Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Joseph Tuffnell

08/12/1862 –14/09/1948

A sawyer, brush maker, later a postman and School Attendance Officer

Relatives

Hephzibah Tuffnell (714) — wife

Hilda Tufnell — daughter

Edgar Raymond Tufnell — other

• Jane Beaty

Plot no 714            Hephzibah TUFFNELL, died 01/04/1924, aged 59
                                Joseph TUFFNELL , died 14/09/1948, aged 85
                                Hilda TUFNELL, daughter, died 06/05/1924, aged 25
                                in loving memory of Gunner E Raymond TUFNELL RA

                                grandson K.I.A. June 1942, aged 27

Joseph TUFFNELL[ii]  was born on 8^th December 1862. His parents were Joseph TUFFNELL and Mary Ann nee WARD.

Joseph Senior was born in Watford but came to Berkhamsted in his 20s to work as a sawyer, probably at one of the sawmills in the town. He and Mary Ann set up home and raised a family in the High Street.

Joseph was the youngest child and had one sister and four older brothers, all born in Berkhamsted. He was baptised on 5^th April 1863. His father died when Joseph was 14.

By the time Joseph was 18, he had followed in his father’s footsteps and in the 1881 census he is described as a sawyer. But on the day of the census he was an inpatient at the West Herts Infirmary in Hemel Hempstead. He is counted amongst the Matron, a housekeeper, 4 nurses and various domestic staff, together with 44 patients of various ages from 4 to 60.

In 1887, when Joseph was 24, he married Hepzibah HORNE, the daughter of a prominent family from Potten End. In 1891 Joseph, Hepzibah and their first three children Hetty, Edgar and Dora Bessie were living in Victoria Road a few doors away from John and Elizabeth POPPLE[iii]. John had changed his occupation and now described himself as a Brush Stock Maker. Brush making was an offshoot of the timber industry. The largest employers were Goss Brushworks at the west end of the High Street (closed 1930s) and T.H. Nash in George Street (closed 1920s).[iv]

By 1901 the family had moved to 16, Gravel Path and the spelling of their surname had changed to TUFNELL. Four more children had been born – Eva, Arthur Frank, Hilda Kate, and young Bertha May, only 5 months old. Joseph had also changed his profession to another wood-related trade, this time a Malt Shovel Maker.

Ten years later the couple were still living in Gravel Path and had all their six surviving children with them. Five of those children were working so the income coming into the house must have been better than ever. By this time Joseph had changed away from a manual trade and reported that he was a postman. So he had, perhaps, become middle-class. This was the last job he had before he retired.

One of the most notable features of Joseph’s life is that he clearly earned a good living from whatever trade he decided upon, but that seemed to change from one decade to the next. He and Hepzibah kept the family close, the children were clearly well educated, judging from the jobs they chose as adults, and they improved their housing as their family grew.

Joseph also had an interest in politics. He stood for the Urban Council election in 1902[v], although he was not elected. He was a Sunday School teacher at the High Street Baptist Church, the church where he and Hepzibah had married. There is also some evidence that, in his fifties, he served as a School Attendance Officer for the Berkhamsted School Board. The newly created post was advertised in The Bucks Advertiser in 1886 at a salary of £12 per annum. Joseph was one of seven applicants although he was not appointed at this stage, he seems to have taken up the role at the start of the 20^th century. His name appears several times in court papers of the Petty Sessions recorded in newspapers of the time. Usually, the defendant was the mother of a boy who had a poor attendance record at Berkhamsted School. One particular mother claimed, in 1903, that she needed her 12-year-old son at home to “look after the baby. The child was the 16^th she had had, and she now had nine boys and one girl . . “. [vi].

Joseph ended his days in Gravel Path in a house called “Sundawn” where he lived with his daughter Dora Bessie. He died on 14^th September 1948 and is buried in Plot 714 alongside Heppzibah and their daughter Hilda.

