Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Mary Anne Wood

d.13/02/1925

Wife of William Wood

Relatives

William Wood (759) — husband

• Melanie Hilton

Mary Ann Wood (née Holliday)

Mary Ann was born in Aylesbury in 1846, the daughter of William Holliday, a wheelwright, and his wife Ann Elizabeth.

She married William Wood in 1867 and it is possible that it was the fact that both her father and William worked in wood that brought about a meeting between the young couple.

Mary Ann and William had a baby, Alice, in 1868, but tragically lost her, aged two, in 1870. Happily, all four of their remaining children lived to grow up.

Mary Ann died in early 1925, within a very short time of William.

William Wood (759)

1845 –13/02/1925

Brush handle maker and Baptist minister

Relatives

Mary Anne Wood — wife

• Melanie Hilton

William Wood

 William, was born 1845 in Berkhamsted to Peter Wood, an umbrella maker and his wife Sarah but not baptised until 18 April 1852 in St Peter’s.

In 1861 William was apprenticed to a ‘wood ware manufacturer’ and was living with his parents in the High Street, probably close to the junction with Holliday Street.

The Watford Observer (18 November 1905) gives a glimpse of the industry: “For 500 years, at least, the wooden ware industry has been the staple trade of Berkhamsted, the abounding beeches which flourish on the Chilterns all around it, and other kinds of timber indigenous to the district, favouring this branch of trade. The late Mr. Thomas Read… commenced in a small way at Gossoms End, subsequently removing to the west side of the Canal, opposite the coal wharf. After a great fire, he removed to Holliday-street. Hoops, toy shovels, cricket bats, and similar articles were turned out by thousands at Mr. Read’s works, and Mr. John Sills followed suit, his branch, however, being chiefly the production of large malt shovels, bowls, yokes, &c. [at ‘Tower Mills’]…  [now] the once flourishing busy works in Holliday-street [is in decline].” (Watford Observer, 18 Nov 1905).

William married Mary Ann Holliday in 1867 and in the 1871 Census they were living in Highfield Road with their baby son Frederick. William was working as a brush handle maker and Mary Ann as a straw plaiter.

By 1881 they had moved back to the High Street and were living next to William’s father Peter. William was still a brush handle maker but he was also a Baptist Minister. They had added to their family with Clara, born 1874 and Thomas in 1879. Another son, Arthur, was born in 1885.

In the 1901 Census we learn the family’s address – 58, High Street. William is still making brush handles, or ‘stocks’ and is again recorded as a Baptist minister. The house, now absorbed into an adjoining shop, is just the other side of Holliday Street from the Baptist church.

The more detailed 1911 Census tells us that this was a four roomed house. By then William and Mary Ann were living with their unmarried daughter Clara, a dressmaker. William no longer makes brush handles but is recorded as ‘Strict Baptist minister.’

By 1921 the family remained the same, although William had retired as a Baptist minister. Strangely, however, the return states a place of employment – ‘Baptist Chapel, Bedmond‘, a village about nine miles from William’s home.

William died early in 1925.