Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Ellen Caroline Morsley

d.19/01/1940

One of 11 born to shoemaker, worked as domestic servant (?), married grocer's outrider, 2 children

Relatives

Harry John Morsley — husband

Arthur Pocock — father

• Victoria Culverhouse

Plot 486 – Ellen Caroline Morsley – died 19th. January 1940, aged 57 years

Ellen Caroline Morsley, nee Pocock, was born on 2nd August 1882 in Berkhamsted and was baptised at St. Peter’s Church on the 10th September that year.   She was the third little girl born to Arthur Pocock, a shoemaker, and his wife Jane nee Davis.

Arthur and Jane were both Hertfordshire born and bred, Arthur from Berkhamsted and Jane from Cheddington. They had married in 1877, but their first child, a baby girl named Alice, had died in July 1879, aged just 9 weeks.  They had a second daughter Amy, in 1880 and Ellen Caroline followed in 1882.  Ellen was eventually one of the eleven children of Arthur and Jane, four of whom died in childhood, so she was one of a large family.

In the 1891 Census the family are living at 3 High Street where Arthur (aged 33) describes himself as a Bootmaker. Jane is aged 37 and Ellen 9.  The other children are Amy (10), Mary Kate (4) and Edith (1). The three elder girls are all attending the local school.  Ellen’s little brother, Ralph John, had sadly passed away at the beginning of 1889, aged three.

At the time of the 1901 Census we find the family at 21 High Street, Berkhamsted. Arthur, still described as a Bootmaker, was 43 and his wife Jane was 46. Amy and Ellen were not at home, so it’s likely that they were in Domestic Service, where they would live in and only come home on their days off – which were usually few and far between for the country’s domestic staff!  However their wages, though not high, could be sent home to help keep the rest of the family.  The children at home at that time were Mary Kate (13), Edith (11), Margaret (9), Arthur (7) – whose full name was Arthur Stanley Gladstone Pocock (!) – and the baby Edwin Leonard aged 2

In1908, on 17th June,  Ellen Caroline – aged 25 – married Harry John Morsley, the son of John and Mary Morsley of Berkhamsted.  They married at St. Peter’s Church, where Harry’s father was a Sacristan (a Church official). They moved into 60 High Street, Berkhamsted, where they are listed in the 1911 Census, Harry is described as a Grocer’s Outrider (a delivery man?).  Living with them is their two-year old son Ernest John (named Ernest after Harry’s young brother who died as a child and John after his father?)  Their daughter Elsie was born later that year.

At the same time Ellen’s parents were living at 16 Clarence Road, Berkhamsted. Their three younger children Edith (21, Arthur (16) and Leonard (12) were still living with them.   Ellen’s father Arthur passed away in 1931, aged 74.

Ellen and her husband Harry were living at 3 Franklin Road, Watford when he sadly  died on 28th November 1934, aged just 50. The following year she also lost her mother Jane, who passed away aged 78.  Happily, in 1936 her son Ernest married Margaret Easton in Watford and in 1939 was living in Woodhurst Avenue, Watford.
Ellen was also still living in Franklin Road at the home she had shared with Harry, when she died peacefully on19th January 1940, aged 57.  The birth of her granddaughter, Janet – Ernest and Margaret’s daughter – was registered in the March Quarter of 1940, so it’s doubtful if Ellen managed to live long enough to see her. We can but hope that she got some comfort from knowing that the baby was due?  Ellen was buried at Rectory Lane Cemetery where she rests with her husband Harry.

Harry John Morsley

d.28/11/1934

Stoker at the Waterworks, grocer's outrider for the Co-op, two children

Relatives

Ellen Caroline Morsley — wife

Plot 486 – Harry John Morsley – died 28th November 1934, aged 50 years

Harry John Morsley was baptised at St. Peter’s Church, Berkhamsted on 9th November 1884, together with his twin brother Frank Robert.  They were the sons of John Morsley, a local baker, and his wife Mary Elizabeth, nee Stubbings, who came from Newmarket in Cambridgeshire.  The couple already had a daughter, Mary Elizabeth (born1882) and an older son Ernest Thomas (born1883).

In the 1891 Census the family were living in Charles Street, Berkhamsted, and John has given his trade as a Confectioner’s Assistant. The trades of Baker and Confectioner  were closely linked in the provision of bread, pastries and sweets.  Their daughter Mary is aged 9, Ernest (or Ernie as he was known by his family) is 8 years and the twins, Harry and Frank are 6. All the children are attending the local School.

His elder brother Ernie sadly died aged just 11 years old on 1st April 1894.  He had been suffering from phthisis ,a wasting disease which is now known as Tuberculosis (T.B.) and was common in Victorian and Edwardian times. This must have been traumatic for the family.

In 1895 Harry is listed in the log book of Berkhamsted and Northchurch National School as being one of the nine boys selected to fill vacancies at the Bourne School, which was a small charitable school in the town. It had been founded in 1737 by Thomas Bourne, a rich London merchant, so Harry must have been quite a bright lad!

By 1901 Harry – aged 16 – and his family were living in the Court House, Back Lane, his trade is listed as a Stoker at the Waterworks.  His father John (aged 47) seems to have given up his bakery job and is listed as a Sacristan, which is a Church official who helps with services. He variously describes himself from this time as a Sexton or Verger – attached to St. Peter’s Church.  Harry’s older sister Mary Ellen (Nellie) was19 and Frank (also 16) was a boat builders’s apprentice.

In August 1905, Harry served as Best Man at the wedding of his sister Nellie to Walter C. Dodsley at St.Peter’s Church. The wedding was reported in detail in the Berkhamsted section of the Watford Observer and was well attended due in part to the family’s connection with the Church – three peals of bells were rung!! The happy couple received a great many presents, including bedding, a piano and table forks from Nellie’s parents and table knives from her brothers Harry and Frank. After a honeymoon in Brighton, Nellie and Walter settled in Chesham Road, Berkhamsted.

Three years later, on 17th. June 1908, Harry himself married Ellen Caroline Pocock, a local girl at St. Peter’s Church.  They settled at No. 60 High Street, where they are found in the 1911 Census.  Harry (26) is described as a Grocer’s Outrider (a delivery man?) working for the Co-operative Society.  Ellen is aged 28 and their son Ernest John is 2 years old.  Later that year their daughter Elsie was born.

Harry’s twin Frank, moved to London and married Mabel Selina Larkins who, like his mother, came from Cambridgeshire.  Frank and Mabel were living in Wood Green, London in the 1911 Census with their two children Marjorie (2) and Leslie (1) aged. Frank was working as a porter at Kings Cross Station. He died in 1923 in Hendon, London, aged 39.

Harry was living at 3 Franklin Road, Watford when he passed away on 28th November 1934, aged just 50. His widow Ellen, remained there until her death just over five years later.  She is buried with Harry in Rectory Lane Cemetery