19/07/1879 –17/11/1956
Uphosterer & furniture polisher then confectionery shopkeeper in Castle Street (& special constable)
Relatives
Research:
- Christopher Dolton
- James Moir
Frank was born on the 19th July 1879 in Berkhamsted, the fifth of eight sons of Edwin and Ellen East (who are buried at plot 799). He had elder brothers Alfred (1870-1960), Edwin (1873-1931) Herbert (1875-1961) Jesse (1877-1880), and younger brothers Harvey (1882-1962), Sidney (1885-1973) and Ernest (1888-1909).
In 1881, he was living in the High Street – his father being described as a furniture broker. Ten years later, the family are still living on the High Street, his father now a house furnisher.
Frank married Ellen Williamson on 29th October 1900 and they moved to 45 Charles street, where he was described as an upholsterer and furniture polisher. They had a son Reginald in 1901 and then after a gap, three daughters, Ellen Emily in 1909, Doris Mabel in 1911 and Gladys May in 1917. They had certainly moved to 8 Castle Street by 1910 – the owner of No 8 was Edwin East, Frank’s father.
Emily sadly died at the young age of 47. In both 1912 and 1933, Frank East is described as a confectioner, and in 1939 as a ‘shopkeeper confectioner’. At that time, only his daughter Ellen is living with him. The following year, Gladys died.
Frank died 17th November 1956, aged 77. Probate was granted to his two surviving daughters Ellen Emily, a spinster, and Doris (wife of Kenneth Simmons). His effects were valued at £5,985 15s 10d.
When the former shop window of 8 Castle street was re-painted in 2016, the original sign writing for F. East, tobacconist and confectioner, could be made out. The window panes also still carry the outline of lettering advertising Frys Chocolate.
Some older inhabitants in Berkhamsted recall the shop when it was being run by the Easts.
May 2016:
Chrissie Johnson: I think Miss east’s sweet shop used to be open on a Sunday – we used to call in after a walk along the canal
Maggie Goss: Yes it was and remember going in there after church or Sunday school – happy memories
Peter Huddle: Mrs East was a nice old lady
Maggie Goss: I also remember an elderly gentleman also in the shop wearing a black hat?
Chrissie Johnson: I think that was her father. I remember mum telling me she had never married to look after him.
Linda Kaal: Yes, that would be mr east, her father, he used to shout at us kids when we climbed the holly tree in the church grounds opposite his shop. (She then speculates, slightly surprisingly: ‘dont know why as he was Jewish.. hence the hat!)
Valerie Cooper. Yes, I remember the little shop in Castle Street with all the different bottles of fizzy on the counter, we would go in there after Sunday School and buy 1d glass, my favourite was cherryade.
Rob Austin: I used to go to sunday school as well Valerie then into Easts for Glass of pop
Hugh Bowey: I remember Mr East. I liked the dandelion and burdock or cream soda for a penny a glass.
Phil Lambert: My mum used to send me to East’s with an empty bottle for a pint of vinegar, they used to pour it out of a big one gallon demi-john.
Linda Kaal: I used to get my moms craven a fags there
Terry Allen: We also went in there after Sunday school if I remember they had quite a choice of drinks
Colin Reedman: I was a regular in the Castle Street shop. Delicious drinks served by a lady who was, I recall, a bit stern
Phil Lambert: Stern indeed Colin, she was almost scary.
Alan Jordan: I remember East’s in castle st miss east offered 3 sizes of drink 1 2 or 3 pence glasses.
Enid Randall: I remember Miss east in Castle Street, she sold us our cottage in Ellesmere rd in the 1960s.
Valerie Cooper I remember the little shop in Castle Street, used to go there with my brothers and sister after Sunday School to buy 1d measure of fizzy drink, all the bottles on the counter to chose from, so much choice for a little child!
Terry Allen We all went there after Sunday School for either a drink or sweets
Lyne Wainright: I remember that shop! Loved going there.
Jean foreman: It was a great shop and I remember it well
Carol Williams: remember the big step
2020 May
Gill spencer I remember that shop with a step up we got a glass of lemonade for a penny before we went to the Saturday matinee in the court house
Richard Lambert She was a funny lady
Dave Bone: Just down from the hairdresser was a sweet shop you had to go up two steps to get in and they sold pop by the glass tuppence a glass if memory serves.
Richard Lambert 1 penny for half a glass or tuppence for a full one!
