Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

William Rankin (731)

1868 –26/03/1937

Originally from Scotland, a surveyor of roads employed by Herts County Council

Relatives

Janet Rankin — wife

• Jane Beaty

Plot 731

William RANKIN 26/03/1937 aged 69, of Montague Road, died at Holt Pound Farm, Wrecclesham, Buried by Congregational minister

Janet RANKIN 16/09/1955 aged 87, of 12 Montague Road, Nonconformist

William RANKIN

William RANKIN was born in 1868 in Tranent, in the county we now call East Lothian. It was a small industrial town nine miles east of Edinburgh where the predominant industry was coal mining.

His parents were William RANKIN and Agnes nee SMITH. He was the oldest of their six children and his father was a road surveyor.

By the time young William was 13, the family had moved to a new home in Durisdeer, a small village in Dumfries, south-west Scotland. The family lived in Enoch Waukmill, a property on the very extensive Queensbury Estate belonging to the Duke of Buccleuch. Their home was described in the estate management records as “a dwelling house with outhouses, gardens, cottages, etc and a farm of land attached”. William and Agnes presided over a household of six children and a servant.

Also living on the Queensbury Estate of the Duke of Buccleuch was the MAXWELL family.

By the age of 23, William had left Scotland and had started work as an Assistant Road Surveyor in Stafford where he had acquired lodgings. His career was following in his father’s footsteps, and this was the first rung of the ladder.

Two years later, on 29^th May 1893 William RANKIN married Janet MAXWELL at St Mary’s Church in Lichfield. Janet was part of the MAXWELL family from back home in Scotland, so the couple had clearly worked hard to retain their long-distance relationship.

Shortly after their marriage William and Janet moved to Watlington in Norfolk and this is where their first two children were born. Presumably William was furthering his career.

In 1899, shortly after the birth of their second child, the couple moved again. William, now aged 31, had a new job as the District Road Surveyor, employed by Hertfordshire County Council and they moved to Berkhamsted. This was to be William’s final career move and Berkhamsted was to be their home for the rest of their lives. They started out at 30, Charles Street.

The framework for the provision of road maintenance had been an area of considerable change from the days of turnpikes and of parish responsibilities for local roads. There had been many changes leading up to 1888 when the County Councils finally took responsibility for main roads and District Councils for local roads. William’s post would have been created at the beginning of this new era.

By 1911 William and Janet were well settled in the town. They had moved round the corner to what was probably a new house in Cowper Road. The house was named “Nithsdale” after the hamlet where Janet had been born in back in Scotland.

William was a popular and active member of the community. He was an office bearer at the Congregational church, a former Special Constable and, before the First World War, was a Company Sergeant Major with the Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead Volunteer Corps. He was a keen sportsman and the secretary of the Bowls Section of the Coopers Recreation Club.

In 1934, after 35 years’ service, William retired from his job as the local Roads Surveyor although he still retained an interest in his old job. A couple of years later he was called to court to account for work done 24 years previously in his capacity as the Berkhamsted District Surveyor. Herts County Council was being sued for damages to a Gubblecote gravel pit and William was defending the position of the Council.

Upon his retirement the couple moved to a smaller house at 12 Montague Road. But at Easter 1937 they were spending a holiday in Wrecclesham, Surrey staying at Holt Pound Farm. Soon after they arrived, William became unwell and he died at the farm on Good Friday, 26^th March 1937. He was 69 years old. This Scottish couple had come a long way from their homeland and William had worked hard to become skilled in his job so it seems sad that they were unable to enjoy a longer retirement.

William’s funeral took place at the Congregational Church and he is buried in Plot 731, alongside his widow Janet, who lived at the house in Montague Road for a further 18 years.

Janet Rankin

18/01/1868 –16/09/1955

Originally from Scotland; wife of William Rankin

Relatives

William Rankin (731) — husband

• Jane Beaty

Plot 731

William RANKIN 26/03/1937 aged 69, of Montague Road, died at Holt Pound Farm, Wrecclesham, Buried by Congregational minister

Janet RANKIN 16/09/1955 aged 87, of 12 Montague Road, Nonconformist

Janet RANKIN

Janet MAXWELL was born on 18^th January 1868 in Morton by Thornhill, Dumfries, Scotland. Her parents were James and Janet MAXWELL nee McKINNELL and she was the third of their six children. Her father James was a tailor. She lived with her parents on land which was part of the extensive Queensbury Estate of the Duke of Buccleuch. Morton was a parish in the Nithsdale valley in south-east Scotland.

By the time they were both 13 years old Janet and her future husband William were living within 6 miles of each other in the old county of Dumfriesshire. They must have kept in touch after William left Scotland because on 29^th May 1893 Janet married William RANKIN at St Mary’s Church in Lichfield. William had moved down to England to follow his career as a road surveyor and had been living in Stafford.

Shortly after their marriage the couple moved to Watlington in Norfolk, and this is where their first two children were born. They named their first son, born in 1897, William and their daughter, born in March 1899, Margaret Maxwell.

In 1899, shortly after the birth of Margaret, the couple moved again. William had a new job as the District Road Surveyor, employed by Hertfordshire County Council and they moved to Berkhamsted. This was to be their home for the rest of their lives, and they started out in a house out at 30, Charles Street. It was there that their two youngest children were born – Joseph James in 1902 and John Andrew in1908 when Janet was 40.

In 1911 they had been married for 17 years and decided to move to a larger house just round the corner in Cowper Road. They named this house “Nithsdale” after the valley of Janet’s childhood. They lived there for over 20 years until around the time that William retired in 1934. They then moved to a smaller house at 12 Montague Road.

Sadly, the couple were not able to enjoy a long and happy retirement. William died on Good Friday 1937 whilst the couple were away on holiday in Surrey.

After she was widowed, Janet remained living at 12 Montague Road for the rest of her life. Hopefully she was not too lonely though since her children remained in Berkhamsted, marrying and starting their own families. In the 1939 register Janet was sharing the house with her daughter Margaret and her daughter-in-law Agnes, the wife of Joseph James.

Janet died at the age of 87 and is buried alongside her husband in Plot 731.