Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Harold Alexander Gregory

1909 –01/09/1926

Youngest of three children. Died at 17 of heart failure. Buried with his mother but not his father.

Relatives

Ada Gregory — mother

• Christopher Dolton

Harold Alexander Gregory was born in 1909. He was the youngest of three children born to Alfred and Ada Gregory. At the time of the census in 1911 Harold was 2 years old. The family was living at 65 Blythe Road, Kensington.

In 1921, when Harold would have been eleven years of age, his mother Ada died.

Harold himself was to die only five years later on 8th July 1926 at the age of 17. His death certificate discloses that he died at 4 Gibbon Road, Nunhead, London. He died as a result of heart conditions, rheumatic mitral disease, myocarditis and pericarditis; his heart valves did not function properly and his heart became inflamed leading ultimately to heart failure.

He was buried alongside his mother in Rectory Lane Cemetery.

Ada Gregory

1878 –25/07/1921

One of 11, married a butcher's assistant, mother of 3, worked as confectioner in London, died at 42

Relatives

Harold Alexander Gregory — son

Stanley Charles Gregory — son

Alfred Gregory — husband

• Christopher Dolton

Ada was born in 1878 in Northchurch, Berkhamsted. Her father, Charles Reading and his wife Sarah, farmed at Marlin Farm. Marlin Farm was originally part of the manor of Maudeleynes which had been held by Laurence de Broc in the reign of Henry II. During the course of the 18th century the old manorial lands were split into two, to become Marlin Farm and Marlin Chapel Farm. This is confirmed by the 1881 census in which the entry for Marlin Farm is followed by an entry which relates to Marlin Chapel Farm. Marlin Farm no longer exists. It used to stand in the fields to the north east of Marlin Chapel Farm and was accessed from Shootersway. The census tells us that the farm consisted of 125 acres and that Charles employed three labourers and one boy. He is described on Ada’s marriage certificate as a dairyman, so must have kept milk cows, rather being an arable farmer.

The Reading Family was large. The 1881 and 1891 censuses reveal that Charles and Sarah had eleven children between 1868 and 1887, of which Ada, born in 1878 was the seventh.

The Reading Family were Baptists.  A notice published in the Bucks Herald in August 1894 gives results of a scripture examination. Ada is included in the results as one of 28 Baptist candidates; “WEST HERTS SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION – Result of scripture examination- Baptists- 28 presented…Lower Middle Division, 3rd class, Ada Reading…”

By the time of the 1901 census Ada had left the family farm and was living at 39 West Terrace North, Paddington, London. One of Ada’s sisters, Sarah, who was five years older than her, had married Alexander Brinkman and Ada had moved to live with them at their home in London. Alexander was a Butcher’s manager and Ada worked as a cashier. In 1901 Alfred Gregory, Ada’s husband to be, was living at 30 Chesterton Road, Kensington and working as a Butcher’s assistant.  Presumably he and Alexander knew each other through the butchery trade, and through Alexander, Ada and Alfred met. However they met, they were married in Kensington at the Church of St Michael of all Angels on 31st January 1904.

Ada gave birth to three sons, the first, Laurence, on 27th February 1905, the second, Stanley Charles, born on 17th November 1906 and the third and youngest, Harold Alexander was born in 1909.

In 1911 the family was living at 65 Blythe Road, Hammersmith. Alfred was no longer working as a butcher. The 1911 census discloses that both Ada and Alfred were working as confectioners and that they were working from home on their own account.

Ada died on 25th July 1921 at the age of 42. Her death certificate records that the cause of death was Phthisis – tuberculosis – and that she had suffered from the illness for 9 months before she died. Her address is noted on the death certificate as 4 Gibbon Road, Nunhead, an address in Peckham in south west London. It was at that address that her youngest son Harold was to later die in 1926 and must have been the address at which she and Alfred were living. Ada did not, however, die in Nunhead. She died at 4 Shrublands Avenue, Berkhamsted. By 1901 her father had retired from the farm and the family had moved to Kent, but by the time of the 1911 census her parents, together with two of her siblings and a grandchild, had returned to Berkhamsted and were living at 4 Shrublands Avenue. Ada must have returned to her family to be cared for as her illness took its course and it was Ada’s sister Mary that was with her when she died.

