Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Sarah Goss (786)

25/11/1836 –26/12/1916

Wife of William Goss

Relatives

William Goss — husband

Alfred William Goss — son

Arthur Goss (742) — son

• Jackie Jones

Sarah Goss; 1836 – 1916

Sarah was born in Berkhamsted to James Young and Elizabeth Hawkins on 25^th  November 1836.She married William Goss in 1855. A daughter Jane was born very soon after, but unfortunately, she died a year later. After the death of their first child they had a further 10 children.  They lived in High St Berkhamsted, William died when he was only 50 years old in 1880; she and William had been had been married for 25 years.

Sarah lived as a single parent for a further 36 years in High St Berkhamsted. In the 1911 census she is living with her daughter Alice, who died 13^th May 1927. Sarah was buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery when she died on 26^th December 1916, age 80 years.  

Harold Stanley Goss

13/09/1902 –01/08/1944

Son of William and Eva Goss; joined family brush making business.

Relatives

William Goss — father

Eva Maud Goss(687) — mother

• Jackie Jones

HAROLD STANLEY GOSS; 1902-1944

Harold was born on 13^th September 1902[1], the oldest of three children born to Alfred William Goss and his wife Eva Maud Goss (née Flint). His siblings, Violet and Norman were born in 1906 and 1910 respectively. In 1911 the family were living at 252 High Street, Gossoms End, at which address Harold’s father also carried on his business as a brush maker.

By the age of 18, Harold had moved out of the family home and in 1921 was one of three boarders living in the home of Lizzie Gravestock. He had joined the family business, Goss Bros, and was working with his father as a brush maker.[2] Brush making had become a significant offshoot of the local timber trade and at its height employed over 100 people. Goss Bros owned a large brush works at the western end of the High Street, near Gossoms End. T. H. Nash, whose brush works were in George Street, was the main rival. The sizeable Goss factory outlasted its rival by several years before this local industry died out in the 1930’s.[3]  “As happens in so many industries, new methods of manufacture reduced the demand for hand made brushes – hard work it was too – at Goss Brother’s brush factory on the site now occupied by Underhill and Young’s garage at Gossom’s End.”[4]

Although local the brush making industry may have been in decline in the 1930’s, Harold was still working as a brush maker in 1939.[5]  He was then living at 28 Kitsbury Road where he boarded with 73 year old Lily Clack.

Harold served during World War II as a member of the Observer Corps, a civil defence organisation whose job it was to visually detect, identify, track and report enemy aircraft over Great Britain.

In 1942, at the age of 40, Harold married Elsie Maud Goodwin, who was 15 years Harold’s junior. Elsie had French antecedents; her maternal grandfather, Romain La Grange, had been born in the Pyrenees in 1850. Sadly, Harold and Elsie had no children and were not married long. Harold died in Hemel Hempstead on 1^st August 1944; he was 41 years old.

Amelia Melmoth

1876 –24/02/1937

School teacher and second wife of Alfred Goss

Relatives

Alfred William Goss — husband

• Jackie Jones

Amelia Melmoth; 1876 – 1937

Amelia Melmoth was born in Compton, Guildford, Surrey in October 1876 to Henry Melmoth and Mary Jane Drake. She was their fifth child. Her father was a policeman. In 1901 she had moved to work in Norfolk as a schoolteacher. She moved to become a school teacher in Berkhamsted. She met and married widower Alfred William Goss in August 1918 and she lived with him in High Street until her death on24 February 1937.

 She is buried in Rectory Lane with Alfred’s son Harold.

William Goss

04/10/1929 –09/02/1880

Stonemason and Wheelwright whose mother was gored by a bull

Relatives

Walter Henry Goss — son

Alfred William Goss — son

Sarah Goss (786) — wife

Harold Stanley Goss — son

Arthur Goss (742) — son

• Jackie Jones

William Goss 1829 – 1880

William Goss was born in Leighton Buzzard on 4^th October 1829 to Sophia Seamons, age 3, and Henry Goss, age 29. His father was a butcher in Waddesdon Buckinghamshire. Henry was from a large family and had eight siblings. His mother, Sophia, died early, gored by a bull in Aylesbury. She and Henry had been married 27 years and she left 9 children. Her husband Henry married a much younger woman, Eliza Churchill, 4 years later.

