Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Frederick George Hawks Grimsley

04/07/1896 –14/04/1933

Son of Sarah Grimsley, served with distinction in WWI; became a bank clerk after the war.

Relatives

Sarah Ann Grimsley — mother

Queenie Potter — sister

Amabel Grimsley — sister

• Karen Evans

Plot 624 ( On the front of the gravestone)

In Loving Memory of

Major Frederick George Hawks Grimsley

late 3rd Batt. Leicestershire Regt and MCC,

passed on Good Friday 1933 aged 36.

‘Our life is but a fading dawn,

Its glorious noon how quickly passes

Lead us O Christ when all is gone

Safe home at last’

Frederick’s mother was born Sarah Ann Pratley in Norton Disney, Lincolnshire, the eldest daughter of John Pratley and his wife, Mary Hawks (nee Wiggins) and was baptised at St Michael’s church, Norton Disney, Lincolnshire on the 10th February 1870. It is from his maternal grandmother’s family that Frederick George Hawks inherited his middle name of Hawks. In some instances, his name is actually given as Frederick George Hawks-Grimsley.

Frederick George’s father, Frederick Alexander Grimsley, was Oxfordshire born and bred, coming from the village of Middle Barton. Frederick George’s parents married on 20^th June 1895, at Steeple Barton Church, Oxfordshire. The witnesses to the marriage were Sarah Ann’s brother and sister, John George and Mary Esther Pratley.

Frederick George Hawks Grimsley was born in Twickenham on 4^th July 1896 and baptised on 6^th September 1896 at Steeple Barton, the same church that his father, Frederick Alexander Grimsley, had been baptised at on 11^th July 1869. He was followed by twin sisters, Isabel Mary Adelaide and Margaret Amabel (this is not a typing mistake the name is definitely Amabel) Mary born on 21^st June 1897. The twin girls were baptised at Steeple Barton, with the parish register stating that the family were living at Hornsey, London. By 1900 the family were living in Berkhamsted. We have no idea what brought the family to the town, but they did not move to Berkhamsted just to live, Frederick Alexander Grimsley had set himself up as a baker and confectioner at 162 High Street, Berkhamsted. As well as the business and the family home, Frederick George’s mother was also looking after her widowed father, John Pratley, a retired farmer.

Frederick George’s maternal ancestors must have been a family of some standing in Oxfordshire, as the Oxfordshire Weekly News reported on them on 29^th April 1908, with a wedding as follows:

“PRATLEY – CAIRNS – April 16, at St Paul’s Newcastle-on-Tyne, by the Rev William King, John George Pratley, only son of the late Mr John Pratley, of Sycamore Farm, Middle Barton, Oxfordshire, to Mary Elizabeth (May), eldest daughter of Mr William Cairns of Newcastle-on-Tyne.”

It is worth noting that Frederick George’s uncle, John George Pratley, was also a Master Baker, having his bakery business at 88 Green Street, Forest Gate, Essex in 1921.

If you are interested in the history of Berkhamsted High Street, Grimsley’s bakery at 162 High Street was situated next-door to the farrier’s house of William Nash. Frederick Alexander Grimsley’s business in Berkhamsted seems to have been quite successful. ‘Beorcham’, in an article entitled “Berkhamsted in 1900”, writes that F.A. Grimsley, baker and refreshment contractor, supplied bride cakes from 10s. 6d. and always had ‘tea and coffee at hand’. He sounds like a man whose business would fit into Berkhamsted perfectly today!!

In 1911 the widowed Sarah Ann Grimsley filled in her own census and gave her occupation as “Confectioner”. As well as her three teenage children she also had a companion, Bessie Cook, a single girl from Farnham in Surrey.

1914 saw the start of war and Frederick George Hawks Grimsley would have only been 18 years old. However even at such a young age he went and served in the Leicestershire Regiment, firstly in the 1^st Battalion where he attained the rank of 2^nd Lieutenant, and then as a Captain in the 3^rd Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment (Special Reserves).

The 1^st Battalion spent the whole of the First World War (1914-18) on the Western Front, arriving in August 1914. Frederick George’s medal card tells us that he was in Boulogne in January 1915. On 13th March 1915 Frederick was appointed as a Second Lieutenant (on probation) in the 3^rd Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment. This promotion was confirmed later in the year. On 22nd May 1917 the London Gazette reported that “The Honourable Sir Douglas Haig, has submitted the Officer named as deserving a special Mention in Despatches”. A soldier mentioned in dispatches (MID) is one whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which is described the soldier’s gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy. A supplement to the London Gazette, dated 18^th July 1918 states that Temporary Captain F.G.H Grimsley (Lt Leicestershire Regiment, Special Reserves) relinquishes the acting rank of Major on ceasing to command a Company (as of 20 April 1918).

