Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Ralph Baker Perry

1895 –20/08/1920

Son of Rose Perry; suffered from epilepsy and died at age of 25 years

Relatives

Rose Cross Perry — mother

Brian Perry (292) — brother

Donovan Perry — brother

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 292 Ralph Baker Perry (1895-1920)

Ralph was born in 1895 in Clapham, Middlesex, the third of Rose and Richard Perry’s seven children. His father was a clerk, turned printer, who eventually became a successful advertising salesman.

From about the age of six Ralph began to suffer from epileptic fits which grew in severity as he got older.

The family moved to Berkhamsted. Ralph was never able to take on paid employment and by 1917 was subject to fits about once a fortnight which were so severe that on one occasion he was unconscious for six hours. He went as a paying guest to stay at the Downing Arms Croydon in April 1917 where he also did odd jobs helping out. On August 20 1920 he went out in the morning to do some light work in the fields but did not return. He was found face down and apparently had suffocated while unconscious. A verdict of death by natural causes was returned.

He is buried here with his mother and his brother Brian.

Brian Perry (292)

1897 –18/08/1915

Serjeant, Inns of Court Officer Training Corps

  View CWGC record

Relatives

Rose Cross Perry — mother

Ralph Baker Perry — brother

Donovan Perry — brother

• Janice Boakes

Brian Perry was born in Enfield in 1897. He was the fourth son of Richard and Rose Perry, who had seven children. The family lived at ‘Wynnsted’, North Road, Berkhamsted. Brian’s father Richard was a printer and advertising agent. Brian was educated at Berkhamsted School and Lord Williams Grammar School, Thame, where he won the School Championship Cup.

Brian followed his father into the printing business and was a printer’s apprentice in 1911. He quickly signed up, in September 1914, after the outbreak of war. A tall, well-developed young man, he was accepted into the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps,  when perhaps too young in years. He received rapid promotion and showed promise of becoming a first class cavalry officer.

In June 1915, Brian became seriously ill, and died in the 3rd London General Hospital on 18th August 1915, aged just eighteen. Although he had not seen active service, he was given a military funeral.

Rose Cross Perry

30/09/1863 –15/11/1950

Born in Dublin; wife of a china merchant's clerk; lost two sons in WWI and one in WII

Relatives

Brian Perry (292) — son

Donovan Perry — son

Ralph Baker Perry — son

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 292 Rose Cross Perry (née Cross) (1863-1950)

Rose was born in Princes Square, Dublin on 30 September 1863 to Margaret and Henry Philip Cross, a chemist.

Strangely she appears to have been given Cross as a middle name as well as a surname. Despite her unusual name it has not proved possible to trace her very early years and the information about her birth date, place of birth and father come from census returns and her marriage certificate.

In 1871, aged 8, she was a lodger, with her mother and sister, in the home of a policeman in Hoole, Cheshire. Her sister Phyllis had been born in Hoole the previous year. Her father is not with the family in the census return, nor in 1881, although her mother is shown as married, not widowed. In that year they were living in Lawley Street, West Hackney. Rose, aged 18, was a pupil teacher with the London Education Board.

Rose married Richard Henry Perry 14 October 1890 in All Saints, Clapham. They had rooms at 6, Sanford Terrace, West Hackney and Richard was a clerk for a china merchant.

Richard H jnr. was born in 1892 in Stoke Newington, followed by Fanny Margaret (1893 Clapham, Middx), Ralph Baker (1895 Clapham), Donovan (1896 Clapham) and Brian (1897 Enfield), 

On 27 August 1897 Richard jnr, Fanny, Ralph, Donovan and Brian were all baptised at the Jesus Church, Enfield. (This is one of only two Anglican churches with that dedication in the country).

Dennis was born in 1899 at 2, Forty Hill, Enfield Middlesex.

In 1901 they were still at  2, Forty Hill and Richard had become a printer. From about this time onwards son Ralph became subject to epileptic fits which grew in severity and must have caused his parents great anxiety.

They had moved to Berkhamsted by the time Dulcie Barbara was born in 1905.

1911 Richard was an advertising agent and they lived at “Oaklands”, Cross Oak Road.

In June 1915, son Brian, who had volunteered for the Army at the outbreak of the war in September 1914, became seriously ill, and died in the 3rd London General Hospital on 18th August 1915, aged just eighteen. Although he had not seen active service, he was given a military funeral and is buried here.

In April 1917 son Ralph went to lodge at the Downing Arms in Croydon where he was a paying guest and did light odd jobs “around the farm.”

On 22 March 1918 the third son, Donovan, was killed in action on the Somme. He is commemorated on the Poziers Memorial and has no known grave.

Tragically, while Rose and Richard must still have been grieving the loss of two sons on the battlefield, they received the news that on 20 August 1920 their son Ralph had died at the Downing Arms, Croydon. He was 26. He is buried here.

The 1921 census records them at “Barrington”, Berkhamsted. Richard was a advertising promotor and an employer, working from 20, Portland Street, London. They employed a live-in domestic.

At the time the 1939 Register was taken Rose was a patient at Hillingdon County Hospital, but she appears to have recovered and returned home.

On 13 February 1943 their son Private Dennis Perry was killed serving in the Australian Infantry with the Allied Central Mediterranean Force. At the time Rose and Richard were living in Kilburn, London. The shook must have been terrible – they had lost four of their five sons.

Rose died 15 November 1950 in the Hampstead registration district aged 88.

Donovan Perry

1896 –22/03/1918

Killed during the Battle of the Somme, his body was never found.

Relatives

Rose Cross Perry — mother

Ralph Baker Perry — brother

Brian Perry (292) — brother

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 292 Donovan Perry (1886-1918)

Donovan was born in 1896 in Clapham, Middlesex, the fourth of Rose and Richard Perry’s seven children. His father was a clerk, turned printer, who eventually became a successful advertising salesman.

On 27 August 1897 Richard jnr, Fanny, Ralph, Donovan and Brian were all baptised at the Jesus Church, Enfield.

Donovan was educated at Berkhamsted School as a boarder.

He signed up for the Army and was killed on 22 March 1918 on the Somme. He was a Lieutenant in the 2^nd Company 1^st Herts Regiment. He is commemorated on the Poziers Memorial in the Somme which “lists the names of 14,657 British and South African soldiers of the Fifth and Fourth Armies with no known grave who were killed between 21 March 1918 and 7 August 1918, during the German advance known as the Spring Offensive (21 March–18 July), and the period of Allied consolidation and recovery that followed. The final date is determined by the start of the period known as the Advance to Victory on 8 August.” (Wikipedia)

Donovan is commemorated on the Berkhamsted war memorial.