Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

John Morsley

d.11/12/1930

Took over father's bakery business, became confectioner's assistant then sacristan and church sexton

Relatives

Mary E. Morsley — wife

• Victoria Culverhouse

Plot 211 – John Morsley – died 11th December 1930 aged 77 years

John Morsley (Jnr.) was baptised on 6th. January 1856 at St. Peter’s Church Berkhamsted,  he was probably born in 1853/55 according to later Census Returns.

He was the second son of John Morsley (Snr.) a Journeyman Baker* who had been born in Lambeth in 1821, and Ann, a dressmaker, who came from Daventry in Northants. (* a Journeyman Baker was one who had completed his apprenticeship and was working for a Master Baker – paid by the day, hence named from the French ‘Jour’ -)

In the 1861 Census, John was listed as living in Water Lane, Berkhamsted (aged 7)  with his parents, his siblings Harry William (9), Eliza (3) and Roland (1)

By 1871, John’s family were living in Mill Street, Berkhamsted and had been enlarged by sister Louisa (8) and brother Edward (6). Harry was now 19 and working as a Printer but John isn’t at home and not listed elsewhere. He may possibly have been serving as an apprentice somewhere, as he apparently followed his father into the Bakery trade. This theory is supported by the fact that he met his future wife Mary Elizabeth Stubbings at some point and she was working in London in 1871

In 1873, the Bucks Herald newspaper reported that John’s father (John Snr.) “who had recently commenced the business of baker in the High Street, Gt. Berkhamsted, died at  Hemel Hempsted Infirmary, under an operation performed there.”

John presumably returned home to take up his father’s bakery business – he is mentioned in a report in the local press in July 1878 as having taken part in a Butchers v. Bakers Cricket match at Butt Meadows, Gt. Berkhamsted. Though the Bakers won the match, John unfortunately was bowled out for a duck!

On 22nd. March, 1880 John’s mother Ann passed away, aged 55, but the year was brightened at the end when he and Mary Elizabeth were married in her home parish of All Saints, Newmarket (the Banns also having been called in John’s home parish of Berkhamsted)

By the1881 Census John is listed as a Baker, aged 27, living in the High Street at Gt. Berkhamsted.  With him are his new wife Mary, also 27 and his younger brother Edward (17).

In 1883, John’s brother Harry William (a printer) died in Southwark, London, at the early age of 31, leaving his wife Sarah with three small children.

The 1891 Census tells us that John (aged 37) was living in Charles Street, Gt. Berkhamsted and is listed as a Confectioner’s Assistant. The trades of Bakers and Confectioners were linked, both involved in the making of bread, pastries and sweets.  Living with him were his wife Mary (37) His daughter Mary Ellen (9) eldest son Ernest Thomas (8), twins Frank Robert and Harry John (6).

On 1st. April 1894 John’s  son Ernest Thomas sadly died at the tender age of 11. He had been suffering from phthisis, a wasting disease now known as TB or tuberculosis. This was a common killer disease in Victorian and Edwardian times and was spread through the inhalation of airborne bacteria.  The family were then living in Back Lane and John, who registered the death, describes himself as a Sacristan. This is normally a voluntary Church post, someone who is in charge of the Communion vestments and vessels and helps at services. From this time on however, John is not listed any more as a baker, and seems to have devoted his time to the Church.

By the 1901 census we find John living at Court House, Back Lane, Gt. Berkhamsted with his wife Mary, daughter Mary Ellen (19) and twin sons Frank Robert and Harry John, both 16. Frank is listed as a Boat Builders Apprentice and Harry as a Stoker at the Waterworks. John is again described as a Sacristan.

The family had a happy upturn  in August 1905 with the wedding of their only daughter Mary Ellen (known as Nellie) to Mr. Walter C. Dodsley at St. Peter’s Church, Berkhamsted.  The wedding was extensively reported in the Berkhamsted Times section of the Watford Observer and was ‘well attended’. It seems that ‘two peals of bells were rung in honour of the event and the family’s connection with the Church’. The many wedding presents the couple received are listed at some length and range from ‘Pin Trays from Little Dorothy’ to that essential item for all good Edwardian homes – a piano, given by the brides’ parents!

