Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Emma Margrave

1829 –19/02/1902

Daughter of Labourer; became wife of bootmaker John Margrave

Relatives

John Margrave (591a) — husband

Annie Weightman — daughter

• Christopher Dolton

EMMA MARGRAVE; 1829 – 1902

Emma was born in 1829 in Berkhamsted, the second of three children[1] born to William Brooks and his wife Charlotte.  Emma’s father was a labourer. The 1839 tithe records tell us that the family was living in Castle Street in one of four tenements owned by James Hill. The tithe records identify the occupier of the family’s tenement as Charlotte rather than her husband William, but William was living at the property in 1841.[2]

Emma married John Margrave, a local bootmaker, during the third quarter of 1851. Emma and John must have known each other as children. John’s family, like Emma’s, lived in Castle Street. His father was a bootmaker and also sold beer from his premises, The Boote.

Emma and John had seven children.[3] The family lived in Ravens Lane before moving to Mill Street and then No. 254 High Street.[4]

John died on 20^th November 1896 at the age of 65 years and was buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery on 28^th November. Following her husband’s death, Emma moved from Berkhamsted to live with her daughter Rosa. Rosa lived with her husband, Reginald Bennett, and daughter, also called Rosa, in Harrow.[5]

Emma died at the age of 72 years on 19^th February 1902. She was buried in Berkhamsted with her husband John eight days later on 27^th February.[6]

John Margrave (591a)

1831 –20/11/1896

Fourth generation of Margrave family to make boots in Berkhamsted

Relatives

Emma Margrave — wife

George Margrave — father

Annie Weightman — daughter

• Christopher Dolton

JOHN MARGRAVE: 1831 – 1869

John was fourth of seven children[1] born to George Margrave and his first wife Mary Ann (née Redding). John was born in Berkhamsted in 1831 baptised at St Peter’s church on the 3^rd July that year. The family lived at The Boote in Castle Street where John’s father George was both a shoemaker and also a beer retailer.

John’s mother died of tuberculosis in 1841 when John was only ten years old. John’s younger sister, Ann also died that year. George must have found it difficult to work and look after his six children, the youngest of whom, Sarah was 16 months old and the family was broken up. The oldest two children, Joseph, age 16 years and Elizabeth, 14, together with five years old Thomas remained with their father, Thomas was then already, like his father, working as a shoemaker, and Elizabeth was presumably keeping house for her father. John and his brother George were living with their paternal grandparents, Mark and Sarah Margrave on Berkhamsted’s High Street. Little Sarah was sent to live with her maternal grandparents, Joseph and Elizabeth Redding, in Northchurch.[2]

Three years later in 1844, John’s father married again. His second wife, like his first, was also called Mary Ann; Mary Ann Collins. George had a further five children with his second wife.[3]

Whether the scattered children were ever reunited with their father following his second marriage is not clear, but by 1851, John, then age 19 years, was one two lodgers living in the home of William and Priscilla Watts on the High Street. Like his elder brother George, his father, grandfather and great grandfather before him, John had become a shoemaker.[4] It was in 1851 that John also married. His bride was Emma Brooks. Emma and John must have known each other since childhood as the Brooks family lived in Castle Street only a little distance from The Boote where John lived before his mother died.[5] John and Emma were to have seven children.[6] The family lived in Ravens Lane before moving to Mill Street and finally No. 254 High Street.[7]

John remained a shoemaker all his life but ran into financial difficulty and in 1869 was declared bankrupt[8]. John did attempt a change of occupation, albeit unsuccessfully in 1884. He was accepted by Messrs Locke & Smith, who then ran the brewery in Water Lane, to become the tenant of their pub, The Swan, in Dudswell.[9] When John applied to the Magistrates for a protection order[10], the magistrates “… firmly declined to grant protection at present.[11]” Why the magistrates were so firm in their refusal is not known; maybe they considered his earlier bankruptcy rendered John unfit to hold a licence.

John helped with the distribution of soup to the poor of the town. A soup kitchen was set up in the castle grounds during the winter months. Each person received a pint of soup accompanied by 1lb. of bread upon payment of a small sum, upon payment of which “…the parties stepped forward to the coppers, in which Mr John Margrave had manufactured the soup, and got their cans filled.[12]”

In 1893 celebrations were held in the to celebrate the marriage of Prince George and Princess Mary Victoria of Teck. The High Street was decorated with bunting and flags. John was involved in providing the six widows who lived in the Sawyer Almshouses with a dinner and tea. “John Margrave, and Mr and Mrs Edineades suggested, and, with ready assistance from neighbours, provided a good dinner for the inmates, a tea and other accessories and a ride out to see the decorations…Mr Margrave gave the vegetables…”[13]

John died on 20^th November 1896 at the age of 65 years and was buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery on 28^th November.

Annie Weightman

29/06/1861 –06/08/1910

Daughter of John and Emma Margrave, a straw plaiter, dressmaker and cook before marriage.

Relatives

John Margrave (591a) — father

Emma Margrave — mother

• Christopher Dolton

ANNE ELIZABETH WEIGHTMAN, née MARGRAVE: 1861 – 1910

Anne, or Annie as she is referred to both on the memorial to her memory in Rectory Lane Cemetery and in census records, was born on 29^th September 186. Her parents were John and Emma Margrave. Anne was one of seven children[1] born to John and Emma one of whom was Annie’s twin sister, Emma Ellen, who sadly died shortly after birth.

Emma’s father was a bootmaker, but had run into financial difficulty and was declared bankrupt in 1869. Things must have been difficult financially for the family. At the age of nine years Annie was working as a straw plaiter as was her seven year old sister Ellen[2]. The children of many poorer families plaited straw which was sold to Luton hat manufacturers. Whilst the income such children earned was no doubt a welcome addition to the family coffers, it often came at a cost to their education.

Ten years later Annie, 19 years old, was still living in the family home in Mill Street but was no longer plaiting straw, working instead as a dressmaker. Having been a straw plaiter and dressmaker, Annie moved on to another occupation common to working class women of the time – domestic service. In the 1881 census we find both Annie and her sister Ellen (named Helen on the census return) working as servants in Bocobel Place, Maylebone, in the home of Charles King, a timber merchant. Annie’s occupation is recorded as “cook domestic servant” and Helen’s “house maid.”

Annie’s father died in 1896 and two years in 1898 Annie married. Her husband was Cephas Weightman. Cephas was Annie’s junior by ten years. He came from Harrow, where the wedding took place, and he worked as a printing machine minder. The couple settled in Harrow at 4 Luiden Road. They do not appear to have had any children, perhaps not surprisingly given Annie was 37 when she married. They did however take in boards in to supplement their income.[3]

 Annie’s marriage to Cephas lasted only 12 years as she died at the age of 49 on 6^th August 1910 in Watford.

Annie is not buried in the grave Rectory Lane Cemetery in which her mother was buried and in which her father was later also to be buried, but she is remembered on their memorial “In memory of their daughter Annie, died August 6^th 1910 aged 49.”