Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Caroline Penny (387)

14/06/1848 –26/04/1900

Wife of Thomas Penny

Relatives

Thomas Penny — husband

Theodore Brook Penny (419) — son

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 387 Caroline Penny (née Cooke) (1848-1900)

Caroline was born 14 June 1848 in Leatherhead, Surrey, to Philip and Rebecca Cooke. According to her baptismal record her father was a gentleman, that is, he did not have to work for a living. However, from the 1851 census he was a retired carpenter – but one prosperous enough to employ a governess, cook, nurse and two domestic servants.

Rebecca was twenty five years younger than her husband and their family was also young, ranging from one to nine years old – four daughters of whom Caroline was the youngest, and two sons. They were living in South Street, Dorking, Surrey.

Caroline was still there in 1871, living with one of her brothers and a younger sister

She married solicitor Thomas Penny in 1884 in Berkhamsted

Twins Theodore Brook and Thomas were born at Kitsbury Terrace, Berkhamsted on 18 December 1885.

In 1891 the family lived in the High Street and employed a nurse and a general domestic servant.

Caroline died 26 April 1900 aged 52. Her son Theodore died 5 February 1913 and lies in plot 419.

Thomas survived her until 1936 and is buried here with her.

Thomas Penny

28/01/1853 –19/02/1936

Churchwarden and Secretary of the St Peter's Church Restoration Committee

Relatives

Caroline Penny (387) — wife

Theodore Brook Penny (419) — son

• Melanie Hilton
• Robin McMorran

Thomas Penny was born in 1853 in Sherborne Dorsetshire, the son of Thomas Penny Ironmonger & Mary (née Moore).

At the age of 18, Thomas Penny of High Street, Berkhamsted, was serving as clerk to the Berkhamsted School Board which was formed 22 March, 1871.

At the time of the 1881 UK Census he was 28 years old and living in Berkhamsted, in lodgings on the High Street with Ann Letts (aged 65) and Ann Nott (aged 47).

He became a solicitor and married Caroline Cooke in Berkhamsted in 1884 and twins Theodore Brook and Thomas were born Kitsbury Terrace, Berkhamsted 18 December 1885. In 1891 the family lived in the High Street and employed a nurse and a general domestic servant

In 1880 the parish of St Peter’s resolved to continue the programme of restoration work begun in the 1870s under the late Rector James Hutchinson. A public meeting was held at the Town Hall, chaired by Lord Brownlow, to set the project in motion.

Thomas Penny, now a churchwarden of St Peter’s was appointed Secretary of the Church Restoration Committee. The church, now led by Rector John Wolstenholme Cobb, engaged the services of the renowned architect William Butterfield, who had worked on the first phase of the renovations. Penny was the point of contact between the church and Butterfield.

Fundraising circulars were printed in 1881 and 1882 bearing Penny’s name, urging parishioners to pledge money to the project. Penny’s first circular in 1881 outlined the proposed work:

‘The plaster coating of the North Transept and the North Aisle required removing … and this and the necessary repairs to the Stone-work would nearly amount to a re-building of those portions of the church: and certain repairs were necessary to the Roof of the Grammar School Aisle.’

The total cost was estimated at £800 and a local builder – Nash, Lingard & Matthews was engaged for the work on the north transept. Donations were invited to add to the £468.10s already subscribed.

Fundraising did not go as hoped. A second printed circular, dated 10 August 1881, asked urgently for more donations as only £21.19s had been received. In a third circular dated 1 March 1882, Thomas Penny reported that renovations were now delayed due to lack of funding.

When the work began, Butterfield recommended removing the plaster from the clock tower and refacing it. Rev Cobb was clearly unhappy with the increasing scope of the project, and in a letter dated 12 April 1881 he wrote to Thomas Penny:

“The more I think about the tower the less inclined I feel to have it meddled with at all. Had it merely been a question of repairing the buttresses I should have been content but now refacing of the whole tower seems to be suggested. I think when you write to Mr Butterfield you had better say that I could not sanction that in any case.”

The result of the Rector’s objection can be seen today – the medieval stonework of St Peter’s clock tower is visibly different to the Victorian flintwork applied by Butterfield to the lower parts of the building.

The restoration or St Peter’s was eventually finished in 1888, when the Archbishop of Canterbury came to Berkhamsted to celebrate the completion of the project – 20 years after the formation of the original Church Restoration Committee in 1868.

Caroline died 26 April 1900 aged 51 and is buried here and in 1901 the twins were living with their father and a general domestic servant at “West Bank”, Upper Kings Road.

Son Theodore died in 1913 and lies in plot 419

Thomas died in February 1936 at “West Bank”, aged 83, leaving over £32,000 (almost £2 million in 2024).