Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Hardress Moore O'Grady (778)

d.10/11/1918

Born in India, educated in Europe and Berkhamsted, teacher and poet; died at 40 of tuberculosis

Relatives

Michael Hardress O'Grady — son

• Christopher Dolton

HARDRESS MOORE O’GRADY; 1878 – 1918

Although Hardress spent only a few of his 40 years of life in Berkhamsted, as noted in his obituary published in Berkhamsted School’s journal “The Berkhamstedian,” “…he always regarded Berkhamsted as his home and alma mater and there in the end he lies in his last resting place.”

Hardress’ family was connected to Anglo- Irish aristocracy and he was evidently proud of his Irish forebears, recording his nationality in the 1911 census as “Irish Brit. by parentage.” He came from a long line of military men. His great grandfather had distinguished himself in the Peninsula war in the early years of the 19^th century. His grandfather “…was well known as one of the smartest Native Infantry Colonels in the Madras Army” and his father, Major Richard Walter O’Grady, served with the Royal Artillery in India. Richard O’Grady, according to the notice of his death published in the Naval & Army Gazette in November 1885, was a popular and respected officer. He was appointed to the Horse Artillery, a corps d’elite,” but was unable to take up the appointment as “…his generosity in helping others threw him into difficulties which prevented his joining the Horse Artillery…” Until reforms in 1871, officers had to purchase their commissions, and the more fashionable the regiment, the more expensive the purchase price. Perhaps Richard’s generosity towards others had left him without the means to purchase the prized Horse Artillery commission.

Hardress was himself born in India. Allen’s Indian Mail of 18^th November 1878 carried the following announcement: “O’Grady – Oct 10, at Madras, the wife of Capt. R.W. O’Grady, R.A., son.” He was baptised at St Thomas’ church, Madras in December that year. His younger brother, Brian, was also born in Madras in 1883. The family left India early in 1887. Hardress’ father was not in good health. The Naval & Army Gazette notice explains that he was diagnosed with an “organic disease of the brain.” Although he rallied well, so that “…when he embarked for England he appeared so well in body and mind…” he sadly succumbed to a further attack, which weakened him bodily and mentally, and from which he died in 1885. Hardress was 7 at the time of his father’s death and Brian only 2. The Army paid a “compassionate allowance” for Hardress and his brother of £25 14s 6d.”

Hardress’ mother, Mary Eleanor O’Grady, settled in Worthing and became a journalist and author. She was sufficiently successful to enable her to employ a servant and also pay school fees. Hardress became a pupil at Berkhamsted School at the age of 14 in 1892 having first spent time in Europe. As his obituary puts it, he came to Berkhamsted School “…strange to English Schools and English ways, born in India, Irish by descent and temperament, fresh from childhood wanderings and sojournings in Belgium and Switzerland.”  Hardress was later to describe himself as “…cosmopolitan by education and inclination…”  He left the school in 1897. The school magazine of November 1897 tells us Hardress had been a prefect, a corporal in the Officer Training Corps and was a member of the choir. On leaving Berkhamsted School, Hardress underwent further education abroad before returning to Berkhamsted School, taking up a position as an assistant master teaching modern languages. In 1901 he was an assistant master living in Sibden House on the corner of Raven’s Lane and the High Street where a number of pupils who were boarding stayed.

The University of Victoria, Canada, holds a copy of the Collected Poems of Hardress Moore O’Grady, to which his daughter Clodagh wrote a foreword in 1968 on the fiftieth anniversary of his death. These poems, collected together, were published in a variety of publications, including The Berkhamstedian. One of these poems, “The School” likens the school to a plant sprouting forth and the headmaster to a gardener tending the plant. Clodagh, in her foreword, explains the gardener referred to was Dr T. C. Fry for whom Hardress “…had a great admiration.”

Hardress’ obituary published in The Berkhamstedian refers to him taking country walks in the Chilterns and his poem “Antienne” captures the chalky countryside that surround the town.

“This is our month of May of changing weather,

Our May of England sweeter than all Mays.

This is our land of hawthorn, gorse and heather,

Of hedges, lane-walks, sinuous downs and ways

Drawn in white chalk upon the grassy hill.

This is our May and our England still,” 

Fond though Hardress may have been of Berkhamsted, he did not stay at Berkhamsted School for long. He took up a position at Durban High School in Natal. From Durban High School he took charge of “an up-country” school. It was whilst in Natal that he met and married Eleanor Dorothea Redman. (Also apparently known as Dorothea Eleanor.) He and Eleanor were to have two children, a daughter, Clodagh Bridget O’Grady, born in 1906, and a son, Michael Hardress O’Grady, born in 1910.

