Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Laura Trask (x315)

31/12/1857 –23/12/1927

Daughter of Mayor of High Wycombe; married a school teacher and lost only son in the Great War

Relatives

John Trask — husband

John H. Trask — other

• Karen Evans

Laura’s Story

Laura Trask, was born Laura Gilbert in the nearby market town of High Wycombe, the daughter of Thomas and Ann Matilda Gilbert. Her father, Thomas, had been born in August 1825 in Princes Risborough, the son of James and Frances Gilbert who ran the George Inn in the High Street. In 1838, when he was aged about 13, Thomas was apprenticed to one Daniel Hearn lace dealer of Chipping (or High) Wycombe. Thomas Gilbert’s family were neither well-off nor well-connected but they were quite enterprising – by 1851 his parents had moved to London and ran a beer shop in Paddington; they then moved in with his sister Frances who ran a cheesemonger’s in St John’s Wood, London, with which Thomas was also involved. His brother William was a miller in Princes Risborough but moved to South Australia after 1861 (aged around 40) where he became a Member of Parliament for 26 years.

Daniel Hearn died a few weeks after the 1851 census, and left generous bequests to his staff, including £20 and his organ to Thomas Gilbert. Thomas presumably took over the business soon after Daniel’s death. In April 1852, aged 28, at St Vedast’s Church, Foster Lane, in the City of London, Thomas Gilbert married 29-year-old Anne Matilda White of Wycombe – her father was a head collector of taxes, who lived at 4 London Road, Wycombe. Mr White was described as proprietor of a house and land and owner of woodland, so it would have probably been a good marriage for Thomas, who was described as a lace manufacturer of 9 Cheapside. He presumably moved back to Wycombe as in 1853 he appears in local trade directories as:“Gilbert Thomas and Co., grocers, tea dealers, provision merchants, linen and woollen drapers, silk mercers, hosiers, hatters, and lace manufacturers, High St.” (Musson & Craven Directory, 1853)

Laura was one of five daughters that Thomas and Anne had:

1.       Emily White (1853-1939) married Robert Webb at High Wycombe Parish Church on 14th October 1873. When widowed she became a beaded lace manufacturer, then agent for bead and fancy trimmings.

2.       Anne Matilda (1854–1941) was unmarried, initially a music teacher, then carried on a fancy trimmings business. In 1901 she lived at 4 London Road, her maternal grandparents’ house. She left £811 when she died in 1941.

3.       Florence born 1856, married Edward Ernest Philips at St Mary’s Islington on 7th December 1876

4.       Laura born 31st December 1857

5.       Amy Flora (1861-1948), married Philip Vaile, a wealthy lace manufacturer of 10 Ormonde Terrace, Regent’s Park, London, at the Parish Church in High Wycombe on 29th June 1887.

In 1861 Laura and her family were living in Buckingham House (known locally at that time as “Bobbins Castle”) High Street, High Wycombe. Her father was described as a lace manufacturer, grocer and draper, his live-in staff included three drapers, three grocers and a lace man, and he had a cook, a housemaid and a nursemaid – so he was reasonably prosperous. The lace business continued to be very successful, even exhibiting pillow lace-goods at the International Exhibition in London in 1862.

In that same year Thomas was invited to give evidence to the Children’s Employment Commission. He claimed to be the most important lace manufacturer and buyer in southern Buckinghamshire and the adjoining “strip of Oxfordshire”, employing, indirectly, about 3,000 persons.

“They are not absolutely engaged by me as workpeople, but I sell them the materials, that is patterns, and silk or thread; and there is a mutual understanding, although no obligation, that I should take all lace for which I have sold the patterns, whether there be demand for it or not, and that the lacemakers should bring it to me and not to any other buyer.”

By 1871 the family had moved to Bedford House, London Road (very close to Laura’s grandparents at 4 London Road) where they lived until 1902.

As with other industries such as paper-making, mechanisation eventually completely dominated lace-making. The Education Acts of 1870 and 1880, which together introduced compulsory schooling up to the age of 10, and the Factory Act of 1878, which prohibited work before the age of 10, meant that children no longer had the time to make high quality lace. Thomas diversified into Yak lace, a coarse bobbin lace typically made from wool, which was cheaper and faster to make, and often used on mourning garments, and also into beaded work, but to no avail. In 1876 he was forced to file for Bankruptcy and in 1878 his entire business was liquidated, paying a final dividend of 5 ¾d.