Nellie and Walter later set up home at 5 Chesham Road where we find them in the 1911 Census.  John and his wife Elizabeth (both 57) are also in that Census, still in the Court House. John is described as a Church Sexton. Living with them was Sarah Morsley (65) the widow of his late brother Harry William, who had died in Southwark. Though Sarah and Harry had married in London and settled there, she too was a Berkhamsted girl, Sarah Page, who’s parents had lived in the High Street , so she had returned home in her later life.

John is listed on the Electoral Roll in 1920 as living at The Nook, Lower Kings Road. He passed away on 11th. December 1930, aged 77. He is buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery with his wife Mary, who pre-deceased him by 14 years, and their young son Ernest.

Mary E. Morsley

d.03/01/1917

Born in Cambridgeshire, kitchen maid in London at 17, married a baker, 4 children, one predeceased

Relatives

Ernie Morsley — son

John Morsley — husband

• Victoria Culverhouse

Plot 211 – Mary E. Morsley – died 3rd. January 1917 aged 62 years

Mary E. Morsley – nee Mary Elizabeth Stubbings, was born in 1854 at Woodditton in Cambridgeshire, the daughter of Robert Stubbings, a herdsman*, and his wife Ann, nee Clements.*(a herdsman looked after cattle, as the name suggests)  She had an older sister Martha, born in 1849 in Dullingham, Cambridgeshire.

Mary’s younger brother John followed three years later in 1857.  Her mother Ann gave birth to another daughter Ellen Ann at the beginning of January 1859 but sadly died, either at the birth or soon after. She was buried on 10th January aged just 32 years.  Her baby daughter survived her by only 9 months, dying in October that year. Robert was thus left a widower with three young children.

In the 1861 Census, Robert – still a herdsman – is living with his young family in the Parish of All Saints, Newmarket.  Martha (12), Mary E. (7) and John (4).  Also with him is his niece, Mary A. Stubbings (29) who is listed as a housekeeper and is obviously looking after the children.

By 1871, both Martha (22) and Mary (17) are living in London. They are working and living at Hyde Park Gate in South Kensington – a very prestigious address –  Martha is the Cook and Mary  a kitchen maid.  They are working for a gentleman called Charles Rivas, who is listed as a Lloyds Underwriter, and his wife Anna, who was born in India.  This gentleman was knighted some years later and had a distinguished career in India, becoming Her Majesty’s Lieutenant Governor of Lahore province.

Back in Newmarket in 1871, her father Robert had remarried a lady from Ireland named Alice Howard, and was living in Newmarket at Park Paddocks as a Groom.  Her brother John stayed in Newmarket and later succeeded his father as a Stud Groom.

At some point, Mary had met John Morsley, a baker from Berkhamsted whom she married back in her home Parish of All Saints, Newmarket in late 1880.  Her sister Martha had married in 1873, also back home in Newmarket, to a Farm Bailiff from Bray, Berks., named George Knowles. They later became Licensed Victuallers (or publicans) and in the 1891 Census were running the Red Lion public house in Water End, Hemel Hempstead, not far from Mary & John.

Following their marriage in 1880, Mary and John returned to his home town of Berkhamsted.  They set up home in the High Street, with his younger brother Edward, where John had taken over the bakery business of his father, who had died in 1873.  Their daughter Mary Ellen (Nellie) was born in 1882, followed by Ernest Thomas(Ernie) in 1883 and twins Frank Robert and Harry John in1884.