Hardress seems to have been beset by ill health for much of his life. Whilst in Natal his health broke down and he was forced to return to England. As his obituary explains “…from that time onward his life was one long brave struggle against attacks of weakness and disease…” The obituary does not reveal the nature of the ill health he suffered, but his death certificate provides a clue, noting the causes of death as tuberculosis and heart failure, also noting that he had suffered from Morbus Cordis – heart disease- for “many years.” His family believed that it was whilst he was in South Africa that he contracted tuberculosis

On returning to England, Hardress did not settle back in Berkhamsted, but seems to have moved around the country. According to the 1911 census, his daughter, Clodagh, was born in Froxfield, Wiltshire, although her birth was registered in Hungerford. Michael’s birth in 1910 was registered in Battersea, London and at the time of the 1911 census the family was living in Purley, Surrey. When he died in 1918, Hardress was living in Bournemouth. Sea air and bathing were believed to relieve tuberculosis and that may explain why he moved to the coast.

His obituary refers to the fact that “Time and again he was struck down and forced to leave some new-found sphere of work and influence…” and we get an indication of the changes in his work from the records. In the 1911 census he was noted as being a lecturer in French and Phonetics at University of London’s Goldsmiths College. In 1914, in the early days of the war, he went to France as secretary to a commission working on the perfection of motor ambulances. In 1918 his occupation was recorded on his death certificate as that of “author and examiner.”

The books Hardress wrote all reflect his interest in modern languages and phonetics: “Class Room Phonetics, Suggestions for Lesson Notes”; “Matter, Form and Style, a Manual of Practice in writing English Composition; “The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages by the Organised Method”; “Reading Aloud and Literary Appreciation”. He also wrote an introduction to, and translated from French, Charles Rivet’s “The Last of the Romanofs.”

Clodagh explains in her foreword to the Collected Poems that Hardress’ health prevented him taking an active part in the war and “…his personal frustration and his sympathy for the relative of the British fighting men are expressed in several of his poems.” The last poem in the collection is poignantly entitled “In Hospital.”

                                                            “IN HOSPITAL”

                                                In that still, solemn, darkest night

                                                Before the dawn, I lie and think

While stronger brothers nobly fight

And from the stream of Honour drink.

A cripple I, whose body weak,

Drags down the man that would be gone

Where others Britain’s glory seek

And – dying- cheer their brothers on.

But altogether useless ? No,

Let those my dearest brothers hear:

My soul takes wings and flying clear

Fights on beside them where they go.”

Hardress died on 10^th November 1918. As Clodagh wrote: He did not live to know of the Armistice signed on November 11^th 1918; he died on the previous day from tuberculosis of the lungs, one month after his fortieth birthday.”

Although Hardress had left Berkhamsted some 15 or 16 years before he died in Bournemouth, the observation in his obituary that “… he always regarded Berkhamsted as home…” must have been true, as his body was returned to the town for burial in Rectory Lane Cemetery.

Hardress’ widow, Eleanor, and the two children also returned to Berkhamsted and renewed the family association with the school. Eleanor became secretary to the headmaster and in 1921 married another master who taught at the school, Charles Douglas Edmonds (who is also buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery). Michael attended the school as a pupil and Clodagh the girl’s school.

Michael Hardress O'Grady

18/10/1910 –16/04/1958

Former Berkhamsted School pupil, teacher, soldier and civil servant.

Relatives

Hardress Moore O'Grady (778) — father

• Christopher Dolton

MICHAEL HARDRESS O’GRADY: 1910 – 1958

Michael was the youngest of two children born to Hardress Moore O’Grady and his wife Eleanor Dorothea O’Grady. Michael was born on 18^th December 1910. His older sister, Clodagh was born three years earlier in 1907.

Michael’s father, Hardress had been born in Madras in 1878. Hardress attended Berkhamsted School as a pupil and later taught Modern Languages at the school for a short time before moving to Natal, where he taught at Durban High School. It was whilst in South Africa that Hardress met and married Eleanor. Unfortunately, Hardress’ health broke down and he and Eleanor returned to this country where Clodagh and Michael were born.

In 1911 the family were living in Purley, Surrey. Hardress was then a lecturer in French and Phonetics at the university of London’s Goldsmiths’ College. Hardress died in Bournemouth on 10^th November 1918 of pulmonary tuberculosis, but his body was brought to Berkhamsted where it was buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery.  Eleanor and the two children settled in Berkhamsted.