Hilda Tufnell

1898 –06/05/1924

One of eight children born to Joseph and Hephzibah Tuffnell; died age 25

Relatives

Hephzibah Tuffnell (714) — mother

Joseph Tuffnell — father

Edgar Raymond Tufnell — other

• Jane Beaty

Plot no 714        Hephzibah TUFFNELL, died 01/04/1924, aged 59
                                Joseph TUFFNELL, died 14/09/1948, aged 85
                                Hilda TUFNELL, daughter, died 06/05/1924, aged 25
                                in loving memory of Gunner E Raymond TUFNELL RA, grandson K.I.A. June 1942, aged 27

Hilda Kate TUFNELL was born in May 1898. She was the sixth child of Hephzibah and Joseph TUFNELL. Her father, Joseph was a brush stock maker at the time of her birth and the family lived at 16, Gravel Path. Growing up, Hilda was the youngest child of the family since the two little sisters on either side of her in age died as babies.

The TUFNELL family prospered in Gravel Path. Joseph moved away from manual labour and became a postman, and the children seem to have been well educated. Indeed, Hilda’s father became a School Attendance Officer after retirement from the Post Office, so it seems safe to assume that education was a particularly important aspect of all their lives. By the time Hilda was 12, two of her older sisters, Hetty and Eva, were schoolteachers and the whole family of parents and six children were still living together.

By 1921 three of Hilda’s siblings had moved away from the family home leaving three unmarried daughters still living with their parents. 30-year-old Dora was a sub-postmistress, 28-year-old Eva was a shorthand typist working for Coopers, and 23-year-old Hilda was not working. Under “Personal occupation” on the census is written “None” and there is no evidence that Hilda ever had a job, so it seems likely that she was unwell for some time. She had attended school and there was no entry in the “Infirmity” section of the 1911 census, so it is hard to surmise why she died so young.

Hilda Kate TUFNELL died just five weeks after her mother Hephzibah so Spring 1924 must have been a very sad time for the family. She is buried alongside both of her parents.

Hephzibah Tuffnell (714)

26/12/1864 –01/04/1924

Born in Potten End; married Joseph Tuffnell; mother of eight children.

Relatives

Joseph Tuffnell — husband

Hilda Tufnell — daughter

Edgar Raymond Tufnell — other

• Jane Beaty

Plot no 714        Hephzibah TUFFNELL, died 01/04/1924, aged 59
                            Joseph TUFFNELL , died 14/09/1948, aged 85
                             Hilda TUFNELL, daughter, died 06/05/1924, aged 24
                             in loving memory of Gunner E Raymond TUFNELL RA,

                              grandson K.I.A. June 1942, aged 27

Hephzibah HORNE was born on 26^th December 1864. Her parents were John William HORNE and Eliza Matilda HORNE (nee BRACEY). Both were born and bred locally.

Her mother Eliza was part of a large Potten End family and there is some evidence that she was at “home” in Potten End when she had her daughter on Boxing Day 1864. Before she married, Eliza had been a straw plaiter, a common trade for young women at that time.

Hephziba’s father, John William HORNE, was a qualified master carpenter and joiner. He had followed his father’s trade, lived with his parents in Potten End, and by 1871 had set up home in Mill Street with his wife and growing family. He probably worked at one of the timber yards in the town.

Hephzibah was the second of twelve children, seven of whom survived to adulthood. So it would be a busy household in Mill Street. By the time Hephzibah was 16 she had left school and was employed as a Dressmaker’s Apprentice. She was still living with her parents, 2 brothers and 4 sisters in Mill Street. The family was not yet complete, 3 more sisters would be born over the next six years.

On 26^th April 1887, one month after her last sister was born, Hephzibah married a brush stock maker from Berkhamsted called Joseph TUFFNELL[2]. They married at the Baptist Church “in front of a large congregation”[3]. She was 22 years old.

The couple set up home in Victoria Road and within 10 months their fihrst child was born, a daughter called Hetty. So Hepzhzibah and her mother would both have been caring for young children at the same time. Edgar was born in 1889 and Dora Bessie a year later. By 1901 the family had moved to 16, Gravel Path and now included Eva, Arthur Frank, Hilda Kate and Bertha May. Olive Laura had died as a baby the previous year and Bertha did not reach her second birthday.