At the time of the 1891 Census,the family were living in Charles Street with Nellie (9), Ernie (8) and twins Frank and Harry (6).  Tragedy struck the family on 1st. April 1894 when their 11 year-old son Ernie died from Tuberculosis. We don’t know how long he was ill, but  it’s invariably not an easy disease. It was a very common illness in Victorian and Edwardian times and was spread through the inhalation of airborne bacteria It was often aggravated by the crowded conditions of town living. Also, sadly. there was no known cure, and though some patients did survive, it often decimated whole families.

During this time, Mary’s husband John appears to have been an increasingly prominent member of the local Church of St. Peter’s, Berkhamsted. On both the death certificate for his son Ernie and the 1891 Census, he describes himself as a Sacristan, which is another name for a Sexton – an official who looks after the Communion regalia, helps with services and generally looks after the church.

By 1901 the Census tells us that Mary and John and their family were living at Court House in Back Lane in Berkhamsted. Nellie is now 19, and the twins Frank and Harry are 16, John is again described as a Sacristan.  When their daughter Nellie was married at the church in August 1905, according to the Berkhamsted section of the Watford Observer the wedding was very well attended and three peals of bells were rung, due to the family’s connection with the Church. Nellie’s two bridesmaids were her cousins Alice Knowles (Mary’s sister Martha’s daughter) and another Nellie Morsley (John’s brother Edward’s daughter)

Nellie and her husband, Walter Dodsley set up home in Chesham Road, Berkhamsted, not far from her parents.

Mary E. Morsley died on 3rd. January 1917 aged 62 and is buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery with her young son Ernie and her husband John, who joined her in 1930.  All her surviving children married, and she had many grandchildren.

Ernie Morsley

d.01/04/1894

Son of Confectioner's Assistant/Sexton, died at 11 of phthisis, a wasting disease.

Relatives

Mary E. Morsley — mother

• Victoria Culverhouse

Plot 211 – Ernie Morsley – died 1st. April 1894, aged 11 years

Ernest Thomas (Ernie) Morsley was baptised at Berkhamsted Parish Church (St. Peter’s) on 28th. January, 1883.  He was the eldest son and second child of John Morsley, a Baker, and his wife Mary Elizabeth (nee Stubbings). He had an elder sister, also Mary Elizabeth, who had been born the previous year, and was followed by twin brothers, Frank Robert and Harry John in 1884.

In the 1891 Census  Ernie –  (as he was called by his family) was aged 8 and living in Charles Street, Berkhamsted, with his parents. (John is now describing himself as a Confectioner’s Assistant – the two trades of Baker and Confectioner were closely linked, both involving the making of bread, pastries and sweets). He and his sister (9) and twin brothers (6) were all attending the local school.

Young Ernie subsequently became ill with phthisis, a wasting disease, which eventually proved fatal. This was a common killer disease of Victorian and Edwardian times, and spread through the inhalation of airborne bacteria. Tuberculosis, or TB as it was also later known was only controlled with the introduction of the BCG vaccine in the 1950’s. It has saved the lives of countless schoolchildren (and others) since then.  We don’t know how long Ernie was ill for, but he eventually passed away at his home in Back Lane with his parents beside him.

Back Lane, as Ernie would have known it, was described in an article in the Berkhamsted Review dated October 1972.  It tells us that, ‘now called Church Lane’  (the old name of Back Lane was later restored) it was ‘once known as Whiffy Lane and noted for its smells’. [Next door to the Sexton*], ‘a tallow-chandler treated passers-by to some acrid whiffs. On the way to Water Lane one passed slaughter-houses and then enjoyed the spicy smell of Cheeld’s the grocers.  Finally Locke and Smiths brewery made its presence smelt.  For good measure the gasworks at the bottom of the Wilderness added to the variety of odours if the wind was in the wrong direction’ This is the Back Lane that Ernie knew and lived in.  (*By the time of Ernie’s death, his father was acting as the Sacristan – another name for a Sexton – at St. Peter’s Church and names himself as such on Ernie’s death certificate).

Ernie died on 1st. April 1894, and is buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery where, in the course of time, he was joined by his mother and father. Reunited.