Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

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Research:

• Karen Evans

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Plot no 710.  M Temple Fischer born Afton Manor, Freshwater, Isle of Wight, died at ‘Beverley’, Berkhamsted on Easter Day 1923.
Margaret Crighton Temple Fischer, wife of M Temple Fischer, died 20th February 1943 aged 78.
Tom Gordon Temple Fischer, their son, Lieut. 9th Gurkha Rifles, died 13th August 1943 aged 45.

Tom’s Story

Tom was the son of Max Temple Fischer and Margaret Smith Crichton. His father was born at Afton House,Freshwater on the Isle of Wight in 1861 and baptised at the medieval church of All Saints on the 25th July 1861. Both Tom and his father appear to have acquired the middle name “Temple” through Max’s mother’s family.

Although born on the Isle of Wight, Max was raised in a new Afton House built in St Andrew’s, Fife. It was finished in 1862. It is a magnificent example of Victorian architecture, boasting a hall, drawing room study, dining room, five bedrooms and servants’ quarters. It can be seen that Tom was very much part of a Middle-Class family. Indeed his father was a solicitor, who had been privately educated before being admitted to Clare College, Cambridge, on 12th June 1880. Max then obtained his B.A. in 1884 and his M.A. in 1887 before taking up a career in Law and in 1888 receiving his Master of Law degree (LL.M). This allowed him to be admitted as a solicitor in 1889.

At the age of 33, Max Temple Fischer married on 12th June 1895, at Doddington near Berwick, Margaret Smith Crichton, who had been born in 1864, in Edinburgh, the daughter of a Minister of the Free Church. The following year Margaret gave birth to their eldest child, Thomas (Tom) Gordon Temple Fischer, who was baptised at Christ Church, Esher on 24th December 1896.

In 1901 the family were lodging near Hindhead, Surrey at The Lodge, Hazelgrove, Shottermill.

By 1903 the family was back up in Berwick where Tom’s eldest sister, Margaret Crichton Temple Fischer was born. She was baptised on the 3rd July 1903 in Berwick-Upon-Tweed, Northumberland. Two years later the family was completed with the birth of Rosamond Crichton Temple Fischer born on 19th February 1905 in Aberdeen.

The first instance of any member of the family being associated with Berkhamsted is recorded in 1907, when Max Temple Fischer is listed in the Electoral Register. The register states that he was living at Blandworth, Charles Street. The 1911 census has Max Temple, his wife and three children living at Blandworth, Charles Street along with a cook and a governess. Max Temple aged a mere 49, gave his occupation as “Retired Solicitor”. In 1914 Max gave his address in the Electoral Register as Beverley, Charles Street. It seems likely that Max renamed his house from Blandworth to Beverley.

Tom’s Fischer relatives had a history of service to the British Empire in India. His Uncle, Francis Norton Fischer, made a career in Law, that took him into the Indian Civil Service where he was a Magistrate and Collector in Bengal; whilst another Uncle, Lewis Gordon Fischer, was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Medical Service in 1907, and another Uncle, Ernest Cotton Fischer, served in the British Red Cross during World War I. It was therefore almost inevitable that Tom should consider his Uncles as role models of service in the Indian Army.

On 3rd December 1915 Tom, as a young Cadet, boarded a ship called CALEDONIA at the port of London, his destination was Karachi. The SS CALEDONIA had been requisitioned by the British Government upon the outbreak of war in 1914. Her passenger accommodation in peace-time was for 1,450 persons, but her carrying capacity for war purposes was assessed at 3,074 troops and 212 horses. For more than two years she served in various parts of the world but met her fate in the Mediterranean on 5th December 1916, when, 125 miles east of Malta, she encountered a German submarine U-65, which torpedoed her without warning.

Tom served in the 9th Gurkha Rifles regiment of the Indian Army and was promoted to Lieutenant on 29th June 1917. He retired on 3rd June 1920. After his retirement Tom returned home to Berkhamsted where he lived with his widowed mother throughout the 1920s.