In the 1911 census Hepzhibah reported that she had given birth to eight children, of whom six were still alive. This was somewhat fewer than her mother’s twelve children. All her living children were still at home at Gravel Path, aged between 23 and 12. Of the girls, Hetty and Dora were teachers, Dora worked for the Post Office and 12-year-old Hilda was still at school. Edgar was a warehouseman in a clothing factory and 15-year-old Arthur had a job as an office boy working for a coal merchant.

Hepzhibah died, aged 59 on 1^st April 1924. She is buried alongside her husband Joseph.

All but one of the children living in that family group in 1911 survived well into the late part of the 20^th century. Hilda Kate died only 5 weeks after her mother and is buried in the same grave. Of the others, Arthur is the only one to have left Berkhamsted. He served in the Royal Engineers in WWI, moved to Kidderminster with his first wife, returned when he was widowed, married again and lived the rest of his life in Victoria Road.  The last of the children to die, in 1982, was Eva who never married and lived to be 92.

Edgar Raymond Tufnell

12/05/1915 –29/06/1942

Grandson of Joseph and Hephzibah Tuffnell; Killed in action in North Africa June 1942

Relatives

Hephzibah Tuffnell (714) — other

Joseph Tuffnell — other

Hilda Tufnell — other

• Jane Beaty

Plot no 714         Hephzibah TUFFNELL, died 01/04/1924, aged 59
                Joseph TUFFNELL, died 14/09/1948, aged 85
                Hilda TUFNELL, daughter, died 06/05/1924, aged 25
                in loving memory of Gunner E Raymond TUFNELL RA, grandson K.I.A. June 1942, aged 27

Edgar Raymond TUFNELL was born on in Berkhamsted on 12^th May 1915. His parents were Edgar and Constance (nee GEARY) TUFNELL. Edgar Senior was the eldest son of Joseph and Hephzibah so it is fitting that their eldest grandson’s name appears on their gravestone.

In all official documents Raymond is referred to as either “Edgar R” or “Edgar Raymond” but the inscription on his grandparent’s gravestone would lead one to believe that he was known within the family as “Raymond” to distinguish him from his father.

An obituary[1] for Raymond’s youngest sister Enid, who died in 2021, describes a happy home with the children being musical and very well educated. Gwen, Raymond, Avis and Enid grew up attending Berkhamsted Chapel where their father was the Choirmaster and their grandfather Joseph the Sunday School Superintendent.

At the outbreak of war, the 1939 register tells us that Edgar and Constance were living at 48A Greenway West. Edgar was working as a traffic manager for the railways and their four children, aged between 16 and 26 were also living at home. Raymond’s name was given as Edgar R, he would have been 24 years old, and his occupation was given as a Lithographer and Office Machine Minder. Raymond joined the army at some point in the next couple of years.

On 15^th June 1940 Edgar Raymond TUFNELL married an Irish girl Mary Esther WALL[2] at the Roman Catholic Church in Berkhamsted. He gave his address as “Cegrae” in Greenway. This was the large property with extensive gardens that his father had designed and named to be the amalgam of the initials of the family Constance, Edgar, Gwen, Raymond, Avis, and Enid. Raymond gave his occupation as a Letterpress Offset Machine operator.

The UK Army Roll of Honour records that Edgar TUFNELL (aka E R TUFNELL) died in the Middle East of 29^th June 1942. He was a Gunner in the Royal Artillery. The date of his death is immediately before the First Battle of El Alamein at a time when the British troops, commanded by Auchinleck were preparing defensive positions for the upcoming battle. Raymond is buried in the El Alamein Cemetery at Matrüh in Egypt under the name of Gunner Edgar Raymond TUFNELL.

So, the story we are left with is of a life wasted. At least two of Raymond’s sisters lived long, full lives into their 90’s. His bereaved wife, Mary Esther married a Canadian serviceman in 1944 and emigrated to Quebec, Canada a couple of years later.

Frederick James Coughtrey

29/09/1960

Frederick James Coughtrey (Son-in-law)
at rest 29th Sept 1960