Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Henry Heath Fawcett (702)

07/12/1863 –23/12/1925

Civil Servant who rose to prominence in the War Office and was honoured for his services during WWI

Relatives

Colina Fawcett — wife

Brenda G. Fawcett (650) — daughter

• Christopher Dolton

HENRY HEATH FAWCETT; 1863 – 1924

Henry was born in Camberwell, South London, on 7^th December 1863[1] and he was baptised at the church of St Mary Magdalene in Peckham on 3^rd June 1864. His parents, Peter and Sarah had both been born in Ireland. Henry’s father was a clerk working for H.M. Customs. The family was large; Henry was the ninth of eleven children.[2] The family lived in Asylum Road in Camberwell.[3]

Henry and his three brothers were all educated at Dulwich College. He must have been an academic child as he won a scholarship to the school. His sporting achievements, however, were less impressive; he only managed to play rugby for the third XV. He left Dulwich College in December 1880 and obtained an intermediate degree in Arts from University College London in 1884.[4]

Henry passed the Civil Service examination in 1886 and became a clerk in the Education Department. 1897 he was promoted to Senior Clerk and transferred to the War Office where he was to spend the rest of his professional career. He rose to high office. In 1904 he was Financial Advisor and Auditor, South Africa; he became an Assistant Secretary at the War Office in 1916; Director of Army Contracts in 1917 and Director of Finance at the War Office in 1919.[5]

In recognition of his work at the War Office during World War I, Henry was made a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in 1918 (C.B.)[6] and in 1921 the President of France conferred upon him the Legion of Honour.[7]

An article about Henry in “Who’s Who” listed his recreations as cycling and sculling.[8]

Henry married on 23^rd April 1892.[9] His bride was Colina Sharp.

The couple had two sons and four daughters: Robert Heath was born in 1893; Ethel Margaret in 1895; Helen Freda Mary, 1897; Geoffrey Colin, 1901; Sylvia Evelyn, 1905 and Brenda Gertrude, 1908. In 1901 Henry, Colina and their growing family were living in Teddington and they were sufficiently well off to be able to employ a nurse for the young children, a cook and a maid, all of whom lived with the family.[10] In 1905 the family had moved to Frensham in Surrey[11] and by 1911 had moved again. They were then living at Oaken Cottage, North Road, Berkhamsted.

The youngest child, Brenda died in 1909 the year after she was born. The other five children all survived infancy, but the eldest, Robert was killed during World War I. Robert, who had been educated at Uppingham School and who was an undergraduate at Emmanuel College, Cambridge when he applied for a commission on 5^th August 1914.  He joined the Bedfordshire Regiment and was killed in April 1915. The regiment’s War Diary contained the following entry dated 26 April 1915: “In trenches. 2^nd Lieut. Fawcett killed, 3 other ranks wounded. Very heavy artillery & rifle fire on our left and rear (counter-attack by V Corps against Germans N.E. of Ypres).” Robert was buried in the Tuileries British Cemetery near Ypres. He is also commemorated on the town War Memorial and in Shrublands Church.[12]

Henry retired from the War Office in 1924, He was 60 years old but he was not to enjoy a long retirement as he died at Oaken Cottage on 23^rd December that year. His estate was worth £6,651 4s 1d. The following obituary was published in The Times:

“Obituary

Mr H.H.Fawcett

Mr Henry Heath Fawcett, CB, who died yesterday at the age of 62, had only lately retired from the War Office, where he was Director of Finance. The son of Mr Peter Fawcett, he was sent to Dulwich College, London. In 1886 he obtained a clerkship in the War Office, and after being private secretary to Sir Arthur Haliburton, and Sir Ralph Knox, was promoted to Principal Clerk in 1889. From 1902 to1904 he was Auditor, South Africa, from 1905 to 1909 Chief Accountant at Aldershot, in 1916-1917 Assistant Secretary at the War Office and from 1917 to 1919 Director of Army Contracts.”[13]

