1857-1936)

Clara was born in Brettle Lane, Brierly Hill, Staffordshire in 1857, the daughter of unmarried mother Fanny Gardener. What Fanny was doing so far from home is unknown, because she came from a Rickmansworth family and was back with them at the time of the 1861 census. It may be that she had been working as a servant. The 1861 return for William, a labourer, and Sarah Gardener lists their five children including Fanny and her sister Maria. At the end of the entry is one for a C[illegible] Gardener, granddaughter, born in Brettle Lane, Brierly Hill, Staffordshire in 1857.

In 1891 Clara was living with her mother Fanny Tarbox (née Gardener) who had married Humphrey Tarbox in Berkhamsted in 1864, but was a widow by 1891. Fanny was born in Rickmansworth and the entry for Clara Gardner, her daughter states, incorrectly, that she was born in Rickmansworth too, in 1857. It also lists Jenny and W. Harry (born 1889) as her grandchildren. Also with the family was Daniel Gardener who was the son of Maria Gardener, Fanny’s sister.

Despite what Clara stated in various census returns she never married and the father, or fathers, of her two daughters and her son has not been identified.

In 1901 Clara was living at 9, Chesham Road. The records states that she was born in Staffordshire, was married and was working as a seamstress. Jenny (1878), Harry (1889) and Margaret (1892) were listed as her children and Robert, born 1899 and her grandson, was presumably Jenny’s child.

In 1911 Clara she stated that she had been born in Staffordshire, was married, and had been for 23 years, and had had four children, three of whom were still alive (The fourth has not been identified). Jenny and Margaret were listed as her daughters and Robert, Edward (1903) and Horace (1909) as her grandsons. It seems likely that Edward, and perhaps Horace, as well as Robert, was Jenny’s child.

Her return for the 1921 census when she and her daughters were living at 22, Mill Street, states that she was a widow, born in Staffordshire, and lists six children, all clearly stated as “son” or “daughter” and born in Berkhamsted: Jenny (1878), Margaret (1892), R[obert] W (1899), Horace (1907), Louie (1911) and Jack (1914). The last four were, in fact, her grandchildren.

Jenny and Margaret were doing general housework for various people. Give that Jenny and Jack were living together in 1939 it seems likely that she was his mother as well as Robert and Edward’s and probably Horace’s too.

Clara died in May 1936 at 19, Mill Street.