Hilda Ellen Gregory

30/11/1905 –08/05/1995

Evacuated from London, died in Colchester, buried with husband, mother-in-law and brother-in-law

Relatives

Stanley Charles Gregory — husband

• Christopher Dolton

The inscription on the grave in which Hilda (also known as “Dolly”) is buried informs us that her date of birth was 30th November 1905. The birth of a Hilda Ellen Mortimer was registered in Camberwell early in 1906. The registration does not tell us the identity of her father and mother, but her later marriage certificate discloses that her father was Fuller Mortimer, a fruiterer.

The next document we have for Hilda is twenty six years later and is the certificate recording her marriage to Stanley Gregory. The marriage was celebrated at the parish church in Clapham on 14th August 1932. Stanley was 25 years of age and Hilda 26. Hilda’s address at the time of the wedding was 134 Lyham Road, Brixton. No occupation is noted against Hilda’s name. The electoral rolls reveal that Stanley and Hilda then lived at  Silverthorne Road, Wandsworth.

Hilda gave birth to two daughters, Valerie, who was born early in 1935 and Beryl who was born late in 1936. Both births were registered in Wandsworth.

The story becomes more complicated in 1939. The 1939 Register tells us that at the date the register was compiled, Stanley was resident at 185 Manor Road, Mitcham. Although the register confirms that Stanley was married, there is no mention of Hilda or the two girls as being resident at that address. There is however a Hilda H Gregory who was registered in 1939 as living in the home of Leslie and Mabel Dee at 45 Greenway, Berkhamsted. Leslie and Mabel are noted as being married. Both Mabel and Hilda are noted as providing “unpaid domestic duties.” The initial “H” might suggest that this is a different Hilda Gregory than that with which we are concerned, but that may be no more than a confusion between the names “Ellen” and “Helen” and most tellingly, the date of birth recorded in the 1939 Register against the name of Hilda H Gregory is 30th November 1905, which is of course the date of birth recorded on Hilda’s grave. It therefore seems likely that the Hilda Ellen Gregory lying in Rectory Lane cemetery and the Hilda H Gregory resident at 45 Greenway in 1939 are one and the same person.

Two other people are recorded by the Register as living at 45 Greenway, but the record relating to them is currently closed which means they were born in the last 100 years and are not known to be dead. These two entries must relate Valerie and Beryl. Which all begs the question why did Hilda, together with her two young children leave London? It is likely that they were evacuated. Britain had declared war on Germany on 1st September 1939. The evacuation of civilians in Britain during the Second World War was designed to protect people, especially, children, from the risks associated with the aerial bombing of cities.

As early as January 1939 local authorities had been asked to conduct surveys of available accommodation. It was calculated that Berkhamsted had a total of 4,690 surplus rooms with 3,283 offers of accommodation. By August 1939 the government had decided to evacuate school children and expectant mothers from  cities which faced the risk of bombing by moving them to areas thought to be less at risk. Operation Pied Piper, which began on 1 September 1939, officially relocated 1.5 million people and 1,900 evacuees arrived in Berkhamsted, mostly residents of London.  Preparations for the arrival of evacuees were put in hand locally:
“On Saturday, a rehearsal took place of the scheme for receiving evacuees. The arrangements are in the hands of the Women’s Voluntary Services, of which organisation Mrs. Humphrey Haslam is commandant. Everything passed off without a hitch, all workers being thoroughly familiar with their duties. The children, after assembling at the station, will divide into groups and proceed to the Deans Hall, St. Peter’s Hall, Progress Hall, and to the Congregational Schoolroom. Here they will register before being sent to their prearranged billets. A tribunal will be set up to deal with any complaints which might arise regarding billeting.”  (Bucks Examiner, Berkhamsted Newsletter, 1st September 1939)

The 1939 Register was taken on 29 September 1939 and therefore at the time the Register was compiled evacuees who would otherwise have been resident in London were registered at the address to which they had been evacuated. The information provided by the Register was used to produce identity cards and, once rationing was introduced in January 1940, to issue ration books. Information in the Register was also used to administer conscription and the direction of labour, and to monitor and control the movement of the population caused by military mobilisation and mass evacuation.

In the event this first wave of evacuations proved unnecessary and this period became known on the Home Front as the “phoney war.” By Christmas 1939 over 80% of mothers and infants who had left London returned home. There were however further waves of official evacuation and re-evacuation from the south and east coasts in June 1940, when a seaborne invasion was expected, and from affected cities after the Blitz began in September 1940. The final phase of evacuations took place between June and September 1944 when V1 Flying bombs fell on London.