In 1939 Tom was living at St Andrews Hospital, Northampton where he was described as “formerly an Officer Indian Army”. Previously known as the Northampton General Lunatic Asylum, the hospital went on to be called St Andrew’s Hospital for Mental Diseases in the 1930s.

Tom appears to have lived at least the last four years of his life at the hospital, before dying on 13th August 1943. He was not well enough to leave a will, so administration of his effects was given to his sister, Rosamond Crichton Temple Southon.

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Research:

• Karen Evans

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M Temple Fischer born Afton Manor, Freshwater, Isle of Wight, died at ‘Beverley’, Berkhamsted on Easter Day 1923. 
Margaret Crighton Temple Fischer, wife of M Temple Fischer, died 20th February 1943 aged 78.
Tom Gordon Temple Fischer, their son, Lieut. 9th Gurkha Rifles, died 13th August 1943 aged 45.

Max’s Story
Max Temple Fischer was born at Freshwater on the Isle of Wight in 1861and baptised at the medieval church of All Saints on the 25th July 1861. His parents, William Lewis Ferdinand Fisher and Sarah Sophia Cotton, had married at the same church the previous year on 19th July 1860. Max’s gravestone says that he was born at Afton Manor in Freshwater. Afton Manor also called Afton House was his mother’s family home, as Sarah Sophia was the daughter of Benjamin Cotton, a gentleman and land proprietor, and his wife, Cornelia (nee Battelle).

Professor Prof W L F Fischer obtained his B.A. from Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1845, then migrated to Clare College Cambridge, receiving his MA in 1848. Later that same year he moved to St Andrew’s University in Fife to become the Professor of Natural Philosophy. He was Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at St Andrews from 1848 to 1859, and then the Professor of Mathematics 1859 to 1879.

Max Temple Fischer appears to have acquired his middle name through his mother’s family. His uncles were Benjamin Temple Cotton and Lt Colonel Richard Godman Temple Cotton of the 53rd Shropshire Regiment. His Great-Great Grandfather Benjamin Cotton married Rebecca Temple in 1744 at Carisbrooke. The Temple family had held freehold and leasehold lands in Freshwater since the mid 1600s.
Max also had a brother, Lewis Gordon Fischer, baptised at Freshwater on 14th September 1862. The family appear to have used middle names as a way to acknowledge a notable ancestor. In Lewis’ case Gordon was the maiden name of his great-grandmother, Sarah Battelle (nee Gordon). Max’s ancestry was very mixed, his father was a Prussian who had become a naturalised British Subject, whilst his mother’s family was a mixture of English, Scottish and American.
The strong ties to the Cotton family on the Isle of Wight and his father’s career at the University of St Andrews meant that his parents seemed to frequently travel from St Andrews to Freshwater. They married as stated before in July 1860 at Freshwater, and were enumerated in the 1861 census which took place on 7th April at St Andrews.
Although born at Afton House in Freshwater, Isle of Wight, Max was raised with his siblings in a new Afton House built in St Andrew’s, Fife to be near the University but named after Sarah Sophia’s family home. It was finished in 1862, perfect timing to house a growing Fischer family. It is a magnificent example of Victorian architecture, boasting a hall, drawing room study, dining room, five bedrooms and servants’ quarters. In 1865 Max’s father, Prof W L F Fischer, had another post at St Andrews, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, so Afton House would have made a more than suitable place at which to entertain fellow academics.

19th November 1864 saw the arrival of Max’s only sister, Emily Sophia Fischer, born at Afton House, St Andrews. She was followed by:-
Ernest Cotton Fischer born at St Andrews on 23rd March 1866
Francis Norton Fischer born at St Andrews in 1866
Frederick Stanley Fischer born at St Andrews in 1872
The environment of scholarship and University in which the Fischer children were raised at St Andrews, must have hugely influenced their lives, as did the fact that their maternal grandfather, Benjamin Cotton, left considerable monies to all of his children including their mother, Sarah Sophia. As a result, the Fischer boys received the best education of the day. Max attended the newly founded Fettes College in Edinburgh. Fettes College first opened in 1870 educating 53 boys both fee paying and foundationers (bursary recipients). Under the formidable first Headmaster, Dr Potts, the School quickly gained a reputation for academic and sporting excellence.