A newspaper report of the inquest held following Sophia’s death read as follows:

Coroner’s inquest dated 17 May 1851: An inquest was held at the George Inn, Aylesbury, on Saturday last before Joseph Parrott, Esq. on the body of Sophia Goss who met with her death in the manner detailed.

James Gurney was the first to witness examined. He said: “I’m a drover and was engaged this morning by Mr Abel Hill of Thame. I assisted to drive a bull belonging to Mr. Hill from the Bugle Inn, on the Hartwell Road to Aylesbury. The bull went quietly towards that place and was there placed in a stable at the Rising Sun Inn. He remained there until between three and four o’clock and I then went and fetched another man to help me take him to the railway station. Mr. Hill was with us. The bull went perfectly quiet until we came to the Red Lion. I saw three females walking on the footpath and the bull ran at them and tossed one of them. He also knocked another woman down, but I don’t know whether he struck her or whether he trampled upon her. He then ran up the Red Lion Yard and went into a stable, where he was secured and tied up”.

George Wicks landlord of the Rising Sun Said: “The first time I saw the bull was about one to two o’clock today.

He had been tied up in the stable and was brought out to be shown to some person. Mr. Hill went in and untied him and he then appeared perfectly quiet. He remained in the road about a quarter of an hour and appeared to take no interest in the children that were playing nearby. I then tied up the bull in the stable myself. There was a dog and some horses in the stable but the bull took no notice of them either.”

Thomas Berry Cabinet Maker said: “I Live at Aylesbury, I was in my shop this afternoon and hearing a screaming I went to the door and near the Red Lion I saw a bull close to a woman. She was in the act of falling and the bull knelt upon her, I believe the woman fell on her right side”.

Joseph Goss said: “I am the butcher at Waddesdon. The deceased was my brother’s wife. She is the wife of Henry Goss, also a butcher at Waddesdon. She has left several children.”

John Pearce, Wheelwright, at Stone deposed to seeing the bull go through Stone at nine o’clock in the morning.

There was a cow and a man with him. The bull appeared to him to want water and was going to the pond, but the man would not let him. The bull appeared to be otherwise quiet enough.”

William Rose said: “I am a butcher at Haddenham and have seen the bull at Mr. Latham’s at Teddington near Thame. Mr. Latham told me that he had never had a quieter animal. I passed the bull on the road to Aylesbury this morning and it seemed perfectly quiet.”

Robert Hill said: “I am a dealer and live at Thame. I bought the bull yesterday from Mr. Thomas Latham of Draycot. I started the bull and a cow with a man named Gurney for Aylesbury this morning. I went with two men to fetch the bull from the Rising Sun to the railway and he came quietly until we came to the Red Lion and as some women were passing near him he threw one up and knocked another down and appeared to kneel upon her.”

James Henry Ceely esq, surgeon said: “Between three and four o’clock I was sent to see the deceased, Mrs.Goss. She was in a side room down stairs at the Red Lion Inn. She was sitting in a chair in a dyeing state and perfectly insensible. She as dead in about five minutes after I got there. I have examined the body. There are three of the upper ribs fractured and pressed upon the lungs. Three or four of the lower ribs are also broken and the lungs are evidently injured. I think the injuries internally and externally are sufficient to cause death and no doubt that she died of the injuries that I’ve described. There were other marks of bruises upon the body.” The Coroner summed up and the jury after a short consultation, returned a verdict that the deceased died from injuries received from being accidentally knocked over by a bull.

In 1855 William married in Hemel Hempstead 19 year old Sarah Young of Berkhamsted, a farmer’s daughter. A daughter Jane was born very soon after, but unfortunately, she died a year later. After the death of their first child they had a further 10 children. In the early 1850’s William was living in lodgings in High St Berkhamsted and was a stonemason. In the 1860’s after marrying Sarah they lived in High St Berkhamsted. William was then was a wheelwright and Sarah a dressmaker. William died age 50 years on 9^th February 1880. Although he is commemorated on the memorial in Rectory Lane Cemetery, he was buried in the former Baptist cemetery that was in Water Lane.