Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Harry Victor Creber (659)

16/03/1873 –19/08/1904

Orphaned at age 6, clerk at the mantle factory, collapsed and died in hairdresser's shop at age 32

• Jane Dickson

Plot 659 Harry Victor Creber

Harry Victor Creber was the third of the four sons of George Creber and Hannah Matilda nèe Weeks, who had married at St Margaret next Rochester, Kent on 14^th April 1868. In their Marriage Register entry, George is described as a Gentleman.  The four boys all had different places of birth: The eldest, named George after his father, was born in Annan, Scotland on 12^th May 1869. He was followed by Richard Sydney, born in Rochester, Kent on 12^th April 1871. Harry Victor was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on 16^th March 1873 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon on 5^th June that year. His younger brother Henry Stuart was born in Deptford in 1875 and baptised at St Paul’s Deptford on 4^th July 1875.

Harry’s father, George (Senior), has not been found in the 1861 or 1871 Census returns and the only clues to his occupation are in his sons’ Baptism record, which state that he was a Clerk living in Ridley Road, Rochester in 1871 and a Clerk of Works living in Stanley Street, Deptford in 1875.

 In the 3^rd Quarter of 1877, Harry’s father George died aged only 43, his death registered in St George in the East, London. Less than 2 years later, on 10^th April 1879, Harry’s mother Hannah Matilda Creber of 8 Ridley Road, Rochester, Kent also died, leaving an estate valued at less than £100. Administration was granted at the Principal Registry “under the usual Limitations to George Thomas Weeks of 6 Ridley-road Engineer’s Clerk the Uncle and Guardian of George Creber and Richard Sydney Creber Minors and of Harry Victor Creber and Henry Stuart Creber Infants the Sons and only Next of Kin.” Her death left 6 year old Harry and his brothers aged 9, 7 and 3 as orphans.

 The 1881 Census showed Harry as an 8 year old Scholar at Wanstead Infant Orphan Asylum, which had been founded in 1827 by the Revd. (later Sir) Andrew Reed.  From 1843 this was housed in a building designed by architects George Gilbert Scott and William Boynthon Moffat,  the address of which was given as 75 Hollybush Hill, Wanstead, though the establishment could eventually house 600 people. An 1890 Directory gave the charity’s details as follows: “Maintaining and educating orphan children who are respectably descended.” Many were the orphans of clergymen, officers and professional men. They were admitted by election of subscribers or by purchase between infancy and 7 years and could remain until they reached their 15^th birthday. “Each case must be recommended by two respectable householders, one of whom is a Governor, or the officiating clergyman of the parish.” (1)

 Harry’s brothers, meanwhile, were elsewhere: George (Junior), a Scholar of 11, was with his maternal grandmother, 77 year old Hannah Weeks and his unmarried aunt, 35 year old Emma M Weeks, a dressmaker, in Ridley Road, Rochester. 9 year old Richard was also at school, but with his paternal grandfather Henry Creber in Barrhead, Renfrewshire, Scotland. Henry, a Scholar aged 5, was a visitor in the household of Eliza Denny of The Street, Peasenhall, Suffolk.

 Ten years later Harry was an 18 year old wholesale drapery warehouseman, a Boarder at 22 Marshalsea Road, St George the Martyr, London. George (Junior), 21, an engineering turner and Henry, 15, a Post Office assistant, were with their maternal Aunt Emma M Weeks, a 45 year old single woman living on her own means, at 8 Ridley Road, Rochester, Kent. Richard, 19, a general law clerk, had remained in Scotland with his Grandfather.

 By 1901 Harry was a mantle manufacturer’s clerk living at 12 Kitsbury Road, Berkhamsted, boarding with Mrs Elizabeth Vincent, a 53 year old widow. He worked at the Bulbourne Mantle Factory in Berkhamsted, (which made ladies’ wear rather than gas mantles and moved to a site in Lower Kings Road in 1902). However, he died, aged only 32, on 19^th August 1904.

 A note in the Burial Register shows that there had been a Coroner’s Inquest. An article in the “Watford Observer” of 27^th August 1904 explains what happened under the heading of “Sudden Death in a Shop”. Harry, who, his next-door neighbour said, complained of his chest, had been in Thomas Gayton’s hairdresser’s shop at 239 High Street about 1pm on the day of his death and was seen to “stagger back and fall to the ground”, hitting his head against the door as he fell. Dr Ker was sent for, but Harry was dead before he arrived. Frederick William Heise of 4 Cowper Road, who had worked with Harry at the mantle factory, had heard Harry complain about his chest and remark about his heart, though he thought Harry had been in his usual health the day before he died, when they arranged to go for an outing on the next Saturday. At the Inquest, Dr Ker reported that, when he arrived, Harry was dead with his teeth clenched. From what he could see, “deceased had a ruptured blood vessel in the lungs.” “A verdict of death from hemorrhage (sic) of the lungs, in accordance with the medical testimony, was returned.”

 The same edition of the “Watford Observer” included a report of Harry’s interment on 22^nd August 1904. “The deceased had for nearly five years been one of the staff at the Bulbourne Mantle Factory, and was highly respected by his colleagues.” In addition to his brother Sydney (Richard Sydney Creber) and his uncle and aunt, Mr and Miss Weeks, mourners included Mr D.J. Leeds, the Factory Manager, a number of colleagues and other residents in the town. “Most of the hands at the factory were also present either in church or at the cemetery.” The Revd. G.T. Bent, Curate, conducted the service and Messrs. H and J Matthews carried out the arrangements as undertakers. “The floral wreaths laid on the grave were a lovely collection…”

 Harry’s interment took place “just inside the new portion of the cemetery”. His headstone still stands and bears the following inscription: “In loving memory/ of/ Harry Victor Creber/ (of Rochester)/ born March 16^th 1873/ died August 19^th 1904/ In the midst of life we are in death”.

 Harry’s National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) entry recorded his address as 12 Kitsbury Road, Berkhamsted and notes that, on 6^th October 1904, administration was granted to Richard Sydney Creber, commercial clerk. “Effects £1079 4s. 11d.”

(1)    Wanstead Infant Orphan Asylum, Wanstead, Essex (childrenshomes.org.uk)