Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Richard Burn

1778 –28/11/1842

Butler for 32 years to James Smith at Ashlyns Hall; thought to be the earliest surviving gravestone in the Cemetery.

• James Moir

Richard Burn (c.1709-1842) was butler for 32 years to the wealthy banker James Smith who built Ashlyn’s Hall. In the 1841 Census Richard Burn is recorded as resident at Ashlyns Hall, with only Augustus Smith, aged 36 living there as the proprietor and one other male servant and four female servants. Augustus, the son of James Smith, was a prominent figure in Berkhamsted’s history, noted for his role in the Battle of Berkhamsted Common of 1866.

This is believed to be the earliest surviving gravestone in the Cemetery.

The headstone is now extremely worn, but a piece that appeared in the Herts County Press helps to reinstate the full inscription, which apparently claims that Richard Burn is related to the 18th-century legal writer Richard Burn (1709–1785), author of several influential and authoritative books on English Law. The writer Richard Burn lived in Westmorland, and he and his wife had one son John (b.1744)

GREAT BERKHAMPSTEAD – A grave-stone has recently been erected in the new burial ground here, having the following rather curious inscription:- “Here rests the mortal remains of Mr. Richard Burn, a relation of Burn’s Justice, thirty-two years butler to James Smith Esq, of Ashlyn’s Hall. Died 28th November, aged 64 years. A good and faithful servant.” We do not profess to understand the above; but we think we can perceive a strong inclination on the writer to that vanity which exists only in little minds – of claiming for his father’s butler relationship to Richard Burn, L.L.D, the author of the very talented and well-known work called Burn’s Justice’

Reported in the Lincolnshire Chronicle, 6th October 1843.

The above article appears to be intended as a political snipe at Augustus Smith himself. Further research is required to prove the relationship to Richard Burn, but there seems little reason why there shouldn’t be a familial connection between the two.