The ‘Dividends’ notice in the Bucks Herald dated Saturday 21 September 1878 reads as follows:
“GILBERT, THOMAS (Liquidation), High Wycombe, Bucks, Cheapside and Clifton-road, St John’s Wood, both London, lace manufacturer, poulterer and cheesemonger. Final div of 5 ¾d., at Mr. J. D. Viney’s, 99, Cheapside, London, accountant.” 
In 1881 Laura was still living with her parents and sister, Anne Matilda, at Bedford House. In spite of her father’s bankruptcy, they were still able to employ a general servant. This was also the case in 1891, by which time Laura was 33 years old. One can only imagine that she was resigned to a life of spinsterhood, working in the family business, as would happen with her sister, Anne Matilda. However, that was not to be as The Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Gazette of 14th January 1896 reported:

“Trask-Gilbert. – On the 8th inst., at the Parish Church, High Wycombe, by the Rev E. D. Shaw, vicar, John Trask , of Berkhampstead, eldest son of John Trask, of Winchester, to Laura Trask, fourth daughter of Thomas Gilbert, of High Wycombe.”

Laura Gilbert and John Trask had previously had their banns read at St Peter’s Church, Berkhamsted on 15^th, 22^nd and 29^th December 1895, with Laura being described as a spinster of High Wycombe, and John stated as being a bachelor of the parish of St Peter’s. Laura was eight years older than her husband, a schoolmaster at Berkhamsted School, and must have been full of joy when her son, John Hedley Trask was born on 20th May 1898. She was 41 years old at the time and never had more children.

Two years later in 1900 Laura’s mother, Anne Gilbert died, leaving an estate worth £94. Her father Thomas continued to judge lacework and beadwork in local exhibitions in Wycombe until 1901.

In 1901 Laura and John Trask were living at Hope Villas, Kings Road, Berkhamsted with baby John and one domestic servant. It is hard to find any evidence as to Laura’s hobbies or personality. She went from being a dutiful daughter, to dutiful wife and mother. The census entries for her never state any personal occupation.

In June 1902, the Gilbert family home at 10 London Road was sold at public auction – the South Bucks Standard reports it being sold by Miss Gilbert (despite Thomas still being alive) for £1,500.
Laura’s father, Thomas Gilbert, died in May 1904 of a general decline and he seems not to have left a will. He appears from the glowing local obituaries to have been well respected.
“DEATH OF A NOTABLE MAYOR. By the demise of Mr. Thomas Gilbert, of High Wycombe, the county of Bucks has lost one of its most prominent personages. Mr. Gilbert, who was a member of the Town Council of High Wycombe from 1860 to 1880, was Mayor during an important period in the history of the town. He will be best remembered as one of the leading pioneers in his earlier years of the revival in the well-known Buckinghamshire lace industry and was also the originator of the cognate industry of beadwork, which has ever since found employment for hundreds of poor rural workers in the county.” (Bucks Herald, Friday 13 May 1904)

In 1911 Laura and John were still living at Hope Villas, Kings Road. Their home still stands and was described in the Berkhamsted Conservation Area Character Statement as:

5 & 7 Kings Road (Hope Villas)

An unspoilt pair of villas that sit up on the hillside, set back from Kings Road and with generous gardens

Nos. 5 & 7 Kings Road form a pair of semi-detached villa style houses. Late C19th. Slate roof with gable end brick stacks. Unrendered buff and darker brick with colourwashed red brick dressings to the window openings, carried across the façade as banding at first floor sill level. Painted rendered surrounds to bay windows. Rectangular stone plaque with inscription ‘HOPE VILLAS’. Two storeys. Mirror pair of houses, with principal room each side of adjacent entrance halls. Window openings have slightly cambered arches. Each house has two 2-over-2 paned sashes over gabled bay window with hipped slate roof also with 2- over-2 paned sashes to centre and cants beside shared stone steps up to door with chamfered reveals 3 panelled base, the upper half with 3 glazed panels and narrow rectangular overlight.

On 8^th March 1917, at Watford, Laura’s only child, John Hedley, aged 18 years and 10 months was enlisted into the war effort. Laura must have been terrified watching her only child going to war, as the First World War had already taken the lives of two of her nephews, one of whom was Philip Amyas Vaile was born in July 1894 in Marylebone, son of Laura’s sister Amy Flora and her French husband, Phillipe Vaile.

He was one of three sons brought up at 10 Ormonde Terrace, Regents Park. He became a pupil at Brighton College in 1907 and was a member of Chichester House, before joining the Honourable Artillery Company which was then, as now, a territorial regiment staffed mainly by City professionals and based near Liverpool Street in London. As might be expected he did not actually stay in the Honourable Artillery Company when war broke out but, having been commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, served in the London Regiment.

However, in 1916 he was posted for a while to the Central School in Le Havre in 1916. The Central School was one of many establishments across Northern France intended to improve the quality of newly arrived troops in situ through contact with serving personnel. A posting to such a school a fair distance behind the lines must have seemed to an officer like Philip Vaile a welcome and relatively safe respite from the hardships and dangers of the trenches. However, while he was training a contingent of Canadian troops Phillip Vaile was killed when a grenade exploded prematurely, a very unfortunate accident in what should have been a relatively safe place to spend the war. The tragedy for his family was compounded by the fact that his elder brother Edward had been killed the previous year while serving with the Worcestershire Regiment.

The Hertford Mercury and Reformer of 8^th December 1917 reported as follows:

“BERKHAMSTED

LOCAL SCHOOLMASTER’S LOSS

Second-Lieut. John Hedley Trask, Hampshire Regt., who died on November 20, from wounds received in action, was the only child of Mr and Mrs John Trask, of King’s Road, Berkhamsted, and was aged 19 ½ years of age. He was educated at Berkhamsted School, where his father is a master, and at Chigwell, and was a member of the O.T.C at both schools. He had only been at the Front five weeks when he made the great sacrifice”.

Laura’s grief at the loss of her only child must have been immense. She and her husband remained living at Hope Villas, where she died on 23^rd December 1927. Probate was granted to her husband on 7^th February 1928, with effects worth £1834 15s.

John Trask

d.06/09/1939

Son of a gentleman farmer, school teacher who taught at Berkhamsted School.

Relatives

Laura Trask (x315) — wife

John H. Trask — son

• Karen Evans

The story of John Trask (1865-1939)

John Trask was born in 1865 at Northington Farm, near Winchester in Hampshire. He was the eldest son of John Trask, a gentleman farmer originally from Montacue in Somerset, and his wife Julia (nee Bowles) who was born in Netherbury, Dorset. His parents had married on 27th October 1864 at St Pancras Church in London, before settling at Northington. John Trask, senior and Julia had four children all born at Northington:

John Trask, born 1865

James S Trask, born in 1866

Hedley Fathers Trask, born in 1868

Annie Mabel Trask, born in 1869

 By 1869 John, senior, was starting to participate in local politics, as reported by the Berkshire Chronicle of 20th March 1869. The paper reports that “at a general meeting of the Hampshire Chamber of Agriculture, held at the Town Hall, Basingstoke, a paper was read by Mr John Trask of Northington, after which an interesting discussion took place”. The paper was on the topic of “the present incidence and future just apportionment of Local Taxation”.

Public service was probably something that John Trask senior would have been expected to do, as his father, also John Trask, had been elected as Chairman of the Board of Guardians of Yeovil Union in November 1863.

In 1871 John Trask, senior, was described as a “farmer of 1385 acres, employing 25 men and 11 boys”. The household also included a governess for the children, a cook, a housemaid and a nursemaid. By 1881 the acreage of the farm had increased to 1420, whilst the household had decreased in size, with just Hedley and Annie being the only children at home.

 The census entries hide the crisis that the family was going through as the 1880’s proved to be a decade of bad news for the Trask family. On 16^th June 1880 John Trask’s father, John senior, was declared bankrupt, under the Bankruptcy Act 1869. The First General Meeting of his creditors took placed on 10^th July 1880 at the Royal Hotel, Winchester.

 On Thursday 17th September 1881 there took place the “Sale of the whole valuable BREEDING FLOCK of 718 HAMPSHIRE DOWN EWES, at the Corn Exchange, Winchester”. The flock was reported in the Hampshire Chronicle of 20th August 1881 as consisting of “194 2-tooth ewes, 244 6-tooth ewes, 226 4-tooth ewes and 54 full mouth ewes”. The paper also noted that “Mr Trask has for several years made judicious selections of Rams from some of the most noted flocks in Hampshire and Wiltshire, and has succeeded in establishing a genuine and healthy flock, with all the good points of Hampshire Downs”.

 John’s youngest brother, Hedley Fathers, died in May 1881 at the family home in Northington and was buried on 10th May 1881 at St John the Evangelist Church, Northington. St John the Evangelist Church witnessed the burial of yet another family member, as John’s only sister, Annie Mabel, was buried there on 10th June 1884, having died a few days earlier in Winchester. The losses within the family continued the following year when John’s mother Julia, died and was buried at Northington on 5^th May 1885.

 In spite of his father’s financial difficulties, John Trask can be found in the 1881 census as a pupil at Derby School. Derby School was one of the country’s oldest private schools, with records dating back to the 12th century. The school’s motto was Vita Sine Litteris Mors – Life without learning is death. The school boasted a distinguished Alumni including John Cotton, one of the Pilgrim Fathers, John Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal, the Lord High Chancellor Parker (Earl of Macclesfield), Anthony Blackwell, Lord Chief Justice Eardley Wilmot, Fitzherbert Baron St. Helen’s, Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, Bart., Edward Venables Vernon Harcourt, Archbishop of York and grandfather of Sir William Harcourt, for many years the member for Derby, and Sir Wm. Gell.

 It could be that his time at Derby School inspired him, because in 1886 John became an assistant master at North End House School in Kensington. In 1887 John moved from Kensington, becoming an assistant master at the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe. The Royal Grammar School received its Royal Charter in 1562. Despite its history and longevity, the 1800s saw new impetus for the school with an increased annual salary of £50 for the master, reinvigorated teaching and new buildings in the 1880s, just at the time when John became an assistant master there.

It seems likely that whilst John was teaching at High Wycombe he met his future wife, Laura Gilbert, a native of the town. In 1892 John left High Wycombe to teach at Berkhamsted School,

John Trask, eldest son of John Trask of Winchester, married Laura, fourth daughter of Thomas Gilbert, of High Wycombe, on 8th January 1896 at High Wycombe Parish Church. Their banns had previously been read at St Peter’s Church, Berkhamsted on 15th, 22nd and 29th December 1895.

Laura was eight years older than her husband, a schoolmaster at Berkhamsted School, so the couple must have been full of joy when their son, John Hedley Trask was born on 20th May 1898. Laura was 41 years old at the time and never had more children. In 1901 Laura and John Trask were living at Hope Villas, Kings Road, Berkhamsted with baby John and one domestic servant. In 1911 the family’s address was given more exactly as 2 Hope Villas, Kings Road, and there was no domestic help living in with them.

 John was very active in the life of Berkhamsted, officiating at school sports days, and in May 1908 being one of the representative of the School at the funeral of Mr George Loader.

 On 8^th March 1917, at Watford, John’s only child, John Hedley, aged 18 years and 10 months was enlisted into the war effort. John and Laura must have been terrified watching their only child going to war, as the First World War had already taken the lives of two of Laura’s nephews.

 The Hertford Mercury and Reformer of 8^th December 1917 reported as follows:

“BERKHAMSTED

LOCAL SCHOOLMASTER’S LOSS

Second-Lieut. John Hedley Trask, Hampshire Regt., who died on November 20, from wounds received in action, was the only child of Mr and Mrs John Trask, of King’s Road, Berkhamsted, and was aged 19 ½ years of age. He was educated at Berkhamsted School, where his father is a master, and at Chigwell, and was a member of the O.T.C at both schools. He had only been at the Front five weeks when he made the great sacrifice”.

 John and Laura’s grief at the loss of their only child must have been immense. They remained living at Hope Villas, where Laura died on 23^rd December 1927. Probate was granted to John on 7^th February 1928, with effects worth £1834 15s.