Max and his two brothers, Francis Norton and Frederick Stanley all attended Clare College, Cambridge. Max was admitted to Clare College on 12th June 1880, he obtained his B.A. in 1884 and his M.A. in 1887. Max chose a career in Law and in 1888 received his Master of Law degree (LL.M). This allowed his to be admitted as a solicitor in 1889.
The records for Cambridge University state that Max practised as a solicitor in “Horton Street, Kensington”. It is likely that this was actually Hornton Street in Kensington. The Metropolitan Railway and High Street Kensington Station had been built in the 1870s, so the area was developing rapidly.

At the time of the 1891 census Max can be found lodging at The Royal Huts Inn in Hindhead, with three siblings, Emily, Ernest and Frederick, and their mother Sarah Sophia. Hindhead developed around the Royal Huts Inn, which was a favourite stopping places for Victorian society. The Victorians thought that the quality of the air at Hindhead was like a mountain climate, and it was often known as “Little Switzerland”. Hindhead was a popular place for visitors such as George Bernard Shaw and Sir Conan Doyle. Situated as it was between London and Portsmouth, it is possible that the Fischer family were lodging there whilst travelling to visit Sarah Sophia’s family on the Isle of Wight. Especially in view of the fact that Max’s father had died the previous year.

At the age of 33, Max Temple Fischer married on 12th June 1895, at Doddington near Berwick, to Margaret Smith Crichton. His wife had been born in 1864, in Edinburgh, the daughter of Andrew Crichton, a Minister of the Free Church, and Mary Ann Fraser. Within two weeks of his marriage, on 24th June 1895, Max applied for his passport. Travel was very much part of the way of life for Max’s family. His Aunt Cornelia Mary Cotton, later Speedy, travelled extensively with her husband across the Sudan, Ethiopia and India, whilst his brother Francis Norton made a career in Law, that took him into the Indian Civil Service where he was a Magistrate and Collector in Bengal. Even Max’s only sister, Emily Sophia had her marriage to the Reverend Denham Smith Boyd in March 1911, registered at the British Consulate in Cairo.

The following year Margaret gave birth to their eldest child, Thomas Gordon Temple Fischer, who was baptised at Christ Church, Esher on 24th December 1896. The family appear to have lived in Surrey duringTom’s early years as in 1901 the family were lodging back at Hindhead, at The Lodge.

In 1902 they were living at 12 Palewell Park, East Sheen, when Max received an inheritance from his Uncle Richard Godman Temple Cotton, who died on 5th April 1902. They appear to have stayed at East Sheen until 1907, as this was the correspondence address that Max gave when he was admistering the will of his Uncle’s widow, Jane Shershell Cotton.

After Tom, Max and Margaret had just two daughters: –
Margaret Crichton Temple Fischer was baptised on 3rd July 1903 at Berwick-on-Tweed.
Rosamund Crichton Temple Fischer was born in 1905 in Aberdeen.
The first instance of any member of the Fischer family being associated with Berkhamsted is recorded in 1907, when Max Temple Fischer is listed in the Electoral Register for Berkhamsted. The register states that he was living at Blandworth, Charles Street. It could be that with a growing family, Max needed to settle down in a family home of his own.
The 1911 census has Max Temple, his wife and three children living at Blandworth, Charles Street along with a cook and a governess. Max Temple aged a mere 49, gave his occupation as “Retired Solicitor”. The make-up of their staff was very interesting, as the Governess, Franciska Helm, was a German and their maid, Susan Lees came from Stonehaven in Scotland.
By 1914 Max gave his address in the Electoral Register as Beverley, Charles Street. It seems likely that Max renamed his house from Blandworth to Beverley.
The atmosphere in Beverley House must have been wonderfully exotic for Max’s children. As mentioned before Max’s Aunt Cornelia Mary (Tiny) Speedy was a seasoned traveller, and a celebrity of her day. She and her husband had a considerable collection of Abyssian and Sudanese artifacts which they donated to the British Museum in 1912.