Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

George Redding Clark

1856 –25/02/1936

Tailor, never married, lived to 79

• Victoria Culverhouse

George Redding Clark – died 1936, aged 79 years

George Redding Clark was born in 1856 in Berkhamsted, the son of Emma Clark. Emma was 24 and unmarried at the time of his birth, but as he used Redding as his middle name throughout his life, it’s likely that this was his father’s surname.
He had an older brother, Henry, who was also illegitimate, but it’s not clear whether they  had the same father.

At the time of the 1861 Census George (aged 5) was living with his grandmother, Charlotte Clark (a widow aged 73), in the High Street, Berkhamsted.  His mother Emma (29) and his brother Henry (8) were also there.  Emma and her mother both worked as Straw Plaiters – a common occupation in the area, usually for women and children, which involved cutting and plaiting straw for hats, etc. and could be done at home to provide or supplement the family income. It was normally not well paid, and was hard on the fingers and hands!

Things changed for the little family in 1865 when Emma (aged 33) married Samuel Chapple, a widower aged 44.  By 1871 they were living in Bridge Street with Henry (18), George, now 15 and they also had a son of their own, Frederick, who was 5.  Samuel was a gardener, Emma still a Straw Plaiter. Henry was working as a Groom and George as a Tailor.

George never married and by 1891, aged 34 had moved into 178 Kitsbury Road.  He was still working as a Tailor and had his brother Henry’s two orphaned sons living with him – Walter (11) and Harry (9). His mother and stepfather  were living at No.176 and his half-brother Frederick – now also a tailor – lived at No. 177 with his wife and daughter.

By 1901 George, now aged  44, was living at 46 Kitsbury Road with his half-brother Frederick and his wife and two daughters.  His widowed mother, Emma (69) was also living with them.  His mother passed away  in 1908, aged 76, and by the time of the 1911 Census George (54) was still working as a tailor and living with Frederick and his family, though they were now at 39 Kitsbury Road.

George spent the rest of his life with his family in Kitsbury Road and died in 1936 at the grand old age of 79.  He was laid to rest in Rectory Lane Cemetery.