Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Hannah Harcourt

1830 –21/03/1874

Wife of baptist minister

Relatives

James Harcourt (337) — husband

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 337 Hannah Harcourt (née Knighton) (1830-1874)

Hannah was born in 1830 in Old Weston, a small village about 13 miles NW of Huntingdon. Her mother was Hannah (née Harratt) and her father William Knighton, a farmer of 805 acres employing 29 labourers in Hartford, a village just outside Huntingdon and now a suburb of the town.

She had an older brother and two younger sisters.

In 1841 Hannah was a resident pupil at a girls’ school in St Neots.

She married James Harcourt in 1851 in Huntingdon. He was a Baptist minister living in Luton and it is not known how they met – possibly he had been a minister in Huntingdon before moving to Luton.

Elizabeth (1852) and Joseph Potto (1855) were both born in Luton. By the time Emily Olivia was born in 1858 they had moved to Southwark.

The 1861census records the family at Laurel Cottage, Southampton Street, Camberwell.

In 1871, when they had moved to 40, Camberwell Green, Hannah’s older unmarried sister Emily was living with them. They also employed a live-in domestic servant.

Hannah died in March 1874 in Berkhamsted, aged 44. It is not known why she was in the town at the time and her funeral was conducted by the rector and not by a Baptist minister.

James, who survived her until 1894, married her sister Emily the following year. He is buried here with her.

James Harcourt (337)

d.07/02/1896

Baptist minister who married his sister in law after death of his first wife

Relatives

Hannah Harcourt — wife

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 337 James Harcourt (1817-1894)

James was born in 1817 in Leicester.

By March 1851 he was a Baptist minister and was lodging in Upper Wellington Street, Luton.

James married Hannah Knighton, a farmer’s daughter in Huntingdon, her home town, later that year and they lived in the town until at least 1855. It is not known how they met – possibly he had been a minister in Huntingdon before moving to Luton. Their children Elizabeth (1852) and James Potto (1855) were born in Luton.

By 1858, when Emily Olivia was born, the family had moved to Laurel Cottage, Southampton Street, Camberwell and James was the minister of Bow Road Chapel. They employed a live-in domestic servant.

In 1871 they were at 40, Camberwell Green, Lambeth and James was Minister of the Baptist church, Borough Road, Southwark. Hannah’s older unmarried sister Emily was living with them.

Hannah died in Berkhamsted in March 1874, aged 44. Why she was in the town has not been established. Her funeral was conducted by the Rector and not by a Baptist Minister.

On 16 October 1875 the Hemel Hempstead Gazette reported the marriage of the Rev. James Harcourt and Miss Emily Knighton, at Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Emily was his sister-in-law and such a marriage was not valid in the UK according to the 1835 Marriages Act. However, it was permissible if the marriage took place abroad – hence the need for the couple to travel to Switzerland. (The prohibition was finally overturned by a 1907 Act.)

In April 1881 James and Emily were living at 17, Spencer Road, Battersea with Elizabeth and Emily and a live-in domestic servant. James was the minister at East Hill Baptist church.

In 1891 James, Emily and Elizabeth were living with his son James Potto Harcourt at the Farm House, Potton Street, Godmanchester. James P. was a widower with a young son. James snr., Emily and Elizabeth were all “living on own means” and presumably James snr. had retired from the ministry.

James died in February 1896 at 160, London Road, Leicester aged 79 and was brought to Berkhamsted to be buried with Hannah.