Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Laura Beddall

1856 –20/07/1935

Wife of James Beddall

Relatives

James Beddall — husband

Dennis Peter Beddall — other

• Melanie Hilton

Unmarked grave: Laura Beddall (née Wells) (1856-1935)

Laura was born on 4^th January 1858 at Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire. Her mother, Lydia Wells,was not married at time Laura was born. Laura was accordingly registered at birth with her mother’s surname, Wells, and her father’s details did not appear on her birth certificate. Her father was in fact Robert Crockett and he and Laura’s mother did marry about a year after Laura’s birth.

She married James Beddall, a labourer, in Berkhamsted in 1876. Two months after the marriage, all of Laura’s family, her parents and siblings, emigrated to Australia, the voyage taking some five months. Sadly, Laura’s sister Caroline was murdered in Perth in 1892.

Laura and James’ son Jesse was born in 1877 and Clara in 1880, both in Berkhamsted. At the time of the 1881 census the family were living in “Back Alley”, Castle Street, and Laura was working as a straw plaiter.

A son, John, was born in 1889, but appears to have died in early infancy. In 1891 the family, now with the addition of Lydia (b.1883) and Elizabeth (b.1889) was living in a cottage in Wharf Lane, Rickmansworth. James, however, was not at home on census night and no occupation is given for Laura.

By 1901 they were back in Berkhamsted, living at 2, Water Lane. James was at home and was employed as a gas fitter. Lydia, Elizabeth were with them and the family had increased with the addition of sons Frederick (b.1891) and William John (b.1894) both born in Long Melford, Suffolk. The family must have moved back to Berkhamsted by 1896, as Carrie Lily (b.1896) and Thomas Herbert (b.1901) were born there. Catherine was born in 1897, but appears to have died very young. The final child, George, was born in 1902.

In 1911 the family had moved again to 18/19, Red Lion Yard and James’s occupation was given as “Hot and cold water pipe fitter”. Frederick, Catherine, Thomas and George were all living at home. Frederick was working as a labourer and the three youngest boys were attending school. Daughter Elizabeth had married Frederick King a “soldier drummer in the Bedford Regiment” and they were also living with Laura and James, along with their three year old daughter Dorothy. In all there were ten people living in the five rooms of the dwelling.

The 1911 census recorded the number of children born alive to the couple and the number still living. For Laura and James it states thirteen children born (of which twelve have been identified here) and eight still living.

By 1921 Laura and James were living at Clifton Cottage (probably number 30), Highfield Road. James was employed by the Berkhamsted Water Company as a fitter. Their sons Frederick, Thomas and Harry George were living with them. Frederick, a road labourer with the Urban District Council is shown as married, although his wife does not appear. Thomas, unmarried, was an out-of-work labourer with the water company and Harry George, also single, was a painter employed by Ellis & Co.

[Also at the same address, but recorded as a separate household, were a James Beddall, a baker, born in 1897 in Chesham, whose relationship to James and Laura has not yet been established, his wife Kathleen Lily Smith and their new born daughter Clara Jesse Smith.]

Laura died in Berkhamsted 20th July 1935 aged 77.

Her grandson Dennis Peter Beddall (1927-1934), the son of Frederick, is buried in plot 1030 and granddaughter Iris (1925-35), the daughter of William, lies in an unmarked grave in this cemetery. Also interred here in unmarked graves are Laura’s brother-in-law Jesse, his son Henry Lewis (born and died 1906) and grandson Raymond F (1929-30). There is also a John Beddall buried here, but it has not been possible to identify him as yet.

James Beddall

13/02/1854 –1940

Labourer and later a gas and pipe fitter

Relatives

Laura Beddall — wife

Dennis Peter Beddall — other

• Melanie Hilton

Unmarked Grave: James Beddall (1854-1940)

James was born in Aldbury, 13th February 1854, the son of Daniel, an agricultural labourer, and Lydia (née England), a straw plaiter.

By the time James was seven the family were living in Bell Lane, Northchurch. Ten years later their address was the Wilderness, Berkhamsted. Daniel, James and his thirteen year old brother Jesse were all employed as labourers. Lydia and daughters Martha and Fanny were straw plaiters and the family also included William, Susan and baby John. Three more daughters were to be born.

James married Laura Wells in Berkhamsted in 1876. Their first son, Jesse, was born in 1877 and eventually they were to have thirteen children, of whom eight survived their early childhood. (They are all listed in the record for Laura, who was also buried in this cemetery)

At the time of the 1881 census the family resided in “Back Alley”, Castle Street, but in 1891 the family was living in a cottage in Wharf Lane, Rickmansworth. James, however, was not at home on census night. Two of their children Frederick (b.1891) and William John (b.1894) were born in Long Melford, Suffolk, but by 1896 James and Laura had moved back to Berkhamsted and in 1901 they were living at 2, Water Lane. James was employed as a gas fitter.

In 1911 the family had moved again to 18/19, Red Lion Yard and James’s occupation was given as “Hot and cold water pipe fitter”.

Laura passed away 20th July 1935 aged 77 and in the 1939 Register James is recorded as a retired gas fitter living at 30, Highfield Road with his son Frederick, a road labourer.

James survived his wife until the Spring of 1940 when he died aged 86.

A number of other members of the extended Beddall family are buried in this cemetery:

James’s sister Fanny (1862-1937) and her husband Charles Tomlin are buried in plot 985. His grandson Dennis Peter Beddall (1927-1934), the son of Frederick, is buried in plot 1030 and