Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Alfred East

07/03/1871 –17/01/1960

Upholsterer in family furniture business, then antique dealer. Father of two, one predeceasing him

Relatives

Rose Lilian East — wife

Alfred Edwin East — son

• Christopher Dolton

ALFRED EAST; 1871 – 1962
Alfred was the oldest child born to Edwin and Helen East (plot 799). Alfred was born on 7th March 1871in Berkhamsted and the census of 1871, taken when Alfred was only one month old, tells us that Alfred and his parents were then living in Back Lane, Berkhamsted. Alfred’s father, Edwin was working as baker, but by the time of the 1881 census not only had the family moved to Berkhamsted High Street, but Alfred senior had given up bakery to become a second-hand furniture dealer.

Alfred had seven younger siblings, all brothers. As well as Alfred, there was Edwin, born in 1873; Herbert, 1875; Jesse, 1877; Frank,1879; Harvey Richard, 1882; Sidney, 1885 and last, Ernest Frederick, born in 1888.  Of those brothers, Jesse died at the age of 3 years in 1880 and Ernest Frederick died in 1909 at the age of 20 (plot799).

In 1891 Alfred was 20 years old and had joined his father’s business to work as an upholsterer. The census returns for 1901 and 1911 confirm that Alfred continued in this occupation and throughout he continued living with his parents in the family home at 155 High Street.  In 1901 Alfred’s younger brother Harvey Richard was also working as an upholsterer.

Alfred married quite late in life in 1915 at the age of 45. His bride was Rose Lillian Bull. Rose was 31 at the date of the marriage. The couple set up their own home and we know from the electoral rolls that between 1920 and 1930 the couple lived at 10 King’s Road and that by 1939 they had moved to 14 Charles Street where Alfred was to live for the rest of his life.

Rose gave birth to two children. The couple’s first son, Alfred Ernest, was born on 31st January 1918. Alfred was to die at the age of 25 in 1944 as a result of heart damage caused by rheumatic fever. Their younger son, Geoffrey Frederick was born on 23rd July 1923.

Alfred’s father Edwin died in 1925 and in the 1939 Register Alfred’s occupation is noted as “antique dealer”. Presumably he had continued his father’s business after Edwin’s death. The 1939 Register also notes that Harvey was also working as a furniture dealer, but it is not possible to say with certainty whether the two brothers were working together or independently of each other.

Alfred died in 1960 at the age of 88. The inscription on the memorial in Rectory Lane cemetery gives his date of death as 17th January, whereas the probate record gives 16th January. Alfred was buried alongside his son Alfred who had died 16 years earlier.

Rose Lilian East

22/05/1884 –07/12/1975

Domestic housemaid, untrained monthly nurse, qualified midwife, mother of two, one predeceasing her.

Relatives

Alfred Edwin East — son

Alfred East — husband

• Christopher Dolton

ROSE LILIAN EAST; 1884 – 1975
Rose was born on the 22nd May 1884. She was the eldest of two children born to George and Hannah Bull, her brother Frank being born in 1889. The 1891 census reveals that the Bull family lived in Charles Street and later census returns give the address as 7 Charles Street.

Rose’s father worked as a coach wheel-maker. There were two coach building businesses in Berkhamsted, both situated in the High Street: Pethybridge, later Pocock; and King’s. George may have worked for one or other of those firms.

At the time of the 1901 census Rose was 16 years old and living at 7 Charles Street with her parents and brother. She was then working as a domestic housemaid, a common occupation for many young women at this time. Rose, however, moved on from work in service. Ten years later in 1911 the census tells us that, at the age of 26, she was still living with her family in Charles Street, but now working as a monthly nurse for the Berkhamsted Nursing Association.

Local nursing associations began to emerge during the 1860’s to provide nursing care in local communities in addition to that provided by workhouse infirmaries. Originally such infirmaries were intended solely for the care of residents in the workhouse, but towards the latter part of the 19th century the standard of care provided improved and from the 1880’s admission to workhouse infirmaries was increasingly permitted to those who, though poor, were not sufficiently destitute to require admission to the workhouse. Like all recipients of union relief, they first needed to have their means assessed and might be required to contribute towards their care. The workhouse medical service marked the beginning of a state-funded medical service. The 1881 census reveals that on the staff of the Berkhamsted workhouse was one nurse.

The nurses employed by these associations were the forerunners of later district nurses.  The nursing associations were voluntary societies often set up by prominent local citizens to provide home care for the sick. They were often dependent on charitable donations for funding. For example the Bucks Examiner in 1935 carried a report of an operatic performance “…in aid of the funds of the  Berkhamsted Nursing Association three short 18th century English operas were performed in St Peter’s hall” and in 1939 reported “A legacy of £1,000 to the Berkhamsted Nursing Association upon trust towards the maintenance of the Northchurch district nurse has been left by Mrs Eleanor Eliza Haslam.”

