Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Ann De Fraine (123)

19/06/1796 –05/03/1865

Wife of Hairdresser William de Fraine

Relatives

Philip de Fraine — son

William de Fraine — husband

Charles de Fraine — son

Bessie Smith — daughter

• Christopher Dolton

ANN de FRAINE; 1796 – 1865

Ann was born in Thame, Oxfordshire, in 1796 and was baptised in Thame on 19^th June that year. Her father was Richard Chester, a labourer, and her mother Latitia Chester. Ann married William de Fraine at St Mary’s Church in Aylesbury on 11^th October 1821. Ann was 25 years old when she married and William was 20.

Although William was born and brought up in Aylesbury, we know that he moved to Berkhamsted, where he set himself up in business as a hairdresser and perfumier by at least 1839. Ann moved to Berkhamsted with him and she was to spend the rest of her life living in the town. William and Ann occupied one of two cottages which then stood on the High Street between the Swan and the Crown inns. 

Ann gave birth to eight children: Frances, who was born in or about 1822; William, born 1824; Ann Latitia, born 1826; Louisa, 1828; Betsy ( also sometimes “Bessie”), born 1830, Charles, 1833; George 1834 and Philip John 1838.  At the time of the 1841 census Frances, then 19 years old had moved out of the family home, but all of the younger children remained living with William and Ann.

Ann died in Berkhamsted on 5^th March 1867. She was buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery. Ann’s youngest son, Philip, had died in 1865 at the age of 27 and on her death she was buried in the same grave as Philip. Although her husband William remarried following Ann’s death, when he too died in 1878 he was also buried with Ann and Philip.

William de Fraine

04/09/1800 –23/03/1879

First of three generations of Berkhamsted Hairdressers, photographed by William Claridge

Relatives

Ann De Fraine (123) — wife

Philip de Fraine — son

Charles de Fraine — son

Bessie Smith — daughter

• Christopher Dolton

WILLIAM DE FRAINE; 1800 – 1879

Local historian Percy Birtchnell, writing about a later member of the de Fraine family, observed that the name de Fraine suggested French descent and that a de Fraine had come over to England with Louis XVIII “…as the King’s hairdresser…” when Louis, having fled the French Revolution, established his court at Hartwell House near Aylesbury.  “For some years the French court was at Hartwell House …and when the exiled king returned to Paris, his hairdresser stayed behind. Some of his descendants became printers and publishers; but at least one son, grandson, great-grandson and perhaps great-great-grandson were barbers, and their Berkhamsted shop, between the Swan and the Crown, flourished for many years.” There is a note in the Dacorum Heritage Museum Store database that this de Fraine was in fact William. Sadly, whilst this makes an appealing story, it is unlikely to be true. As Jenny Sherwood noted in an article in the Chronicle, “…de Fraines have been born, married and lived in Aylesbury and the surrounding area at least from 1744, when Thomas de Fraine was baptised at St Mary’s Aylesbury.” The Thomas de Fraine referred to was William’s grandfather and in fact the de Fraines can be traced back to a Peter de Fraine who was born in Woburn in 1554. Moreover, William, born in 1800, would have been only eight years old when Louis came to Hartwell House.  As Jenny Sherwood concluded, “Although we are not able to say categorically that an Aylesbury de Fraine did not attend Louis XVIII whilst he was living at Hartwell House, there is no question of a de Fraine arriving in this country as part of the French court … this story cannot be substantiated.”

William was born in Aylesbury on 4^th September 1800 and baptised there on 21st September that year. His father, like his grandfather was amend Thomas and his mother was Frances. otherwise known as Fanny. Frances and Thomas had five children including William. William’s mother died in March 1832 and two years later his father married a second time. William’s father died in1840.

William himself married on 11^th October 1821. His bride was Ann Chester. Ann was some four years older than William and had been born in Thame in 1796. Her father was a labourer. The marriage was celebrated at St Mary’s church, Aylesbury. William and Ann had eight children before Ann died in March 1865: Frances, born 1822; William, 1824; Ann Letitia, 1826; Louisa, 1828; Bessie, 1839; Charles, 1833; George, 1834; Philip John, 1838. In 1867, two years after Ann had died, William married a second time. His second wife was Emma Coucher Thomas. William had no further children with Emma.

The first record we have of William settling in Berkhamsted is the 1839 tithe map. Plot 659 on the tithe map comprised two cottages and a yard, one of the two cottages being occupied by William. Birtchnell noted that the de Fraine shop was located between the Crown and the Swan inns, and indeed that is where we find plot 659 on the tithe map. William is recorded as living in the High Street in all census returns from 1841 up to including that of 1871, being the last taken before his death in 1879. In the 1841 census his occupation is noted as “perfumier” although he is described subsequently as “a hairdresser and perfumier” in 1851, but “hairdresser” only in 1861. By the time of the 1871 census, he had retired, his son Charles succeeding to the hairdressing business.

We are fortunate in having two portrait photographs of William, both taken by the noted Berkhamsted photographer, William Claridge. (The 1839 tithe map reveals that Claridge was the owner of the premises occupied by William.) In one of the photographs, William appears in an imposing top hat. In the second he is identically posed, but this time hatless and holding an assortment of razors and combs on his lap.

William died on 23^rd March 1879. He was 78 years old. He was buried with his first wife Ann, who had died in 1865 and his youngest child, Philip, who also died in 1865 at the age of 27.

Philip de Fraine

16/11/1838 –07/10/1865

son of William and Ann de Fraine. Professor of languages, died at age of 27 years

Relatives

William de Fraine — father

Ann De Fraine (123) — mother

Charles de Fraine — other

• Christopher Dolton

PHILIP JOHN DE FRAINE; 1838 – 1865

Philip was the youngest of eight children born to William and Ann de Fraine. He was born in Berkhamsted on 16^th November 1838 and was baptised in St Peter’s church on 6^th January the following year. His father William, originally from Aylesbury, had moved to Berkhamsted where he established himself as a hairdresser and perfumier. The family lived in one of two cottages which then stood on Berkhamsted’s High Street between the Crown and Swan inns.

At the time of the 1841 census, Philip was two years old. Ten years later at the age of 12 he was living his family and was noted on the census return as being a scholar; in other words, he was attending school.

Philip eludes us in the 1861 census. We learn from the notice of his death in 1865 that Philip had become a “…professor of languages, Frankfort-am-Main…” and it seems likely that he was abroad at the time of the 1861 census, probably in Frankfurt. Further evidence that he travelled abroad is provided by a record of a passport being granted to one Philip J de Fraine on the 28^th July 1861. Circumstantial evidence that at some time Philip may have travelled abroad to France is also provided by The Hertford Mercury & Reformer of 7^th July 1866 which reported the trial of Frederick Druce, a 14 year old blind boy, charged with receiving a stolen fourpenny piece and two French coins said to be the property of Pierre Willey, a publican in Berkhamsted. Frederick’s defence was that the four-penny piece was Frederick’s own and “…that the French coins had been received from one Philip de Fraine, a teacher, who had lately died.”  Frederick was acquitted.

Philip died on 7^th October 1865 at the age of 27. Although the notice of his death explains that he had taught languages in Frankfurt, the notice reveals that he died at his father’s home in Berkhamsted.