Michael, like his father, was also a pupil at Berkhamsted School. He attended the school between 1919 and 1928 and was Captain of Shooting. Clodagh attended the Girl’s school. The family association with the school was to further strengthen; Michael’s mother, Eleanor, became Secretary to the Headmaster and in 1921 she married Charles Edmonds, a master at the school. (Charles Edmonds is also buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery.)

On leaving Berkhamsted School, Michael went on to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, having won a major scholarship in Classics. He took a First in Part I and a Second in Part II of the Classical Tripos. Having gained his degree Michael followed in his father’s footsteps and became a teacher. He took up a position as classics master at King William College on the Isle of Man.  His obituary, published in 1958 in the King William College journal, “The Barrovian,” describes Michael as having “…a delightfully refreshing blend of humour and charm…a reasonable all round athlete. In cricket, tennis, hockey and running he was quite proficient and he was an officer in the O.T.C.” He left King William College in 1937 to join Caterham School.  

Michael was in the Officers’ Emergancy Reserve and in 1940, following the outbreak of the Second World War, he was called up and joined The Queen’s Royal Regiment (West Surrey). He became an instructor at the Civil Affairs Staff College at Wimbledon and shortly after D-Day in June 1944 he crossed to Normandy with XXI Army Group under the command of Field Marshall Montgomery. He went through France and Belgium to the final HQ at Bad Oyenhausen in Germany and was mentioned in despatches. Michael’s service in the Army culminated in his appointment as Senior Controller of Education in the British Zone of occupation with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He left the Army in 1946.

It was shortly after Michael joined the Army that he married. He married in 1941 at the age of 31. His bride was 24 year old Winfred Elsie Wheble. The marriage took place at Ochan in the Isle of Man and the celebrant was the chaplain of King William College where Michael had been a teacher. At the time of the marriage Winifred was serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. The ATS was the women’s branch of the British Army and was formed in September 1938.

Winifred had been born in Luton in 1917.  Her parents were Henry and Grace Wheble, who married in 1911 in Doncaster. Grace (nee McCutcheon) was originally from the Isle of Man. Henry was a musician. Winifred’s mother died when in Luton in 1918 when Winifred was no more than one year old. A year later in 1919 her father married Marguerite Thomson, but he was to die in 1923. Winifred was only six when her father died. It appears that Winifred went to live with her maternal aunt, Mary McCutcheon, on the Isle of Man. Mary was one of the witnesses at the wedding of Michael and Winifred.

In 1936 a Winnie Wheble, appears as one of four dancers in the programme for a comedy musical, “1066 and All That,” which ran at the Strand Theatre in London for a year.  

Winifred’s address on her marriage certificate is Glenholme, Groudle, (and not far from Onchan where she and Michael married). Glenholme, which still stands today was a café built in the cubist style.  It seems probable that Michael and Winifred first met whilst he was a teacher at King William College.

Michael and Winifred do not appear to have had any children and he marriage did not last long, ending in divorce. Early in the war the number of marriages rose dramatically, only to be followed by a corresponding rise in divorces once the war was over and Michael’s marriage seems to have followed that pattern.  Isle of Man marriage records reveal that in 1951 Winifred Elsie Wheble married a Geoffrey Eddlestone.

On leaving the Army and returning to “Civvy Street” in 1946, Michael put his previous experience as a teacher to good use, becoming for a short time a Divisional Inspector with Buckinghamshire Education Committee. This position proved to be not as satisfying as he had hoped and he joined the Civil Service and the German Section of the Foreign Office. He subsequently transferred to the Air Ministry and became Assistant Secretary in the Department of the Permanent Under Secretary for State for Air.

Family members recall that Michael moved in posh social circles and at the time of his death he was living in Sloane Avenue in Chelsea, but it was whilst attending a conference at RAF Cranwell in connection with his work that he died in his sleep of a coronary thrombosis on 16^th April 1958. He was buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery in the same grave in which his father had been buried 40 years earlier.

His estate was worth £5,713. 1s 2d. His will had been drawn up in 1942 and not changed in the intervening years. By the terms of his will £500 was left to Winifred (although if the law in 1958 was is it is today, she would not, following the divorce, have received the legacy). £500 was given to the Berkhamsted School Old Boy Scholarship fund in memory of his father, and the remainder of his estate was left to his sister Clodagh.