Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Maria Blacknell

1836 –1912

Born in Aldbury, twice married straw plaiter

• Melanie Hilton

Unmarked grave Maria Blacknell (née Hawkins, late Dyer) (1836-1912)

Maria was born in 1836 in Aldbury, the daughter of William, an agricultural labourer, and Lydia Hawkins. She was baptised 16 April that year.

The 1841 census shows that Maria was one of six children. By 1851 her mother had died and Maria and her younger sisters Charlotte and Emma were living with their father and all working as straw plaiters.

Maria moved to Berkhamsted and had three children – George (b.1856) and John (b.1859) and her daughter Rosina Anne (b. 1862). All were baptised, but no father was given and they took their mother’s surname. They are all named as living with her in the 1871 census.

In 1865 Maria married Henry Dyer in Berkhamsted. He was a recently widowed shoemaker aged 37. They had one son, Frederick Henry Dyer (b.1866), but Henry died in 1868.

In the 1871 census Maria was living in Mill Street, Berkhamsted. She is described as a widow, head of household and a straw plaiter. Living with her were her sons George and John Hawkins; her daughter Rosina Anne Hawkins; her son Frederick Henry Dyer

and her younger sister Rebecca Hawkins.

In the 1881 census the family were living in the Wilderness. Maria was still described as a widow and she was still working at straw plait. George and John had left home but Rosina was named as “Dyer”. She was also a straw plaiter. Frederick Henry, aged 15 was a labourer and two more children had been born – Ann Elizabeth (b. 1873) and Herbert William Dyer (b.1878). No father was named on their baptismal record.

Maria married Richard William Blacknell, a general labourer, in 1883. In 1901 they were shown at 10, Bridge Street. Living with them was Herbert W Dyer, Maria’s unmarried son and her grandson John W H Dyer, aged 9.

In 1911 they were living at 11, Bridge Street with a thirteen year-old schoolgirl lodger.

Maria died in August 1912 and was buried 2 September. She was aged 76 and her address was shown as 63, Cross Oak Road.

Richard survived her until 1919. He was buried in this cemetery in an unmarked plot.