Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Henry Russell Hill (x363)

27/12/1876 –29/03/1975

A counting house manager and later a newsagent

• David Squire

Henry Russell Hill

Henry was born 27^th December 1876 to Joseph and Isabella in Margate Kent. Possibly due to poor employment prospects in Kent, Joseph, a carpenter, moved his family to London, recorded as living in Holden Street, Battersea in 1881. Henry was the oldest child, with 6 younger siblings, Wilmer(son), Sydney, Isabella, Reginald, Lucy and Eugenie.

The family moved to Greenwich as confirmed in the 1891 census and by 1901 Heny, now 24, continued to live with his parents in their Greenwich home, whilst working as a clerk for a wholesale drapery business.

In mid-1906 Henry married Edith Charlotte Cox, with the couple moving to North London, living at 164 New River Crescent, Palmers Green. By 1911 Henry and Charlotte are sharing their home with Albert Cox, Charlotte’s brother, and a boarder Frank Distin. There are no children. Henry is working as a commercial clerk, for Grant Barnett and Co, an umbrella manufacturer.

By the start of World War 1 in 1914, Henry is 37. Conscription is introduced for all men aged between 18-41 in 1916, with Henry joining up at the start of 1918, once the conscription age was raised to 51. His occupation on joining the army is listed as a counting house manager at Grant Barnett. These skills lead him to be assigned to work within the Army’s accounting unit on Copthall Avenue, London.

After being discharged in 1919, Henry returned to Edith in Palmers Green and his job of counting house manager with Grant Barnett. The 1921 census confirms that the couple do not have any children, with a boarder, Herbert Testar, sharing their house.

Electoral records confirm that Henry and Edith remained living in Palmers Green throughout the 1920’s.

The next mention we find of Henry in the records is within the 1939 register, when he and Edith are listed as living in the New Kings Road, Fulham, with Henry working as a newsagent. Henry kept up this job until at least 1948, as confirmed within a newspaper cutting shows him campaigning for the overturning of a Middlesex County Council introduced ban on newsagents employing school age children to deliver papers as this work made them tired when attending school.  

Polling information confirms that Henry continued to live with his wife in Fulham up until 1957 at which point Henry was 81. Thereafter, we can not find any further reference to Henry until his death on 29^th March 1975 aged 99. At the time of his death Henry was living at Ashlyns Hall in Berkhamsted. This seems a little unusual as by this time Ashlyns Hall was operating as a school. Henry’s  estate was valued at just over £10,000 (about £90,000 today. Henry was buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted.

 Henry Russell Hill

Henry was born 27^th December 1876 to Joseph and Isabella in Margate Kent. Possibly due to poor employment prospects in Kent, Joseph, a carpenter, moved his family to London, recorded as living in Holden Street, Battersea in 1881. Henry was the oldest child, with 6 younger siblings, Wilmer(son), Sydney, Isabella, Reginald, Lucy and Eugenie.

The family moved to Greenwich as confirmed in the 1891 census and by 1901 Heny, now 24, continued to live with his parents in their Greenwich home, whilst working as a clerk for a wholesale drapery business.

In mid-1906 Henry married Edith Charlotte Cox, with the couple moving to North London, living at 164 New River Crescent, Palmers Green. By 1911 Henry and Charlotte are sharing their home with Albert Cox, Charlotte’s brother, and a boarder Frank Distin. There are no children. Henry is working as a commercial clerk, for Grant Barnett and Co, an umbrella manufacturer.

By the start of World War 1 in 1914, Henry is 37. Conscription is introduced for all men aged between 18-41 in 1916, with Henry joining up at the start of 1918, once the conscription age was raised to 51. His occupation on joining the army is listed as a counting house manager at Grant Barnett. These skills lead him to be assigned to work within the Army’s accounting unit on Copthall Avenue, London.

After being discharged in 1919, Henry returned to Edith in Palmers Green and his job of counting house manager with Grant Barnett. The 1921 census confirms that the couple do not have any children, with a boarder, Herbert Testar, sharing their house.

Electoral records confirm that Henry and Edith remained living in Palmers Green throughout the 1920’s.

The next mention we find of Henry in the records is within the 1939 register, when he and Edith are listed as living in the New Kings Road, Fulham, with Henry working as a newsagent. Henry kept up this job until at least 1948, as confirmed within a newspaper cutting shows him campaigning for the overturning of a Middlesex County Council introduced ban on newsagents employing school age children to deliver papers as this work made them tired when attending school.  

Polling information confirms that Henry continued to live with his wife in Fulham up until 1957 at which point Henry was 81. Thereafter, we can not find any further reference to Henry until his death on 29^th March 1975 aged 99. At the time of his death Henry was living at Ashlyns Hall in Berkhamsted. This seems a little unusual as by this time Ashlyns Hall was operating as a school. Henry’s  estate was valued at just over £10,000 (about £90,000 today. Henry was buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted.