King plot

Location

Plot number (FHS)	x159
Row	6
Section	205
Date

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King plot

Plot number:
6,205
Family name:
King
Burial date:

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Who is buried here?

Read about the lives of the 2 people buried here — click on a name to view a biography.

William King (x159?

10/02/1810 –20/09/1852

Like his father and two brothers, a butcher

10/02/1810 –20/09/1852

Like his father and two brothers, a butcher

Relatives

Mary Maria King (x159?) — daughter

Research:

Jane Dickson
David Squire

William King

William King, the son of Edward and Mary King, was born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, on 10 February 1810 and was baptised at St Peter’s Church on 25 March 1810. His father Edward was a butcher and also owned freehold cottages in Berkhamsted, as recorded in the Poll records of 1832.

Baptism records indicate that William was the second of eight children born to Edward and Mary King. His siblings were: John Joseph (born 1807), Edward (born 1812), Thomas (born 1814), Emma (born 1817), Mary Ann (born 1820), Elizabeth (born 1822), and Charles (born 1824). Several of the sons, including John, William and Edward junior, followed their father into the butchery trade. (Some later records summarise the family as including Edward, Emma and Charles among William’s siblings.)

William grew up in Berkhamsted and worked as a butcher throughout his adult life. In 1833, he married Mary Sutton in Berkhamsted. Mary Sutton had been born in King’s Langley.

The 1841 Census records William and Mary living in Berkhamsted High Street. Their household included their two-year-old daughter, Mary Maria. In some accounts, they are shown sharing the house with William’s parents at this time. William was recorded as working as a butcher.

By the time of the 1851 Census, William was aged 41 and still living and working as a butcher in Berkhamsted High Street, in a house close to the Red Lion pub. He shared the house with his wife Mary (aged 44), their daughter Mary Maria (aged 12), his brother Edward (aged 38, also a butcher), his mother-in-law Mary Sutton (a 68-year-old widow), and his eight-year-old niece, Georgina Bett (also recorded as Betts).

William King died on 20 September 1852 at the age of 42. He was buried on 24 September 1852 at Rectory Lane Cemetery, following a funeral service at St Peter’s Church conducted by the Rector, James Hutchinson. The housing around the Red Lion pub was known to be unhealthy due to poor water and sewage conditions, and it has been suggested that William may have died as a result of disease linked to these insanitary living conditions.

Mary Maria King (x159?)

23-10-18838 –04/11/1852

Daughter of butcher William King; died age 14 years

23-10-18838 –04/11/1852

Daughter of butcher William King; died age 14 years

Relatives

William King (x159? — father

Research:

Jane Dickson
David Squire

Mary Maria King (1838–1852)

Mary Maria King was born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, on 23 October 1838, the daughter of William King, a butcher, and his wife Mary (née Sutton). She was baptised at St Peter’s Church, Berkhamsted, on 18 November 1838. Available records suggest that Mary Maria was the couple’s only child .

The 1841 census records Mary living with her parents in Berkhamsted High Street, in the same household as her paternal grandparents, Edward and Mary King. By the 1851 census, Mary, aged 12, was still living in Berkhamsted High Street and was described as a “butcher’s daughter.” The family home at that time was situated next to the Red Lion public house, and the household included a number of extended family members: William’s brother Edward King, Mary’s maternal grandmother Mary Sutton, and an eight-year-old cousin, Georgina Betts.

Mary’s father, William King, died on 20 September 1852, aged 42. Just over six weeks later, Mary Maria herself died on 4 November 1852, aged only 14. She was buried on 10 November 1852 in Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted, in the same grave as her father. The burial service was conducted by James Hutchinson, Rector .

The area around the Red Lion pub was later known to have suffered from poor and unsanitary living conditions, particularly relating to water and sewage. While no definitive cause of death is recorded, it is possible that both William and Mary succumbed to illness associated with these unhealthy conditions

Although the original headstone no longer survives, a transcription of its inscription was recorded. Due to weathering, the transcription contains errors, giving Mary’s age as 44 and an incorrect year for William’s death. The Burial Register entries confirm, however, that both deaths occurred in 1852 and that Mary Maria was 14 years old at the time of her death

Despite her very short life, the surviving parish and census records allow Mary Maria King to be clearly placed within her family and community, offering a poignant glimpse into mid-19th-century life—and death—in Berkhamsted.

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