Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Ellen Isabella Delevingne

21/08/1848 –13/03/1915

A widow after 3 years of marriage; no children; travelled but returned to be buried with her husband

Relatives

Revd. Harry Brunning Constant Delevingne (115) — husband

• Susan Holmes

Ellen was the daughter of Thomas Little, mantlemaker, who came from Longtown Cumbria. She was born 21 August 1848 in Marylebone.

By 1851 her family was living at 43 Oxford Street where her father had premises as a laceman. They had 3 servants. In 1861 they were still there. His wife’s orphaned nieces Hannah and Elizabeth Greswell lived with them, acting as assistants in the lace business and no doubt companions for Ellen.

In 1871 Ellen was living with her cousins Hannah and Ernest and their two sons in Hornsey. By 1881 she was back with her father Thomas in Hornsey, closeby  to Hannah and Ernest’s home.

In 1884 Thomas Little died, leaving £39000. At that time he was living at Brooklands, a house in Hemel Hempstead.

On 20 June 1885 at St Johns Boxmoor, Ellen married Harry Constant Brunning Delevigne, a clergyman and schoolmaster.  He was the brother of her cousin’s husband Ernest Delevigne. His mother had died a month before. She was 36, he was 34. They moved to Castle Hill in Berkhamsted.

Within three years, on 30 September 1888,  Harry had died.

She moved away from Hertfordshire and by 1891 the widowed Ellen was staying with her cousin (and sister-in-law) Hannah Delevigne and other cousin Elizabeth in Melcombe Regis, Dorset.

According to the 1911 census Ellen was living at Downleaze Point, Clifton, Bristol  and Eva Jane Skinner – a granddaughter of the Skinners buried in plot 167, was visiting her.

She died at Downleaze Bristol on 13 March 1915 but returned to Rectory Lane Cemetery to be buried with her husband. She left nearly £22000.

Revd. Harry Brunning Constant Delevingne (115)

14/09/1850 –30/09/1888

Clergyman and schoolmaster

Relatives

Ellen Isabella Delevingne — wife

• Susan Holmes
• Robin McMorran

Revd. Harry Brunning Constant Delevingne was a schoolmaster and clergyman. In 1873, Harry graduated as 29th Wrangler (first-class honours) from Jesus College Cambridge with a BA in Mathematics. Among his examiners was the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell.

From 1875 to 1877, Harry worked as a teacher at the Shrewsbury School in Shropshire.

Harry appeared to be a shareholder in the London and Provincial Bank Limited, and was listed in the bank’s returns, published in the Wrexham Guardian 1879 and the London Gazette in 1880. He lived at 30 Castle Street in Shrewsbury. Two other Delevingnes – presumably his siblings – are also listed:  Harriet Delevingne, a widow living at Barnham Lodge, Brandenburgh Road  in Turnham Green, London; and Earnest [sic] Thomas Shaw Delevingne of 59 Mortimer Street, London.

In 1876, Harry was ordained as a Church of England priest by the Bishop of Lichfield. Harry continued his studies and attained an MA in 1876.  From 1878 to 1880, he was Second Master of Woodbridge Grammar School in Suffolk.

In 1881, Harry was licensed as a preacher in the Diocese of London.

On 20 June 1885 at St John’s Church, Boxmoor, Harry married Ellen Little from Hornsey in London. Ellen, aged 36, was a distant relative, as her cousin was married to Harry’s brother, Ernest Delevigne. The Delevignes’ mother had died only a month before the wedding.

Just three years after the marriage, Harry died on 30 September 1888, aged only 38. He was buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery, close to the central path.

The widowed Ellen moved away and went to live with counsins in Melcombe Regis, Dorset. According to the 1911 census, Ellen was living at Downleaze Point at Clifton, Bristol. On the census record, Eva Jane Skinner – a granddaughter of the Skinners buried in plot 167, was visiting her. Ellen died at Downleaze Point on 13 March 1915, but her body was brought back to Berkhamsted to be buried with her husband in Rectory Lane Cemetery.

References

Wrexham Guardian 22nd February 1879

The London Gazette 25 February 1880

The Cambridge University Calendar for the Year 1876

Fisher, George William: Annals of Shrewsbury School, London 1899,   p.478