Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Roland Edwin Hill (692)

12/10/1900 –01/11/1918

Joined the Royal Navy in 1917 but dismissed for misconduct and died of influenza in 1918

Relatives

Elizabeth Frances Lyne Hill — mother

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 692 Roland Edwin Hill (1900-1918)

Roland was born 12 October 1900 in Tring, the son of Elizabeth Frances Lyne (née Sheppard) and Edwin Hill, the head gardener at the Rothschild family estate in Tring. It was the second marriage for both of them and Roland, born at their home in the gardens at Tring Park, was their only child.

Edwin was a well-respected figure in the community and also a canny businessman. He died 13 April 1904 in St Bartholmew’s Hospital, London leaving £5,485 – about £575,000 in today’s money.

By 1911 Elizabeth and Roland had moved to Hanover House, Boxwell Road, Berkhamsted. Roland attended Chigwell School in Essex between 1915 and 1916 then, on 6 October 1917, just six days short of his eighteenth birthday, he joined the Royal Navy as an engineer.

On 3 December 1917 his records show he was “sick on shore” with influenza for five days. Flu was a very serious illness in those days – the Spanish influenza which started in February 1918 eventually killed an estimated one-fifth of the world’s population.

Something happened in the next few weeks which resulted in Roland’s Royal Navy record stating, “Commission and appointment Terminated. Misconduct. 20 February 1918…sick in depot Crystal Palace, probably influenza, retained in sick bay until fit to travel, when necessary steps will be take.”

What those steps were, or when he returned home, is not recorded, nor is there any indication what “misconduct” Edwin, clearly very unwell, could have committed that resulted in him being dismissed from the Navy in time of war. He died at home from influenza and pneumonia 1 November 1918, aged just nineteen.

His mother survived him until 1929 and is buried here with him. Amongst her bequests was £300 to Chigwell School, Essex for the erection of an armoury for the Officers’ Training Corps, to be named after, and in memory of, “my dear late son Roland Edwin Hill.”

His name is inscribed in the school’s Roll  of Honour and a plaque was attached to the armoury, which is now part of the music school.

Elizabeth Frances Lyne Hill

1858 –08/09/1929

Wife of head gardener at Tring Park and mother of Roland Hill

Relatives

Roland Edwin Hill (692) — son

• Melanie Hilton

Plot 692 Elizabeth Frances Lyne Hill (née Sheppard, late Bateman) (1858-1929)

Elizabeth was born in 1858 in Bourton on the Hill, Gloucester to Thomas and Fanny Sheppard.

In 1861 Thomas was an agricultural labourer but by 1871 he was the publican of The Raven inn, Lutterworth Road, Brinklow, Warwickshire. The pub is still in operation.

Thomas was from Bourton and his first two daughters were born there, but his wife was from Warwickshire and his two sons were born in the county. The youngest, aged four, was described in the brutal language of the time as “Idiot”.

Elizabeth married Henry Bateman, a fifty year old bachelor and inspector of weights and measures in 1894. They lived at Fearnleigh Road, Sparkhill, Worcestershire, but he died 22 December that year, leaving her £93.

She then married widower Edwin Hill at Trinity Church, Marylebone, London 8 September 1898. Edwin had been born in Henbury in Gloucester and was the head gardener for Tring Park, the Rothschild estate in Tring.

The couple lived at “The Gardens” in Tring Park and their only child, Roland Edwin, was born in 1901.

Edwin died 13 April 1904 in St Bartholmew’s Hospital, London. He left £5,485 – about £575,000 in today’s money.

The report in the Bucks Herald for 23 April 1904 stated that he had been in good health until “…it came as a great shock to learn a few weeks ago that he was suffering from a dangerous internal complaint.”

He had been head gardener at Tring Park for 27 years “…directing a large body of men…He was looked up to by his fellow townsmen… as a good man of business.”  This business savvy may account for his significant legacy.

By 1911 Elizabeth was living at Hanover House, Boxwell Road, Berkhamsted.

Tragically Roland died, aged only 18, in November 1918.

Elizabeth died 8 September 1929 aged 71 and left just over £7,000. Amongst her bequests was £300 to Chigwell School, Essex for the erection of an armoury for the Officers’ Training Corps, to be named after, and in memory of, “my dear late son Roland Edwin Hill.”