Rose worked for the association as a “monthly nurse.” Monthly nurses provided short-term care to assist a mother with her new-born baby. Often care would start once a woman entered ‘confinement’ and continue for the first couple of weeks after a child was born. At times monthly nurses assisted with the birth itself. The line between midwives and monthly nurses was sometimes blurred. Formal qualifications were rare. A few ‘lying in’ hospitals might provide basic training, and doctors that had worked alongside these women might also vouch for their skills.

By the 1890’s attitudes towards the importance of training those who attended births had started to change. Untrained monthly nurses were recognised as dangerous. By 1891 “The Nursing Record” reported that “monthly nurses were ‘one of the most despised members of the nursing profession’ and that they had ‘no place whatever in the hospital nursing hierarchy’”.

In 1902 an act was passed that required midwives to undertake formal training. In 1910 this was formalised further, and all women attending to childbirth needed certification. We know from the Midwives’ Roll that Rose, having started as a domestic housemaid, obtained the necessary qualification as a midwife, passing the Central Midwives’ Board examination on 20th December 1912.

Having gained her no doubt hard-earned qualification, Rose did not continue with her career as a midwife. By the time of the 1939 Register, Rose was 55 years old and her personal occupation was noted as “unpaid domestic duties.”

Rose had married Alfred East in 1915. Rose had given birth to her first son, Alfred Edwin on 31st January 1918 and her second son, Geoffrey, on 23rd July 1923. It may be that following marriage to Alfred and birth of her children, Rose gave up her work as a midwife to care for her own family.

Alfred junior was to die in 1944 of heart damage caused by rheumatic fever at the age of 25.  Alfred senior died in 1960 and we know from his probate record that he and Rose were living at 14 Charles Street at the time of his death. Rose herself was to die 15 years later on 7th December 1975. Although we don’t know exactly when, Rose had moved away from Berkhamsted, as her probate record tells us that her address at the date of her death was Bank Farm, Bank Green, Bellingdon, Chesham. She nevertheless returned to Berkhamsted for burial in Rectory Lane cemetery in the same plot as her son and husband.

Alfred Edwin East

31/01/1918 –17/01/1944

Stock Exchange clerk, exempted for armed service due to ill-health(?), died at 25 of endiocarditis

Relatives

Rose Lilian East — mother

Alfred East — father

• Christopher Dolton

ALFRED EDWIN EAST; 1918 -1944
Alfred was born in Berkhamsted on 31st January 1918. His parents, Alfred and Rose had married in 1915, quite late in life. His father was 45 years of age and his mother was 31 when they married. Apart from Alfred, Alfred senior and Rose only had one other child, George who was born on 23rd July 1923.

The electoral rolls tell us that through the 1920’s and up to and including 1930 the family was living at 10 Kings Road, but by the time of the 1939 Register they were living at 14 Charles Street.

Alfred was 21 at the time the 1939 Register was compiled and his occupation is noted in the Register as that of Stock Exchange clerk. As a single young man Alfred ought to have served in the Armed Forces during World War II. Earlier in 1939, in anticipation of the coming war, the Military Training Act had been passed which required all men aged 20 and 21 years to undergo 6 months military training and later that year, with the outbreak of war in September, the National Services (Armed Forces) Act provided that all men between 18 and 41 years of age were liable to subscription. Single men were called up first before married men. Those who were medically unfit were exempt from service as were others in key industries such as bakery, farming, medicine and engineering. Conscientious objectors had to appear before a tribunal to argue their reasons for refusing to join-up. If their cases were not dismissed, they were granted one of several categories of exemption, and were given non-combatant jobs.

There is no record that Alfred served in the armed forces and it is probable that he was medically unfit for service. We know he died just over 4 years later on 31st January 1944 at the age of 25. He died at home in Charles Street. His death certificate reveals that the primary causes of his death were infective endiocarditis, old rheumatism and carditis. Rheumatic fever, although treatable today by antibiotics, can develop after throat infections and causes painful joints and heart problems and shortness of breath. It can cause damage to the heart valves – carditis- which may not become apparent for a long time after the onset of the rheumatic fever. It would appear that Alfred at some time earlier in his life may have suffered from rheumatic fever which rendered him unfit for military service and which also caused the heart damage from which he was to die in 1944.
He died without leaving a will, his estate being valued at £207 13s 1d.