Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Mary Ann Hart (1068)

30/05/1871 –13/08/1944

An office cleaner; never married

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 1068 Mary Ann Hart (1871-1944) 

 Mary Ann was born 30 May 1871. It has not been possible to discover anything about her early life. She never married.

In 1939 living she was living at 1, Maclise Buildings, Millbank with Edith Duck and employed was as an office cleaner. Maclise Buildings (now Maclise House and Listed Grade II) were built as part of the Millbank Estate of 15 mansion blocks commissioned by the London County Council in 1897-1902.)

Mary Ann died 13 August 1944 at 42, Belmont Road, Liverpool, although her home address is given on the probate record as Maclise Buildings. She named Edith as her executor. It is not known what her association with Berkhamsted was.

Edith died in 1952 and is buried here with her friend.

Edith Florence Duck

19/04/1879 –02/02/1952

Printing hall supervisor at the Bank of England; a spinster.

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 1068 Edith Florence Duck (1879-1952) 

Edith was born 19 April 1879 in the parish of St Giles in the Fields, the eldest daughter of Arthur James Duck and Florence Anne (née Norton), both of whom had been born in Norfolk.

In 1881 Arthur, Florence and baby Edith were living at 552, Oxford Street, almost at the junction with Tottenham Court Road. Arthur was a salesman in the boot trade.

1891 Arthur was a boot maker’s assistant and he and Florence were living at 2, Miller’s Avenue Hackney with daughters Edith, Florence and Elizabeth.

1901 the family, consisting of Arthur (now a “lift porter”), Florence, Edith (a stationery stamper) and her younger siblings Florence, Elizabeth, William, Lilian and Arthur, were living in Romney Street, Westminster.

By 1911 Arthur had died and Florence was having to work as an office cleaner in government offices. She was living at 38, Mulready Buildings on John Islip Street in Millbank with Edith, William, Lilian and Arthur. (Now a Grade II Listed building, this formed part of the Millbank Estate of 15 mansion blocks commissioned by the London County Council in 1897-1902.)

The census record shows that she and her husband had had 10 children of whom four had died. Edith, now 31, was working as a relief stamper at a Bloomsbury stationers – presumably stamping the headings on notepaper and similar items.

Edith never married.

In 1921 she was still living with her mother and sisters at 57, Page Street in the parish of St George’s, Hanover Square. Edith, 42, had secured the important position of “Supervisor of one printing hall” at the Bank of England in Old Street. Her sister Florence was an office cleaner at the Colonial Office in Whitehall and Lilian was a typist in Leadenhall Street.

By 1924 Edith had left home and was a lodger with the Bliss family at 57, Page Street, SW, but from at least 1927 she lived at 1, Maclise Buildings, Millbank. This block was part of the Millbank Estate and next door to Mulready Buildings where she had lived previously.

The 1939 Register records her there with Mary Ann Hart, an office cleaner aged 68. Edith was described as a retired printing supervisor. What her relationship with Mary Ann was is unclear, although Mary Ann appointed her executor when she died in 1944.

Edith died 2 February 1952 at 12, Calabria Road, London aged 72, although her probate record shows that her address was still Maclise Buildings.

She is buried here with Mary Ann, who was living with her in 1939 and who was buried here in 1944. The memorial reads, “Reunited with Ann.” That is her only known link with Berkhamsted.