21/06/1897 –04/10/1965
Twin sister of Amabel Potter and wife of Norman Potter
Relatives
Research:
Plot 624/722
Major Frederick George Hawks Grimsley late 3rd Batt. Leicestershire
Regt and MCC, passed on Good Friday 1933 aged 36. (Front)
Our dearly loved mother Sarah Ann Grimsley passed away 10 April 1958 aged 88. (Rear)
A dear daughter and sister, AMABEL
21st June 1897 -13 February 1963
Dearly loved and sadly missed (right)
A.I.M. “Queenie” Potter (Nee Grimsley)
XXI-VI-MDCCCXCVII
IV X MCMLXV (left)
“Queenie” Potter was born Isabel Mary Adelaide Grimsley on 21st June 1897, one of twin sisters. Her parents, Frederick Alexander Grimsley and Sarah Ann Pratley had married on 20th 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 Alexander and Sarah Ann’s first child was a son, Frederick George Hawks Grimsley. He was born in Twickenham on 4th July 1896 and baptised on 6th September 1896 at Steeple Barton, the same church that Frederick Alexander Grimsley had been baptised at on 11th July 1869. He was followed in 1897 by the twins, Isabel Mary Adelaide and Margaret Amabel (this is not a typing mistake the name is definitely Amabel) Mary born on 21st June 1897. The 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 because it was a nice place to live, Frederick Alexander Grimsley had set himself up as a baker and confectioner at 162 High Street. As well as the business and the family home, Isabel’s mother 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 12th October 1901:
“General Servant wanted; able to do plain cooking: good reference required. Apply to Mrs Grimsley, 162 High Street, Great Berkhamsted”.
On 27th November 1901 the Oxfordshire Weekly News reported on the death of Isabel’s grandfather 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 in the same plot as his late wife on 22nd November 1901 at Steeple Barton.
For those of you interested in the history of Berkhamsted High Street, Grimsley’s bakery at 162 High Street Berkhamsted 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 (7th 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 27th 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 (19th 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 12th, and was seen in Oxford on October 17th 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 the family. Isabel was only six years old when her father disappeared. 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 17th October and 1st November 1903 at Nuneham Courtenay, Oxfordshire”. Isabel’s mother 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 21st 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 Isabel and her two siblings, the household included a companion for her mother, Bessie Cook, a single girl from Farnham in Surrey.
1914 saw the start of war and Isabel’s brother, Frederick George Hawks, served as an officer in the 3rd Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment. The family were lucky at a time when many young men were dying in the service of their country, Frederick George appears not only to have served with distinction, that saw him rise to the rank of Major, and get mentioned in dispatches, but he returned safely home.
Sometime around 1920 Isabel’s mother appears to have moved her home away from the business at 162 High Street, and into 1 Hope Villas, Kings Road. Isabel Mary Adelaide and her twin sister, Margaret 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, and within the year Isabel’s first niece, Hazel Mary Hawks Grimsley, was born in Watford on 26th August 1922. She was followed by a sister, Pamela Wynne Hawks Grimsley, born in Stirling, Scotland in January 1925.
On 17th June 1925 Isabel Mary Adelaide Grimsley married Norman Ralph Potter at St Peter’s Church. Norman had been born in Berkhamsted on 17th July 1900, the son of Ralph Potter, a painter and decorator. The Potter family seemed to have lived in Kitsbury Road, Berkhamsted, from at least 1891, with the address given being more specifically 52 Kitsbury Road in 1911. After their marriage Isabel and her husband, Norman, moved into the living quarters at 162 High Street, whilst her mother, Sarah Ann, remained living in Kings Road, renaming her house, Rosemount (circa 1928).
Isabel and Norman’s son, Norman Ralph Raymond Potter, was the first member of the family to be born in Berkhamsted, on 14th March 1929. At some point in the 1930s, Sarah Ann retired from her bakery and confectionery business. This meant that Isabel and Norman had to move out from 162 Berkhamsted High Street. The Potters along with Isabel’s mother, Sarah Ann Grimsley, moved into the Potter family home at 52 Kitsbury Road. It is probable that Isabel and Norman only lived 162 High Street, and that Norman never worked for his mother-in-law. In 1932 he was the manager of the Berkhamsted Labour Exchange, and in 1939, at the start of the War, Norman was described as the manager of the Berkhamsted Ministry of Labour Centre. This would have been a very respectable position of authority and as such he appears regularly in the local press, testifying against persons who were fraudulently claiming poor relief, the precursor of unemployment benefit. Norman Potter was also elected honorary secretary of Berkhamsted Town Football Club in July 1931.
Isabel’s father-in-law, Ralph Edward Potter, died on 17th February 1941, making her husband, Norman, one of his executors. Young Norman married Joyce Carr in Berkhamsted in 1950 and Isabel was made a grandmother seven years.
Isabel’s mother Sarah Ann Grimsley died in Oxford on 10th April 1958. Her will which was dated 27th September 1954, gave all the contents of her house in Oxford to Margaret Amabel, because they were living together at the time, but the rest of her estate was split equally between her two daughters. Her executor was Edward Evan Thomas, a retired bank manager who appears to have been a dear family friend.
On 13th February 1963 Isabel’s twin sister, Margaret Amabel, died at Tindal General Hospital in Aylesbury. She gave all her estate to Isabel, with the proviso that if Isabel predeceased her, then Isabel’s son, Norman would inherit. Her executor was also Edward Evan Thomas, to whom she gave a “pecuniary legacy of fifty pounds free of duty in appreciation of his help to me over the years in business matters”. Adelaide Isabel Mary Potter died on 4th October 1965, at the Potter family home of 52 Kitsbury Road. Like her mother and twin sister, she named Edward Evan Thomas as the executor to her will, even though her husband, Norman Ralph Potter, outlived her, passing away on 13th April 1972.
One characteristic of the Grimsley twins was how they changed the order of their first names. When she was baptised, Isabel was called Isabel Mary Adelaide. In 1930 Isabel appears on the electoral roll as Isobel Mary Adelaide Potter, then in 1939 she is recorded on the 1939 List – a document later used by the fledgeling NHS – as Adelaide I.M. Potter. Even the probate to her will that was proved on 4th November 1965 records her name as Adelaide Isabel Mary Potter, although her mother and sister called her Isabel Mary Adelaide in their wills.