Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Nina Henriette Meek

1874 –02/03/1929

A supervisor in family laundry business and later wife of Arthur Meek

Relatives

Rose Frances Meek (741) — other

Arthur Cecil Meek — husband

Arthur Victor Meek — son

Cornelius Flower the younger — other

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 741 Nina Henriette Meek (1874-1929)

Nina was born in 1874 in France, the daughter of Edmond Victor Vital Regnier, gentleman, born in Paris, and his Dublin-born wife, Jane Susan. The family appears to have moved backwards and forwards between countries – her eldest sister was born in Paris, the next two in London, then another daughter and Nina in France, then her youngest sister and a brother in Ramsgate.

In 1881 she was living with her family at Southwood Lodge, St Lawrence, Thanet, Kent. Her father had died and her mother, Nina, and two of her sisters were running The Southwood Laundry– her mother is described as “proprietress” and the sisters are described as “laundry superintendents” in the census – clearly they were not getting their hands wet themselves!

She married Arthur Cecil Meek, a livery stables keeper from Berkhamsted at St Lawrence, Thanet, Kent 15 February 1897. The newspaper accounts call it “A Very Pretty Wedding” with a large attendance.

They lived at The Warren, Potten End to start with. Arthur had already established his jobmaster business in Lower Kings Road. A little girl, Nina Ethel was born in 1899. They could afford to employ a live-in domestic servant.

Arthur Victor was born in 1901 and Poppy Blanche in 1908.

 By 1911 the business was flourishing and the family had a house at 29 Charles Street as well as the business in Lower King’s Road. Arthur was an employer of a sizeable staff of coachmen and groomsmen and designated himself as a jobbing and posting master. 

Arthur’s income was largely dependent on horse-drawn carriages and by 1915 he had lost most of his income due to the popularity of the motor car. This set-back, which he further complicated by refusing to dismiss his staff or sell his horses, and the combination of a fraudulent tenant whose debts with the local tradesmen and merchants he honoured, left him financially ruined.

Nina died 2 March 1929 in West Herts Hospital. By that time the family were living at 18a, Lower King’s Road. Her will left £5 to Arthur, described as an engineer. She is buried here with two of her children.

In 1937, eight years after her death Arthur emigrated to Australia to live with their younger daughter Poppy-Blanche, who had emigrated to Sydney in 1929.  Arthur died in Sydney on 30 October 1945. However he is commemorated in Berkhamsted with his wife and other family members and there is a full biography of him on this site.

Rose Frances Meek (741)

1906 –28/05/1958

Wife of Arthur Victor Meek

Relatives

Nina Henriette Meek — other

Pamela Nina Pauline Meek — daughter

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 741 Rose Frances Meek (née Dawking) (1906-1938)

Rose was born in 1906 in West Norwood, Surrey, the daughter of Frederick Charles Dawking, a coach painter, and his wife Charlotte. In 1911 they were living at 49, Rothschild Street, Lambeth.

In 1921 she was one of five live-in servants in the Haslam household in Cross Oak Road.

Rose married Arthur Victor Meek in Berkhamsted in 1926.

They lived at 32A Charles St. Their daughter Pamela Nina Meek was born in Croydon 11 December 1928.

Rose died in 1938. She is buried here with her mother-in-law and daughter.

Arthur Victor Meek

20/07/1901

Police officer and author of a book on raising children

Relatives

Arthur Cecil Meek — father

Nina Henriette Meek — mother

Pamela Nina Pauline Meek — daughter

• Robin McMorran

Arthur Victor Meek was the son of livery-stable keeper Arthur Cecil Meek and Nina Henriette Regnier. Arthur Victor was usually known by his second name.  Probably born in Potten End, Victor had two sisters,  Nina Ethel (b.1899) and Poppy-Blanche (b. 1908). By 1911 his father’s Berkhamsted business on Lower King’s Road, Meeks’ Livery and Hunting Stables,  was flourishing and the family was living at 29 Charles Street, Berkhamsted.

Victor was educated at the Berkhamsted School.  After school, he started work as a mechanic. After an apprenticeship, he served in the Royal Flying Corps as a Boy Fitter c.1918. After 8 years’ service, he was discharged.

In 1926 he married a woman named Rose F. Dawking, and they lived at 32A Charles St. Their daughter Pamela Nina Meek was born in Croydon 11 December 1928.

During the years of the Great Depression, he made a living in varied ways – working as a barman, manservant, coffee stall attendant, labourer and even as a professional boxer.

