Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Ethel Alice Calf

18/07/1909 –1946

Laundry packer; married William Calf in 1936; died 1946 age 37 years

• Melanie Hilton

Unmarked grave Ethel Alice Calf (formerly Franklin, née ? ) (1909-1946)

From the 1939 Register we know that Ethel Alice Franklin, widow, born 18 July 1909

was living at 15, Luard Road, Islington and working as a laundry packer. The Register was updated over several years and her surname was later changed to “Calf”.

Beyond that, and the fact that Edith Alice Franklin married a William Calf in 1944 in Berkhamsted, nothing more has been discovered.

Ethel died in 1946 aged 37.

William Franklin

1900 –1979

A trumpeter in the Life Guards

• David Squire

William Thomas Henry Franklin

William T H Franklin was born in 1900 in Great Warley, Christ Church, Essex and was baptised on 12^th August 1900. His parents were William Thomas & Jessie Frances Franklin.

William’s father must have died shortly after he was born, as in the 1901 census, as he is listed as living with his mother, Jessie, at the home of Jessie’s mother, Elizabeth Saywood, Warley Road, Billericay, Essex. Both women worked as laundresses.

The 1911 census shows that William boarded, at Duke of Yorks School, Gurton, near Dover. This was a military school that had been founded in the early 19^th century to provide education for orphans of ex soldiers. Perhaps Williams father had served in the military at some point?

William married Elizabeth Ellen Sturgeon on 15^th November 1918 at All Saints, Knightsbridge, London. William is detailed as being a trumpeter, in the Life Guards, who lived at the Knightsbridge barracks. Interestingly, William added two years to his age, listed as 20, when he is only 18.

The 1921 census showed William and Elizabeth lived at 7 Belgrave Mews South, St Georges’s Square, London and had a son, Edgar Wilfred, who was aged 2. William was still working as a soldier musician, based at the Regent’s Park Barracks. This is an upmarket address and you wonder if this was married quarters provided by the Life Guards regiment?

William can’t be traced within the 1939 register, although his wife Elizabth and son Edgar, are listed as having lived in Norfolk, with Elizabeth’s mother. It may be possible that William was still serving in the army but I have not been able to find mention of him within any military records.

I could not find any further mention of William within the records, until the recording of his death on 19^th February 1979, where he lived at 19 Middle Road, Berkhamsted prior to his death. He was buried in an unmarked grave at Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted.