Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Minnie Wood

1852 –16/11/1957

Daughter in law of Alfred and Elizabeth Wood

Relatives

Alfred Wood — other

Elizabeth Wood — other

• Jane Beaty

Plot 203

Minnie Wood died 16th November 1957 aged 82.

Minnie was born on 12/05/1875

She was married to Arthur WOOD, the son of Alfred and Elizabeth WOOD.

By 1919 Arthur and Minnie WOOD had moved into his parents’ tobacconist shop at 206 High Street, just along from Elsie and Hubert DICKMAN at no 198. Here they continued to run the wholesale and retail business that his parents had started.

The couple had a daughter, Doris Minnie WOOD and the family continued to run the business for at least 20 years from the premises on the High Street. Doris married Oliver Victor WESTON in 1933 in Berkhamsted.

By 1939 Minnie and Arthur had retired from the business and moved to Ashlea, Felden Lane Hemel Hempstead. The register records that Minnie had “private means”, and they were sharing the house with three others.

Minnie WOOD of Ashlea, Felden Lane died on 17/11/1957 at Hill End Hospital, Hemel Hempstead. She is buried in Plot 203 alongside her parents-in-law.

Probate was granted to her husband Arthur WOOD, retired wholesale and retail tobacconist and to Dorris Minnie WESTON (wife of Oliver Victor WESTON). Her Estate was valued at £6,860.

So in Plot 203 we have three Berkhamsted octogenarians who enjoyed good, long lives from the tobacco trade.

Elizabeth Wood

1852 –10/05/1937

Wife of tobacconist Alfred Wood

Relatives

Alfred Wood — husband

Minnie Wood — other

• Jane Beaty

Elizabeth was born Elizabeth BROOKS in about 1852 in Northchurch. Her father was Matthew BROOKS, a labourer in the watercress beds and her mother was Lucy BROOKS, a straw plaiter. Elizabeth was the third of their six children and they lived in a large multi-generational household in River Terrace.

On 5^th September 1874, she married 23-year-old Alfred WOOD at the Parish Church, Northchurch. The couple were of a similar age, both born and bred locally. The witnesses at their wedding were her father Matthew and her sister Caroline BROOKS. Alfred was a painter and decorator in this early time.

For the first few years of their marriage, the couple lived alongside Alfred’s parents and his brother in the High Street. This is where their first two daughters were born. In fact, on the day of the first census of their married life their second child was so young that he had not even been named.

The couple had six children, all born in Berkhamsted, although only four of them survived to adulthood. Their surviving children were Alice (1876), Arthur (1881), Charlie (1886), and Cecily aka Cissie (1891).

Alfred had bigger plans than life as a painter and decorator though. By 1901, when they were both 39, Alfred had started his new business as a tobacconist at 206 High Street. The couple lived there for twenty years or so and the business thrived. Within ten years their 20-year-old daughter Cecily was working with them both in what became the family tobacconist business.

By 1919 the electoral register shows that Alfred and Elizabeth had left the business and retired to 18 Cross Oak Road. They handed over their thriving enterprise to their eldest son Arthur. He was also successful and grew the business into a wholesale and retail tobacconist trade, working from the same premises for another twenty years.

In 1933 Alfred died but Elizabeth lived on as a widow at Cross Oak Road for a further four years before dying there, on 10^th May 1937, aged 85. She is buried alongside her husband in Plot 203. Probate was granted to her son Arthur and his wife Minnie. Her estate amounted to £555.

In marrying her humble painter, she probably never imagined being part of a successful new business in the town.

Alfred Wood

1851 –10/03/1933

A painter who became a successful tobacconist

Relatives

James William Wood — father

Eliza Wood — mother

Minnie Wood — other

Elizabeth Wood — wife

• Jane Beaty

Plot 203

Alfred Wood died 10th March 1933 aged 81.

Alfred WOOD was born in February 1851, the son of a Berkhamsted couple James and Eliza WOOD. He was their fourth child, born just a month before the 1851 census and the family were living in the High Street where James was a baker and grocer, and Eliza was a shoe binder.

Ten years later, after the birth of another couple of children, both parents and their eldest daughter Emma and son William all described themselves as piano tuners. By the time Alfred was 20, he had started his working life as a painter.

On 5^th September 1874, when Alfred was 23, he married Elizabeth BROOKS at the Parish Church, Northchurch. She was a Berkhamsted girl, the same age as him. For the first few years of their marriage the couple lived alongside Alfred’s parents and his brother in the High Street. Alfred added plumbing to his skills so was able to describe himself as a Plumber and Painter. They had four children.

Within the next ten years Alfred made a big decision. He decided to give up his painting and decorating trade and start a new venture as a tobacconist. By 1901 the couple had moved to premises at 206 High Street and Alfred had opened his new shop. The tobacconist trade obviously thrived because it became a family business. Alfred’s wife Elizabeth worked with him in the shop and within ten years they were also employing their youngest daughter Cecily (aka Cissie).

By 1919 the electoral register shows that Alfred and Elizabeth had left the business and retired to 18 Cross Oak Road. The two of them had run their new business for about twenty years and handed over their thriving enterprise to their eldest son Arthur. He was also successful and grew the business into a wholesale and retail tobacconist trade, working from the same premises for another twenty years.

Alfred and Elizabeth lived at 18 Cross Oak Road for the rest of their lives. Alfred died on 10^th March 1933, aged 81 and is buried in Plot 203.His estate amounted to over £1,500.

So Alfred grew from humble beginnings to be a very successful Berkhamsted entrepreneur. He founded a family business which brought wealth to the three octogenarians who share this plot.