Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Constance May Kingsley (355)

08/05/1876 –03/06/1921

Born in India; wife of tea merchant Gerald Kingsley

Relatives

Gerald Kingsley (355) — husband

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 355 Constance May Kingsley (née Leitch) (1876-1921)

Constance was born 8 May 1876 in Calcutta (Kolkata), India to Henry Joseph and Adelaide Elizabeth (née Holt) Leitch who had married in India.

Her Scottish-born father was a broker, probably dealing in tea. He died in India in 1886 and her mother, who returned to England with Constance, died in Bournemouth, the next year.

In 1891 the census records Constance as a pupil at the Anglo-German College for girls in Bournemouth.

In 1901, aged 24, she was living with her aunt Harriette and husband James Logan in Charles Street, St James, Westminster.

Constance married Gerald Kingsley, an East India tea merchant, in Barrackpore, Bengal, India on 20 January 1906.

On 26 May 1908 their son Patrick Graham Toler Kingsley was born in Calcutta (Kolkata). (He was to serve the Duchy of Cornwall for over 40 years, and was knighted GCVO in 1962. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Kingsley)

Geraldine Bell Kingsley was born in 1912 in Barrackpore, but soon after that the family returned to England and moved to Northwood Hall in Northwood. Michael Holt Kingsley was born there in 1915. (He became an actor, mostly in provincial theatre, although he did have some small film roles.) Anthony Bell Kingsley was baptised at Holy Trinity Northwood in August 1917. (During the war he served in the Indian Army and later become a tea broker.)

Gerald leased Ashlyns Hall in 1919, but sadly Caroline died there 3 June 1921.

Gerald married again in 1923 and died in Hampshire in 1940.

Gerald Kingsley (355)

1867 –15/05/1940

East India tea merchant and sometime owner of Ashlyns Hall

Relatives

Constance May Kingsley (355) — wife

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 355 Gerald Kingsley (1867-1940)

Gerald was born in Bowden, Cheshire in 1867 to John Kingsley, an insurance agent who had been born in Africa, and Harriet B (née Kearney), born in Ireland. He was their second son and had four older sisters.

By the time he was 13 the family had moved to Chorlton in Lancashire.

Gerald became an East India tea merchant, living in India. In July 1889 he joined the Calcutta Light Horse.

He married Constance May Leitch in Barrackpore, Bengal, India, 20 January 1906, by which time he was a partner in the firm of Shaw, Wallace & Co.

On 26 May 1908 their son Patrick Graham Toler Kingsley was born in Calcutta (Kolkata). (He was to serve the Duchy of Cornwall for over 40 years, and was knighted GCVO in 1962. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Kingsley)

Geraldine Bell Kingsley was born in 1912 in Barrackpore. That year Gerald was acting as Liquidator for the bankrupt Holta Tea Co., but soon after that the family returned to England and moved to Northwood Hall in Northwood.

 Michael Holt Kingsley was born there in 1915. (He became an actor, mostly in provincial theatre, although he did have some small film roles.) Anthony Bell Kingsley was baptised at Holy Trinity Northwood, August 1917. (During the war he served in the Indian Army and later become a tea broker.)

In 1919 Gerald leased Ashlyns Hall, but sadly Constance died there 3 June 1921. The census was taken just eleven days afterwards: Geraldine, Michael and Anthony were at home, Patrick away at school. Gerald employed two housemaids, a cook, a chauffeur, a children’s nurse and a nursemaid.

From at least 1917 to 1925 Gerald was a director of the Merlimau Rubber Estates Ltd and by 1922 he was president of the Indian Tea Association in London.

He married again to widow Isobel Jane Sophia Smallwood (née Thompson) in Hertfordshire in 1923. She had been born in India and had married there in 1900. Her first husband, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Graham Smallwood, CVO, of the Royal Artillery, had died in Poona in 1919.

It would seem that by 1928 Gerald had bought Ashlyns Hall, as in August that year The Daily Chronicle reported that negotiations were well under way between the Directors of The Foundling Hospital and Gerald Kingsley “owner of the estate”, to acquire the Ashlyns Hall estate.

By 1939 Gerald and Isobel were living at Perrydene, Hascombe, Hambledon, Surrey. They employed two domestic servants and a chauffeur.

In 1936 Geraldine married Alexander Armstrong Shaw, “of Calcutta”. She was described as the daughter of Mr Gerald Kingsley of “Glen Chess”, Rickmansworth.

Gerald died 15 May 1940 at Grantham Cottage, Hamble, Hampshire.