He subsequently entered the Metropolitan Police Service in London. He served for 20 years, eventually rising to the rank of Superintendent. During WWII, Meek took time out of the police to serve with the RAF and as a docker. He was discharged from the police due to ill health and worked on a farm. Clearly, Victor liked to keep busy; he said “In thirty-six years, I was never unemployed for a single day!”

Victor Meek wrote a book, My Five All Went To Grammar School, which was published in 1959. Based on his personal experiences as a working man who sent his children to good grammar schools despite his social class, it was aimed at helping aspirational parents with their children’s upbringing and education.

“Whether the reader resides in city, small town or hamlet; in house, flat, rooms or lonely cottage, Victor Meek’s recipe for overcoming the Eleven-Plus or the alternatives will not be out of place. He has lived in and knows them all!”

Victor Meek died in September 1980 and was buried in the Meek family plot in Rectory Lane Cemetery, with his mother, who had died in 1929 and his daughter Pamela (died 1948). His father is not buried here as he had died in 1945 in Sydney, Australia.

With thanks to Mary Casserley for additional information

Pamela Nina Pauline Meek

11/12/1928 –12/01/1948

Daughter of Arthur Victor and Rose Meek

Relatives

Arthur Victor Meek — father

Rose Frances Meek (741) — mother

Pamela was one pf five children born to Arthur Victor and Rose Frances Meek. She died in 1948 at the age of 19

Arthur Cecil Meek

d.30/10/1945

Owner of Meeks' Livery and Hunting Stables

Relatives

Nina Henriette Meek — wife

Sarah Susannah Meek — mother

Arthur Victor Meek — son

Madeline Sarah Meek — sister

Richard Percy Meek — brother

Rose Edith Meek — sister

Cornelius Flower the younger — other

• Mike Gray (grandson of Arthur Cecil Meek)
• Jenny Sherwood

Arthur Cecil Meek was the son of Richard Meek, a goldsmith and jeweller from London, and Sarah Susannah, the daughter of Berkhamsted nurseryman John Edward Lane. Arthur Cecil was a Jobmaster – a livery-stable keeper who jobs out horses and carriages. His premises were A.C. Meeks’ Livery and Hunting Stables on Lower King’s Road.

Richard and Susannah Meek moved out from London and in 1871 Richard was a goldsmith and jeweller in Pinner. By the time of the 1881 census, however, Sarah Susannah, now widowed joined with her children the household of her father John Edward Lane, who was also a widower in Berkhamsted, where Arthur Cecil finished his schooling.

The Meek family was in evidence in Berkhamsted from the second half of the 19th century onwards until the mid 20th century. Most Meeks were active in the wood trade. From the 1890 Kelly’s Directory at least until 1910 Edward Meek was a dealer and woodturner in the High Street whilst Thomas Meek was innkeeper at the Crystal Palace for a while and also a wood turner. Arthur Cecil Meek is of particular interest, perhaps because he chose to follow a very different line of business, running stables.

Not only did Arthur Cecil break with tradition in his occupation but he also did not marry a local girl. In January 1897 he married Nina Henriette Regnier, a French girl in Kent. They lived in Potten End to start with and had already established his jobmaster business in Lower Kings Road. A little girl, Nina Ethel was born in 1899.  By 1911 the business was flourishing and the family also had a house at 29 Charles Street.  He was an employer of a sizeable staff of coachmen and groomsmen and designated himself as a jobbing and posting master.  He was also a member of the Yeomanry, a keen horseman and a member of the hunt.

By 1911 he also had a son Arthur Victor Meek (born 1901) and a daughter Poppy-Blanche born 1908.

In a 1912 Directory Arthur Cecil gave both his Lower Kings Road address and 29 Charles Street.

His premises in Lower Kings Road still partly exist and if you look on the side of the building, now the Berkeley Gallery at No 41, you can just make out ‘A.C Meek, victorias, broughams and carriages for hire’.  Presumably one could also hire a horse when necessary.  We know that horses were kept in the stables at the back when a bad fire destroyed several horses.

Arthur’s income was largely dependent on horse-drawn carriages and by 1915 he had lost most of his income due to the popularity of the motor car. This set-back, which he further complicated by refusing to dismiss his staff or sell his horses, and the combination of a fraudulent tenant whose debts with the local tradesmen and merchants he honoured, left him financially ruined.

In 1937, eight years after the death of his wife he emigrated to Australia to live with his younger daughter Poppy-Blanche, who had emigrated to Sydney in 1929.  Arthur died in Sydney on 30 October 1945 following a complication from gangrene in his leg and was cremated in Sydney.  However he is commemorated in Berkhamsted with his wife and other family members.

Jenny Sherwood, with additional information from Mike Gray, grandson of Arthur Cecil