In 1915 Frederick George had received the Certificate of the Gunnery Staff Course, so it is therefore no surprise that in 1918 he was part of the Machine Gun Corps (MGC). At the outbreak of the War, the British Army had no specialist machine-gun unit, simply providing two heavy Maxim or Vickers machine guns for each cavalry regiment and infantry battalion. By November 1914, as the Western Front slowed to a stalemate, this system needed supplementing. That month, a Machine Gun School was set up at Wisques in northern France and a Motor Machine Gun Service (MMGS) of motorcycle-mounted machine guns was established within the Royal Artillery. The machine gun dominated trench warfare. Within a few months, it became clear that a new specialist unit was needed to further develop machine-gun tactics while also training more men in the weapon’s use. The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was established in October 1915 by subsuming the battalion Maxim/Vickers machine-gun sections from all infantry regiments. The withdrawn heavy machine guns were replaced by light Lewis machine guns that could be used by all troops. In 1919 Frederick George was promoted once again to temporary Captain before returning safely home.

Sometime around 1920 Frederick George’s mother appears to have made her home away from the business at 162 High Street, and moved into 1 Hope Villas, Kings Road with her three children. Frederick George’s sisters, Isabel Mary Adelaide and Margaret Amabel Mary, both worked for their mother in the shop, whilst Frederick George, was a bank clerk, working for the National Provincial Union Bank of England on the Grays Inn Road in London. Frederick George also seems to have been a bit of a sportsman, playing cricket for the Berkhamsted 2^nd XI in September 1921. In the winter of 1921 Frederick George married Lillian Laura Brannan, a girl from Oxhey, near Watford. Within the year their first daughter, Hazel Mary Hawks Grimsley, was born in Watford on 26^th August 1922. Their second daughter, Pamela Wynne Hawks Grimsley, was born in Stirling, Scotland in January 1925.

On 17^th June 1925 Frederick George’s sister Isabel Mary Adelaide Grimsley married Norman Ralph Potter at St Peter’s Church. Isabel and her husband, Norman, moved into the living quarters at 162 High Street, whilst her mother remained living in Kings Road, renaming her house, Rosemount (circa 1928). Frederick George seems to have moved around far more than his siblings. Whilst his sisters seemed content to stay in Berkhamsted, in 1927 Frederick George and his family was living with his married Aunt Mary Esther Hawks Drage at 42 Grove Street, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.

In 1930 Frederick and Lillian were living at Hazelwyn, Southport Road, Duston in Northamptonshire.

Frederick George Hawkes Grimsley died on 14^th April 1933, at his mother’s house, Rosemount in the Kings Road, Berkhamsted. It is sad to think that a man who had served bravely throughout the First World War in France, ended up dying of tuberculosis. The informant of his death was his brother -in-law, Norman Ralph Potter. Frederick George’s death certificate states that he was a “Master Baker and Confectioner of High St. Wealdstone”.  Frederick George never wrote a will, so the administration of his estate was granted to his widow Lillian.

In 1939 Frederick’s widow Lillian was listed as being a Master Baker and confectioner at 95A High Street, Harrow. She was living with her daughter, Hazel, who was described as a “Baker’s assistant”. Frederick’s eldest daughter Hazel Maria Hawks Grimsley married Sgt Clinton R Oehlerking of the US Army on 30^th July 1945 in Hendon, whilst her sister Pamela Wynne married Waldo Bruce Jenson later that same year. The sisters left the UK together in December 1948 and travelled from Southampton to New York on board the Queen Elizabeth, to make new lives in Michigan. One would hope that Sarah Ann Grimsley would have seen her first Great-Granddaughter, Gail Jensen, before they left.

The Grimsley story still continues as Frederick George’s daughter, Hazel Mary Oehlerking of Spring Arbor, Michigan, who died on Friday, 5^th December 2008 age 86 years, was survived by two children, son, John C. Oehlerking; daughter, Candice (Clenna) Rhoades; six grandchildren; many great grandchildren; several great great-grandchildren; three nieces; one nephew. Frederick’s other daughter, Pamela Wynne Jensen was survived by three daughters, Janice Jensen Harley, Gail Rockwell and Patricia Butler who between them have eight children and six grandchildren

Sarah Ann Grimsley

d.10/04/1958

Wife of confectioner and baker who ran the bakery after her husband was found drowned in a pond.