Colina Fawcett

28/04/1897 –23/01/1949

A governess who married civil servant Henry Fawcett

Relatives

Brenda G. Fawcett (650) — daughter

Henry Heath Fawcett (702) — husband

• Christopher Dolton

COLINA FAWCETT; 1867 – 1949

Colina was born on 28^th April 1897[1] in Illminster. Somerset. She was one of ten children[2] born to John Sharp and his wife Ann (née Weight). Colina’s father, John, had been born in Edinburgh and was a civil engineer. Colina was only five years old when her father died in 1872 at the age of 48 years. Her father must have been a Freemason as in 1881 Colina was attending the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls, Battersea, London.[3] The school was one of the oldest girls’ schools in the country and had been founded in 1788. The school’s original purpose had been to educate the daughters of Freemasons who were unable go support their families through death, illness or disability.

On leaving school Colina went on to work as a governess and in 1891 she was employed as governess by widowed, Margaret Besly to educate her daughters  Frances age 13 and Theodora, age 10. The Besley family lived at the Vicarage, East Broomhill, Marsland Torrington, Devon. As well as Colina, Margaret Besly employed a cook, parlour maid and house maid to look after her and her two daughters.

 Women, like Colina, who became governesses were generally ladies of an upper or middle class upbringing who had fallen on hard times and were required to work for their living. Domestic service or factory work would have been considered humiliating for them and the only possibility was to work as a teacher, either in a small school or in someone’s home. The governesses’ role in the family often made it difficult for them to find their position within the social hierarchy of the household. They could not socialise with their employers and were often ignored by other servants of the household for their required deference.

Colina, was not, however, fated to remain a governess for long, as in 1892 she married Henry Heath Fawcett, a civil servant who was then working as a clerk in the Education Department. Henry was to rise up the rise up the civil service ladder; in 1897 he became a Senior Clerk at the War Office and by the end of World War I he was Director of Army Contracts. He was further promoted in 1919 to Director of Finance at the War Office.  

Marriage to a rising star of the Civil Service enabled Colina to reclaim her social position. The couple had two sons and four daughters: Robert Heath was born in 1893; Ethel Margaret in 1895; Helen Freda Mary, 1897; Geoffrey Colin, 1901; Sylvia Evelyn, 1905 and Brenda Gertrude, 1907. In 1901 Henry, Colina and their growing family were living in Teddington and they were sufficiently well off to be able to employ a nurse for the young children, a cook and a maid, all of whom lived with the family.[4] In 1905 the family had moved to Frensham in Surrey[5] and by 1911 had moved again.  They were then living at Oaken Cottage, North Road, Berkhamsted.

The youngest child, Brenda died in 1909 the year after she was born. The other five children all survived infancy, but the eldest, Robert was killed during World War I. Robert, who had been educated at Uppingham School and who was an undergraduate at Emmanuel College, Cambridge when he applied for a commission on 5^th August 1914.  He joined the Bedfordshire Regiment and was killed in April 1915. The regiment’s War Diary contained the following entry dated 26 April 1915: “In trenches. 2^nd Lieut. Fawcett killed, 3 other ranks wounded. Very heavy artillery & rifle fire on our left and rear (counter-attack by V Corps against Germans N.E. of Ypres).” Robert was buried in the Tuileries British Cemetery near Ypres. He is also commemorated on the town War Memorial and in Shrublands Church.[6]

Henry retired from the War Office in 1924, He was 60 years old but he was not to enjoy a long retirement as he died at Oaken Cottage on 23^rd December that year. His estate was worth £6,651 4s 1d.

Following Henry’s death, Colina did not stay in Berkhamsted. In 1939 she was living in Farnham, Surrey.[7] She died in Hanwell on 23^rd January 1949 at the age of 82. Although she had left Berkhamsted after Henry died, she was buried with him in the grave in which he had been buried 25 years earlier.