Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Ann Groves

1841 –02/11/1928

Second wife of James Groves and mother of eight

Relatives

James Groves — husband

Annie Sophia Groves (1050) — daughter

• Melanie Hilton

Plot x198a Ann Groves (née Potton) (1841-1928)

Ann was born in Northchurch in 1841, the child of Ann and John Potten. Her father was a tailor and the family of four daughters and a son lived in the High Street.

In 1861 Ann and her elder and younger sisters were straw plaiters, producing plait for the Luton and Bedford hat industries.

Ann married widower James Groves in Berkhamsted 1 April 1865.

The couple were to have eight children, all of whom survived into adulthood: Annie Sophia (1865), Cornelius (1868), Eliza (1870), Charles (1873), Rose (1874), Lydia Louisa (1877), Amy (1880) and Frank (1882).

James, who had been a groom was, by 1871, a general labourer and later became a painter. The family lived at 18, Victoria Road and continued to do so until at least 1903 when James died aged 74.

Ann had moved to 14, Victoria Road by 1911 and was still there in 1921, living with unmarried daughter Annie Sophia who was employed at Rose & Sons Brush Works in St Albans where she had been employed since the age of 15.

Ann died 2 November 1928 aged 87 and was buried here with James.

Their daughter Annie Sophia died in 1947 and is buried in plot 1050.

James Groves

1829 –23/12/1903

A groom, and later a labourer and painter

Relatives

Ann Groves — wife

George Groves — son

Annie Sophia Groves (1050) — daughter

• Melanie Hilton

Plot x198a James Groves (1829-1903)

James was born in 1829 in Berkhamsted, the son of Cutler Groves, a labourer, and his wife Susan (née Kingham). He was the second child and oldest son of their family of, eventually, seven sons and one daughter and was to go on to father an equally large brood of his own.

In 1841 the Groves were living in the High Street in Berkhamsted but James had left home by 1851 and was employed as an ostler at an inn in Castle Street.

He was clearly good with horses and became a groom. In 1860 he was working in London, probably attached to a private household at 2, Allington Street in Westminster.

On 27 August that year he married for the first time to Maria Bardrick, a Berkhamsted girl, at St John the Evangelist, Smith Square, London.

They moved back to Berkhamsted but Maria died giving birth to their son George in January 1861. In the census of that year baby George is recorded as a “nurse child” in the home of tailor John Potton and his wife Ann in Berkhamsted High Street. They were the parents of James’ second wife Ann who he married on 1 April 1865 in Berkhamsted.

Annie Sophia was born the same year to James and Ann. She was baptised in St Peter’s 8 May 1868. George, who was baptised on the same day, appears to have remained with the Pottons and was shown as “adopted child” in the 1871 census.

Cornelius followed in 1868 and Eliza in 1870.

The 1871 census records the family living at 18, Victoria Road. James was by then a general labourer. Four more children joined the family: Charles (1873), Rose (1874), Lydia Louisa (1877) and Amy (1880).

They were still living in Victoria Road in 1881 and James had become a painter’s labourer. Annie, aged 15, was working in a brush factory, which she would continue to do until at least 1921, and 13 year old Cornelius was an errand boy. The last of their eight children, Frank, was born the next year.

James became a painter himself and was still working at the age of 73 in 1901 when James and Ann, her widowed mother and four of their children were living together at number 18.

James died 23 December 1903, aged 74. Ann survived him until 1928 and is buried here with him.

Their daughter Annie Sophia died in 1947 and is buried in plot 1050.

His son George by his first wife Maria died in 1941 and is also buried in this cemetery with his wife and it is possible that the unmarked grave of “Mrs Groves” in this cemetery is that of Maria.