Relatives

Queenie Potter — daughter

Amabel Grimsley — daughter

Frederick George Hawks Grimsley — son

• Karen Evans

Plot 624

(Front)

In Loving Memory of

Major Frederick George Hawks Grimsley

late 3rd Batt. Leicestershire Regt and MCC,

passed on God Friday 1933 aged 36.

‘Our life is but a fading dawn,

Its glorious noon how quickly passes

Lead us O Christ when all is gone

Safe home at last’

(Reverse)

In Loving Memory of

Our dearly loved mother Sarah Ann Grimsley

Who passed away 10 April 1958 aged 88.

‘Peace, perfect peace’

Sarah Ann Grimsley was born Sarah Ann Pratley on 1^st February 1870 at Norton Disney, Lincolnshire, the eldest daughter of John Pratley and his wife, Mary Hawks (nee Wiggins). She was baptised at St Michael’s church, Norton Disney on the 10^th February 1870. Sarah Ann’s eldest brother, John George was also born at Norton Disney in 1869. In spite of the fact that Sarah Ann and her brother were born in Lincolnshire, the Pratleys were actually an Oxfordshire family. Her parents had married on 13th April 1868 at parish church of St Michael & All Angels, Leafield, Oxfordshire.

Sarah Ann’s father, John Pratley and her grandfather, Charles Pratley were both farmers, having a farm at Norton Wood in Norton Disney. Although they ran the farm at Norton Disney both men were born in Leafield and in spite of the distance they seemed to travel regularly between Norton Disney and Leafield. The census reflects this movement as in 1841 Sarah’s father was in Leafield, in 1851 and 1861 he was in Norton Disney, and in 1871 when Sarah Ann was just a year old the family were visiting her mother’s uncle, William Hawks. Sarah Ann’s great uncle seems to be a particularly notable man as the 1861 census described him as being “formerly a milkman in the Queen’s Dairy, Receives a pension”. Maybe due to the need to care for the old Uncle William Hawks in his old age, John and Mary Hawks Pratley seem to have permanently moved to Oxfordshire from this time.

The autumn of 1872 saw the arrival of Sarah Ann’s twin brothers, Charles Hawkes Pratley and William Hawkes Pratley, Sadly neither of them survived to the end of the year.  In 1874 Sarah Ann’s sister, Mary Esther Hawks Grimsley, was born in Steeple Barton.

On 28^th March 1875, Sarah Ann’s Great Uncle William Hawks “formerly of Fulwell in the Parish of Spelsbury, but late of Middle Barton, both in Oxfordshire” died. His will made Sarah Ann’s mother “Mary Hawks Pratley (wife of John Pratley, farmer)” the sole executrix. In April 1881 the family were living on John Pratley’s 10-acre farm on Dun’s Tew Road in Steeple Barton. Later that year Sarah Ann’s mother, Mary Hawks Pratley, died leaving behind her husband and three teenage children. Mary Hawks Pratley was buried on 4^th September 1888 at Steeple Barton. John George became a baker, by trade, whilst Sarah Ann appears to have been her father’s housekeeper.

Sarah Ann’s future husband, Frederick Alexander Grimsley, was also Oxfordshire born and bred, coming from nearby Middle Barton. In 1891 he was a baker working at the Union Hotel, in Northleach Market Place. Sarah Ann Pratley married Frederick Alexander, who at that time, was living in Blackheath in Surrey on 20^th June 1895, at Steeple Barton Church. The witnesses to the marriage were Sarah Ann’s brother and sister, John George and Mary Esther Pratley.

Frederick Alexander and Sarah Ann’s first child was a son, Frederick George Hawks Grimsley. He was born in Twickenham on 4^th July 1896 and baptised on 6^th September 1896 at Steeple Barton, the same church that Frederick Alexander had been baptised at on 11^th July 1869.

Twins appear to have run in the family, as Sarah had twin daughters, Isabel Mary Adelaide and Margaret Amabel Mary born on 21^st June 1897. Her daughters were baptised at Steeple Barton, with the parish register stating that the family were living at Hornsey, London. By 1900 the family were living in Berkhamsted. We have no idea what brought the family to the town, but they did not move to Berkhamsted just to live, Frederick Alexander Grimsley had set himself up as a baker and confectioner at 162 High Street, Berkhamsted. As well as the business and the family home, Sarah Ann was also looking after her widowed father, John Pratley, who appears to have retired from farming. With the family, business, and home to look after Sarah Ann needed help and she advertised in the Watford Observer on 12^th October 1901:

 “General Servant wanted; able to do plain cooking: good reference required. Apply to Mrs Grimsley, 162 High Street, Great Berkhamsted”.