Berkhamsted was perhaps an obvious place of refuge for Hilda. Stanley’s mother, Ada, and her family, the Readings, lived in Berkhamsted and there is a further possible link. Mabel Dee’s maiden name was Rose. She was one of eight siblings who were born to James and Harriet Rose and in 1911 the Rose family were living at 14 Shrublands Avenue. They were near neighbours of the Readings, who in 1911 also lived in Shrublands Avenue, at number 4. When Stanley’s brother Harold died in Nunhead in 1926, the death certificate reveals that one “L Rose” was present with Harold when he died. One of Mabel’s sister was Lily and a second was Elizabeth. (Liz?) If a member of the Rose family was present at Harold’s death this suggests that there may have been close ties between the two families and that Mabel and Leslie Dee offered Hilda and her children a place of refuge when war broke out.

As might be imagined, the influx of so many newcomers to the town had an impact on daily life.
“Evacuees Settling Down. As with other towns in reception areas, Berkhamsted is gradually settling down to new conditions brought about by the evacuation scheme. Those in charge of the arrangements have worked with unfailing efficiency and sympathy, and since the main work of evacuation has been completed they have made innumerable adjustments to suit individual needs. Goodwill and good-humour on the part of townspeople and evacuees alike have helped to minimise many possible sources of friction, and difficulties, usually of a personal nature, are gradually being overcome. Children appear to be adapting themselves to their new surroundings rather better than the grown-ups. Many mothers although sharing household duties with their hosts, find themselves with plenty of leisure time for possibly the first time of their lives, and in the circumstances it is not surprising that the town’s lack of distractions should appear to be greater than is really the case. Comments on the quietness of the town seem strange to residents who have never known the pavements so crowded. Happily the Indian summer allowed everyone to get out into the country, and hundreds – again for perhaps the first time of their lives—have enjoyed picnic parties in fields around the town.”  – Bucks Examiner, Berkhamsted Newsletter, 15th September 1939.
And:
“Berkhamsted has settled down so well to war-time conditions that there is really little to report from the home front. On Monday and Tuesday elementary school-children finished their extra long Summer holidays and, to make room for the hundreds of evacuated children in the town, attended school in morning and afternoon  shifts. Thus the only possible system in the circumstances has been adopted, but it has in scores of cases thrown an additional burden on residents with evacuated children in their charge. The unusual school hours mean that they have to serve midday meals in relays, and hopes are entertained of revising the times to save extra work of this kind.” –  Bucks Examiner, Berkhamsted Newsletter, 22nd September 1939.

Stanley died in 1979 and although he was buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery, his death was registered in Lambeth; presumably the family was reunited in London once the war had ended.
Hilda died on 8th May 1995. Her death was registered in Colchester, Essex, to where she must have moved sometime after the death of Stanley in 1979. She was buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery alongside Stanley, and her mother in law, Ada and brother in law Harold.

Stanley Charles Gregory

17/11/1906 –10/06/1979

Butcher meat shopkeeper. Died in London but buried in Berkhamsted.

Relatives

Hilda Ellen Gregory — wife

Ada Gregory — mother

• Christopher Dolton

Stanley Charles Gregory was born on 17th November 1906. He was the second of three children born to Alfred and Ada Gregory. At the time of the census in 1911 the family was living at 65 Blythe Road, Kensington and Stanley was 4 years old.

In 1921 Stanley’s mother Ada died. Stanley would have been 13 years old at the time of her death. Five years later in 1926 his younger brother Harold died.

On 14th August 1932 Stanley married Hilda Mortimer. The marriage was celebrated at the parish church in Clapham. Stanley was 25 years of age and Hilda 26. Stanley’s address is given as 40 Old Town and his occupation, like that of his father and older brother Laurence was that of butcher. The electoral rolls reveal that Stanley and Hilda next lived at 30 Silverthorne Road, Wandsworth
Stanley and Hilda had two children, Valerie, who was born in the first quarter of 1935 and Beryl, born towards the end of 1936. The births of both children were registered in Wandsworth.

The 1939 Register tells us that at the date the register was compiled, Stanley was resident at 185 Manor Road, Mitcham. Stanley was still working as a butcher, his occupation being noted as “Butcher meat shopkeeper.” Neither Hilda or either of the girls were registered in 1939 as being resident at 185 Manor Road. Hilda was in Berkhamsted and had probably been evacuated from London with the two girls at the outbreak of the Second World War.
Stanley’s father Alfred died in 1949 and his older brother Laurence died in 1974. Stanley himself died five years later on 10th June 1979 at the age of 72. His death was registered in Lambeth, so presumably after the end of the war he, Hilda and the children returned to live in London.  He was buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery in the same plot as his mother and younger brother Harold.