Phil Lambert: that was East’s shop, Mrs east was a bit scary. I used to get sent there with an empty vinegar bottle to get half a pint of vinegar. She had a big demi John full of vinegar and stuck a funnel in my bottle and glugged it in.
Colin Readman: The shop was run by a rather stern lady. I had many a drink there.
Jean Foreman: Remember the shop and this lady very wll but loved her penny drinks
Don Kibble confirmed he had visited the sweet shop as a boy often – the counter was L-shaped (long back wall and in front of f/p); there was a bell on the door, and the aim was to get into the shop as quickly as possible and nick some sweets. They also sold ‘penny drinks’ – Corona etc.
These all followed in the footsteps of Graham Greene who recalled Castle Street’s ‘rather inferior shops, not up to the High Street standard: ‘a sweet-shop (one had to climb steps to enter it) where we bought the mineral waters for our manoeuvres, ’
James Moir
FRANK EAST; 1879-1956
Frank East was born in Berkhamsted on 19th July 1879. He was the fifth of eight children born to Edwin and Helen East. The family lived in Berkhamsted High Street and Frank’s father was a furniture dealer. The census returns for 1881 and 1891 tell us little about Frank other than that he was age 1 and 11 years respectively at the date of each census.
On the 29th October 1900 at the age of 21 he married Emily Williamson. Emily’s father, Daniel Williamson, was a farmer and the family lived at Bottom Farm, Northchurch. The 1901 census reveals that Frank and Emily had set up home together at 46 Charles Street. Frank, like his brothers Alfred and Harvey, was working as an upholsterer in the family furniture business.
On 14th August 1901, shortly after the date of the 1901 census, Emily gave birth to her first child, Reginald Frank. Frank and Emily were to have three more children. Ellen Emily was born on 7th February 1909; Doris Mabel was born 7th December 1911 and Gladys May was born in 1917.
In 1911 Frank was still working as an upholsterer, but he and Emily and their growing family had by then moved to 8 Castle Street. Emily died on 26th August 1926.
The Electoral Rolls for 1928 and 1929 tell us that both Frank and his eldest son Reginald were registered at 8 Castle Street. The three younger children were no doubt also living there, but in 1929 were too young to register as voters. In 1918 all men over the age of 21 and women over 30 were eligible to vote and in 1929 all women over 21 also became eligible. Ellen, the oldest child after Reginald was only 20 in 1929.
The next documentary record we have for Frank is the 1939 Register. Frank was then 60 years of age. He was living at 8 Castle Street with his daughter Ellen who was 30. Frank’s occupation had changed. No longer was he working as an upholsterer. The 1939 Register tells us that he was a confectionary shop keeper. Ellen is noted as providing unpaid domestic help and was no doubt caring for her father and keeping house. Frank remained living at 8 Castle Street for the rest of his life and after his death Ellen continued to run the sweetshop. The shop was across the road from the old cemetery at St Peter’s church and Berkhamsted School. Graham Greene was a pupil at the school (his father was headmaster) and he mentions the sweetshop in his autobiography. Many older residents of the town also recall Frank’s shop and their recollections are recorded on the Rectory Lane cemetery website at https://www.rectorylanecemetery.org.uk/locations/8-castle-street/
The photograph we have of Frank shows him sporting an impressive moustache and a peaked cap of military appearance. There is however no record of Frank serving in the armed forces and one might wonder why a sweet shop proprietor or upholsterer would be photographed in such headwear. Whilst the photograph clearly shows Frank at a much younger age than the 60 that he was in 1939, the 1939 Register provides an answer. Although the note alongside Frank’s name in the Register is not complete, enough can be read to establish that he was a Special Constable.
For centuries prior to the introduction of professional police forces by Sir Robert Peel in 1839, the constable of a town or village could swear fellow citizens as temporary, or special, constables to assist with a particular situation he could not deal with alone. However, once that danger had passed the Specials had to be disbanded. That changed with the advent of World War 1. Many policemen had previously served in the Army and were recalled when war broke out. Others volunteered. There was consequently a shortage of policemen. The Special Constables Act of 1914 allowed chief constables to appoint special constables as a permanent force even though “a tumult, riot, or felony has not taken place.” Initially uniforms were in short supply and special constables were issued with no more than hat, armband, whistle and truncheon.
Frank died on 17th November 1956 at the age of 77. Probate of his estate, worth, £5,985 15s 10d was granted to his daughters Ellen and Doris. He was buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery alongside his wife Emily.
Chris Dolton
View burial 
8 Castle Street
Personalities of the Past
Memorial Symbolism
Military graves