 On 27^th November 1901 the Oxfordshire Weekly News reported on a death as follows:

“PRATLEY – November 18 at 162, High Street, Berkhamsted, Herts, John Pratley, late of Sycamore Farm, Steeple Barton, aged 71 years.

John Pratley was buried with his wife on 22^nd November 1901 at Steeple Barton.

Sarah Ann’s family must have been of some standing in Oxfordshire, as the Oxfordshire Weekly News reported on them once again on 29^th April 1908, but in far happier circumstances, with a wedding as follows:

“PRATLEY – CAIRNS – April 16, at St Paul’s Newcastle-on-Tyne, by the Rev William King, John George Pratley, only son of the late Mr John Pratley, of Sycamore Farm, Middle Barton, Oxfordshire, to Mary Elizabeth (May), eldest daughter of Mr William Cairns of Newcastle-on-Tyne.”

It is worth noting that Sarah Ann’s brother, John George, was a master Baker in his own right, having his bakery business at 88 Green Street, Forest Gate, Essex in 1921.

For those of you interested in the history of Berkhamsted High Street, Grimsley’s bakery at 162 High Street was situated next-door to the farrier’s house of William Nash. Frederick Alexander Grimsley’s business in Berkhamsted seems to have been quite successful. ‘Beorcham’, in an article entitled “Berkhamsted in 1900”, writes that F.A. Grimsley, baker and refreshment contractor, supplied bride cakes from 10s. 6d. and always had ‘tea and coffee at hand’. He sounds like a man whose business would fit into Berkhamsted perfectly today!! Indeed, Frederick Alexander was not a man to keep his talents under a bushel as he advertised weekly in the Watford Observer throughout 1903. He advertisement read as follows:

F.A.GRIMSLEY

Family Baker, Cook & Confectioner,

162 High Street, Berkhamsted.

FAMILIES WAITED ON DAILY

High Class Confectionery in Every Variety.

BRIDE CAKES from 10/6; A Speciality

CHOCOLATE, STRAWBERRY, & GINGER

CAKE MADE TO ORDER.

In September 1903 Frederick Alexander contributed to the harvest festival celebrations at St Peter’s Church, as he “sent confectionery of a special character”. However, within weeks of this occasion tragedy struck. The Oxford Journal (7^th November 1903) starts the story:

NUNEHAM

Drowned in a Pond

An enquiry was held at the “Harcourt Arms” Nuneham Courtenay, on Monday , by Mr W. W. Robinson, into the circumstances attending the death of an unknown man, who was found in a pond situated in a field in Nuneham Courtenay on Sunday. Charles Edward Munday was elected foreman of the jury.

Joseph James Coster said he lived at Nuneham Courtenay, his occupation being that of a carter. On Tuesday the 27^th ult., he went into the field owned by Mr Malcolm Munday, called “Five Ash”, and noticed in the pond what he thought was a piece of wood partly under the water. He went on Sunday to the spot again, and when he saw it on that occasion, he came to the conclusion that it was the body of a man. That was all he could tell the jury about it.

Christopher Charles Matthew, also a carman, living at Lower Farm, Nuneham, said at about 11:30 am on Sunday Mr Malcolm Munday came and fetched him, and asked if he would go to the pond in the field. Mr Munday went on before him, and when the witness got there, he crawled through some bushes and could see something under the trees at the back of the pond, and he came to the conclusion that it was a body. Witness noticed it was slightly doubled up and was face downwards. He stopped at the place until the arrival of P.C. Loader, and no-one came in the meantime. Witness could not say whose body it was. He helped to get it out, with the assistance of the policeman, and noticed that the body was dressed, as far as he could tell, all in black. From the appearance of the body, witness would think it had been in the water about 10 days, and he thought the deceased was about 50 years old. Witness assisted in bringing the body to the “Harcourt Arms”

The Banbury Observer (19^th November 1903) ends the tale:

MIDDLE BARTON

FORMER RESIDENT FOUND DROWNED AT NUNEHAM.

The police have been able to identify the body which was found in a pond at Nuneham a fortnight ago as that of Frederick Alexander Grimsley, baker and confectioner, of Berkhampstead, Herts. Grimsley left home on October 12^th, and was seen in Oxford on October 17^th by his sister. He was a married man with three children, but is understood to have had family differences. The deceased is a native of Middle Barton, but at one time resided in Oxford.

