Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Mary Harriet Clarke (928)

1863 –11/12/1925

Domestic servant and first wife of Walter Clarke

Relatives

Walter James Clarke (928) — husband

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 928 Mary Harriet Clarke (née Hinton)

Mary was born in January 1863 in Worcester, the daughter of Samuel Hinton, a labourer at an iron works and his wife Harriet (née Wilkinson).

Her father died in 1873 when she was only eleven and by 1881 she was working as a general domestic servant in the Derby home of the Pratt family.

She married Walter James Clarke, a railway porter born in Bovingdon, on 15 July 1888 at All Souls, Harlesden, Middlesex. At the time of her marriage she was living in Bovingdon.

They were to have five children: Walter Hinton (1888, Harlesden), Edith Maud (1892, Pitstone), Dorothy (1893 Pitstone), Nellie J (1896, Pitstone) and Annie Elizabeth (1902, Berkhamsted).

The family moved about several times in Berkhamsted – in 1901 they were at 4, Montague Road, in 1911, 78, Shrublands Avenue and, at the time of Mary’s death in 1925, 17, Queen’s Road.

Mary died 11 December 1925 in the London Hospital, aged 62.

Walter survived her until 1943 and is buried here with her.

Walter James Clarke (928)

23/11/1865 –13/03/1943

Railway signalman

Relatives

Mary Harriet Clarke (928) — wife

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 928 Walter James Clarke (1865-1943)

Walter was born 23 November 1865 in Bovingdon. His father George was an agricultural labourer and his mother Sarah (née Timms) was a straw plaiter. Both had been born in the village. Walter was baptised 7 January the next year and was to be the oldest of a family of eight children.

In 1871 the family were living at Little Hay, Bovingdon. By the time of the next census they were in Church Lane and Walter, aged 15, was working as an agricultural labourer like his father.

On 19 June 1885 Walter began work with the London and North Western Railway Company at Berkhamsted in the signalling department at a wage of 23 shillings a week (£1 15p). At some point before July 1888 he appears to have transferred to Harlesden where he married Mary Harriet Hinton on the 15^th of that month.

The couple were to have five children: Walter Hinton (1888, Harlesden), Edith Maud (1892, Pitstone), Dorothy (1893 Pitstone), Nellie J (1896, Pitstone) and Annie Elizabeth (1902, Berkhamsted).

In 1901 they were living at 4, Montague Road in Berkhamsted and Walter was continuing to work as a signalman and in 1911 their address was 78, Shrublands Avenue with four of their children still at home. Son Walter was working in the railway accounts department.

Walter and Mary had moved to 17, Queen’s Road by June 1921 and daughters Nellie and Annie were still at home.

Mary died in December 1925 and lies in this plot.

In 1928 Walter married again, to Annie Girvan, from County Down, Ireland, who had been working in Berkhamsted as a domestic servant for an Irish widow, a Mrs Masaroon, since at least 1911.

In the 1939 Register Walter, retired from work, was living at Newlyn, West Road with Annie and his unmarried daughter Annie E, a music teacher.

Walter died at home on 13 March 1943 and was buried here with Mary, his first wife.