 John had retired as a school master at Berkhamsted School in 1825, but the school remained very much a part of his life. In June 1833 he was bidding on behalf of the school library for books collected by the late Mr W. H. Morris.  One of John’s most notable friends was James Moir, another master at Berkhamsted School, who also lived in Kings Road. James Moir’s correspondence with his son, Guthrie, gives an insight into John’s life. On 7^th March 1937 James Moir wrote: I had a talk with John Trask yesterday. He does not look very well, but I think the cold doubles him up. I don’t know how he can exist alone in that house.

Later that year on 16^th September James Moir wrote: As long as I remember, will you please keep any Cig. Cards you get for John Trask.

John Trask was showing me a lot of new China purchases yesterday. He has bought quite a lot in the holidays.

 James Moir’s correspondence continues to mention John Trask over the next couple of years:

19^th May 1938: I have written to Owen [H.C. Owen (1915-2008) joined the staff at Berkhamsted in 1937] declining the staff dinner. John Trask came to ask for me on Tuesday. Was it not good of him? I was amused at him, for he intended to refuse the dinner, as he thought 10/- exorbitant & that he ought to have been invited, not asked to pay. Meanwhile, however, Webber persuaded him to go as his guest, so he is going.

9^th May 1939: I had a visit from John Trask on Wednesday night he had been picking up some more China in town, a teapot and milk jug, and was very pleased with himself.

24^th July 1939: I meant to go down to School last night at 8 but John Trask came in and we did the Observer Crossword. He did not leave till 7.30 and I had not had any supper, so I did not go down after all

John Trask died on 6^th September 1939 and his death was reported on Friday, 15^th September 1939 by the Bucks Examiner as follows:

The Late Mr John Trask

Warm tributes to the late Mr John Trask, a former President, were paid at the monthly meeting of the Berkhamsted Institute on Monday. Mr Trask died suddenly on Wednesday last at the age of 74, and though he had lived alone for many years he leaves behind a large circle of friends. Safter wide scholastic experience he came to Berkhamsted School in 1892, and on his retirement 14 years ago he became the School Librarian. During Mr Charles Greene’s headmastership he was a house tutor at St John’s, and he was intimately associated with the Cadet Corps. The funeral took place on Friday.

His great friend and colleague, James Moir, was one of those that attended his funeral, as he was finally laid to rest at Rectory Lane with his beloved wife.

John H. Trask

20/05/1898 –20/11/1917

Only son of John and Laura Trask; died in Great War at 19 years of age

Relatives

John Trask — father

Laura Trask (x315) — other

• Janice Boakes

Second Lieutenant John Hedley Trask, 14^th Battalion Hampshire Regiment

John Hedley Trask (1898 – 1917) was born in Berkhamsted on 22 May 1898. He was the only son of John and Laura nèe Gilbert. His father was a Teacher, an Assistant Master at North End House School in West Kensington. He then moved to the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe (1887-1891) eventually ending up at Berkhamsted School in 1892. It must have been while he was working in High Wycombe that he met his wife. They were married there in 1896. They set up home at 2 Hope Villas, Kings Road (now 5 Kings Road).

John was educated at Berkhamsted and Chigwell Schools and was a Cadet in the Officer Training Corps. On 8^th March 1917 he signed his attestation papers at Watford. He was 18 years and 10 months old. He joined the Bedfordshire Regiment, no. 45078.  On the 9 March he was sent to join the Officer Cadet Battalion in Newmarket, with a view to qualifying for a commission.

John joined the Hampshire Regiment as 2^nd Lieutenant on 24 July 1917 and was sent to France in August 1917. He died of wounds received in action near the Menin Road on 20 November 1917. He was 19 years old. His parents received the telegram attached advising them that their only child had died. “deeply regret to inform you 2 Lt JH Trask Hampshire Regiment died of wounds received in action November Twentieth The Army Council express their sympathy”

He is buried in La Cyytte Military Cemetery in Belgium. His mother put an extra inscription on the headstone which says “Of Berkhamsted, Herts. An only child”.

In November 1921 his father applied for his deceased son’s medals. John and Laura continued to live at Hope Villas in Berkhamsted. Laura died in 1927, aged 69, and John died in 1939 aged 74. They are buried together in Rectory Lane Cemetery. Their only son is mentioned on the grave stone with the words “Pro Patria in Flanders (Interred at La Clytte Cemetery Ypres)”.