What a terrible time this must have been for Sarah Ann, to have her husband disappear, only to be found dead weeks later so far from his home and family. The official administration of his estate which was granted to Sarah Ann, as his widow, stated that “Frederick Alexander Grimsley of 162 High Street, died on or between 17^th October and 1^st November 1903 at Nuneham Courtenay, Oxfordshire”. Sarah Ann appears to have been a very strong woman, as she kept the business running and continued to advertise in the same manner that her late husband had. On 21^st December 1907 her advertisement in the Watford Observer read as follows:

CHRISTMAS NOVELTIES

S.A. GRIMSLEY

BAKER, PASTRY COOK AND CONFECTIONER

162, HIGH ST., BERKHAMSTED

Has a large Stock of

SPECIAL CHRISTMAS NOVELTIES in

SWEETMEATS, FANCY BOXES

and CHINA filed with Chocolates &c.

Mince Pies and all Christmas Goods in Large Variety.

In 1911 Sarah Ann filled in her own census and gave her occupation as “Confectioner”. As well as her three teenage children she also had a companion, Bessie Cook, a single girl from Farnham in Surrey. 1914 saw the start of war and Sarah Ann’s only son, Frederick George Hawks, served as an officer in the 3^rd Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment. Sarah Ann was a lucky woman, as he appears not only to have served with distinction, that saw him rise to the rank of Major, and get mentioned in dispatches, but he served in France and returned safely home.

Sometime around 1920 Sarah Ann appears to have set up her home away from the business at 162 High Street, and moved into 1 Hope Villas, Kings Road with her three children. Sarah’s daughters, Isabel Mary Adelaide and Margaret Amabel (this is not a typing mistake the name is definitely Amabel) Mary, both worked for their mother in the shop, whilst their brother Frederick George, was a bank clerk, working for the National Provincial Union Bank of England on the Grays Inn Road in London. In the winter of 1921 Frederick George married Lillian Laura Brannan, a girl from Oxhey, near Watford. Within the year Sarah Ann’s first grandchild, Hazel Mary Hawks Grimsley, was born in Watford on 26^th August 1922. Sarah Ann’s second granddaughter, Pamela Wynne Hawks Grimsley, was born in Stirling, Scotland in January 1925.

On 17^th June 1925 Isabel Mary Adelaide Grimsley married Norman Ralph Potter at St Peter’s Church. Isabel and her husband, Norman, appear to have moved into the living quarters at 162 High Street, whilst Sarah Ann remained living in Kings Road, renaming her house, Rosemount (circa 1928). At some time between 1930 and 1939, Sarah Ann seems to have retired from her bakery and confectionery business and moved in with daughter Isabel. Isabel and Norman were living at 52 Kitsbury Road, which remained their family home into the 1970’s. Sarah Ann’s third grandchild and only grandson, Norman Ralph Raymond Potter, was the first member of the family to be born in Berkhamsted, on 14^th March 1929.

At around the time that Sarah Ann retired, her son Frederick George set himself up as a confectioner and baker at 95 High Street, Wealdstone. His wife Lillian Laura appears to have learnt the trade because when Frederick George died on 14^th April 1933, of tuberculosis, she took over the running of the business. Although living and working in Wealdstone, Frederick George died at his mother’s house, Rosemont on the Kings Road, Berkhamsted.

At the start of WWII the family was split between Berkhamsted and Harrow. Sarah Ann was living in Kitsbury Road with the family of her married daughter Isabel Mary Adelaide Potter, Margaret Amabel, who remained a spinster all her life, was living in Cornwall Road as a home help not far from Frederick George’s widow, Lillian Laura and her daughters, and Lillian Laura was still running the confectionery business that her husband had started.

By the end of the War and it’s aftermath, the separation between members of Sarah Ann’s family became even greater as both of her grand-daughters married American service men. Pamela Wynne married Waldo Bruce Jenson in the autumn of 1945, whilst her sister Hazel Mary married Clinton Oehlerking on 30^th July 1948. The sisters left the UK together in December 1948 and travelled from Southampton to New York on board the  Queen Elizabeth, to make new lives in Michigan. One would hope that Sarah Ann would her seen her first Great-Granddaughter, Gail Jensen, before they left.

Sarah Ann died on 10^th April 1958. At the time she was living at 12 Farndon Road, Oxford. Her daughter, Margaret Amabel Mary Grimsley, spinster, was one of her executors and her estate was valued at £2002 9s.