The Family Grave of Robert Heath
In this time of great uncertainty, face masks and social distancing, each of us are having to adapt and find a variety of activities under restricted conditions in order to occupy the hours, days and weeks that under any other circumstances we would not have.
On the occasions that I have ventured beyond my front door to embark on my Government sanctioned exercise hour I have always elected to turn right rather than left. A left turn would take me towards the town and its snakes of queues outside every shop that remains open. A right turn, up Apton Road is much better. To the right, lies the Old Cemetery, a space of about eight acres (according to the Town Council’s 2018-2019 cemeteries brochure revision 2) of lichen and ivy encrusted stonework that also just happens to be my favourite open space in the town. For the first 18 years of my life my bedroom window overlooked a graveyard of comparable age, as a result graveyards have only ever been areas of fascination, never fear. The history, the art and the drama of a cemetery are equal in my mind to what can be found in museums and galleries….. but I digress! I have been a regular visitor to the Old Cemetery for twenty years or more, but now thanks to COVID-19 I feel that I am on first name terms with at least half of the residents who lie within, the great and the good of Victorian Stortford….. think of it as a means of social distancing in three dimensions, both horizontal and vertical.
Spend an hour within the cemetery walls, take the trouble to spend some time to decipher the weather worn epitaphs and a host of snap-shots are revealed that offer a glimpse into the lives of our Victorian forebears.
Venture into the cemetery from the Apton Road end to about a third of its length, taking the path towards the eastern side of the site and you will soon have a distinctive obelisk of coppery/pink marble in sight. Like a pocket sized ‘Cleopatra’s Needle’, this, the work of Millward & Co of Stamford Hill, marks the family grave of Joseph Robert Heath and Caroline Heath.
Taking in the inscriptions on the various facets of the monument, still clearly legible almost 150 years since they were first carved into the stone one can see the names of four children commemorated in such a way that it is abundantly clear that tragedy, heartbreak and suffering blighted the lives of their parents, Robert and Caroline.
With time on my hands and in possession of a respectful curiosity, I have tried to learn a little more of the story of the Heath family. And, here I would just say that there may be inaccuracies in this information so, if more is known of the family from previous research or still existing local family knowledge, please feel free to put this amateur record straight.
Joseph Robert Heath was born in Bishops Stortford in around 1836 with a first indication as to his whereabouts in the town being gleaned from the 1841 census. Here it was stated that young Joseph at the age of five was living in Potter Street with his Mother and Father, Elizabeth and Joseph along with younger brothers, Frederick and Albert and sister Elizabeth. However, frustratingly, as far as my searches have gone, Joseph Junior falls of the radar for quite a few years until he reappears , relocated to Bristol, where at the age of 24 he married Caroline Amos, aged 23, of Winterbourne, Gloucestershire. At the time of their marriage on 24th March 1861 at the famed St Mary Redcliff Church, the young soon to be couple were both living in central Bristol. Joseph’s profession on their marriage certificate is stated to be ‘Accountant’.
Mr and Mrs Heath did not settle in Bristol for long it appears as the 1871 census tells us that they were living in the building of 68 Wellington Street in the Canton district of Cardiff with not so much as the pitter-patter of tiny feet but a veritable stampede. Of children there were five; Elizabeth (9), Alice (8), Joseph (6), Mary (2) and Charles (6 months)… and eye-watering rate of reproduction, but not so unusual for the time. As if the conditions were not cramped enough, what little space that was not filled with Heath’s large and small was occupied by a lodger, James Biggs, a shoemaker by trade. I can well imagine that Mr Biggs’ rent would have been a most welcome supplement to Joseph’s accountant’s wage.
Fast forward another decade to 1881 and once again the family has moved, this time back to the town of Joseph’s birth, Bishops Stortford. Now resident at 209 Dunmow Road, changes have occurred in the Heath family situation. Robert by this time had switched occupation, casting aside the accountant’s ledger in favour of beer (and who can argue that that is not a positive career move). His given trade is ‘Brewer and Retail Dealer of Beer’. Furthermore, entries in the Kelly’s business directory of 1886 and 1890 confirm that he is working at the Fox Brewery in Dunmow Road. At that time such was the prominence of the malting industry in the town that local brewing concerns could be supported in addition to supplying the big London breweries of the day. But, far more importantly and central to this story new names appear on the census, Annie (7), Minnie (6), Frederick (5) and Edward (2). It is in the roll call of names in this census that the first family tragedy to befall the Heath family reveals itself. If one compares the census entries of 1871 to 1881 it becomes immediately apparent that no fewer than three names are missing, those of the three eldest siblings, Elizabeth, Alice and Joseph!
Detail of the Grave providing information on the fate of Elizabeth, Alice and Joseph Heath.
To understand, it is necessary to swap computer chair once again for the open space of the Old Cemetery and the Heath monument. The dominant dedication on one of the four largest facets reads:
‘THEY WERE LOVELY AND PLEASANT IN THEIR LIVES AND IN THEIR DEATH THEY WERE NOT DIVIDED’
The above is a quotation from the King James Bible (2 Samuel, Chapter 1, Verse 23). The relevance of these words becomes shockingly apparent as the reader continues down the column.
‘IN FOND AND LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF
ELIZABETH CAROLINE
AGED 13 YEARS
ALICE MAUDE MARY
AGED 12 YEARS
AND JOSEPH ROBERT
AGED 10 YEARS
THE EVER DEAR AND BELOVED CHILDREN OF JOSEPH ROB.T AND CAROLINE HEATH
WHO WERE DROWNED AT EDMONTON THROUGH THE BREAKING OF ICE
UPON WHICH THEY HAD VENTURED ON RETURNING FROM SCHOOL
ON 7TH DECEMBER 1875’.
So there you have it, the facts coldly carved into cold stone.
The reportage that I have been able to find of the accident has been fairly sparse compared to the column inches that such an event would receive in today’s press. This may be a reflection of the regularity with which people in the Victorian era, young and old, fell victim to such tragedies, or acts of misadventure.
Such stories were routinely reported in local papers throughout the UK in what I would imagine to be syndicated pieces entitled ‘Epitome of News’. The most detailed account was reported in ‘The Northern Whig’ of Belfast, dated Friday 11th December 1875.
‘FOUR CHILDREN DROWNED AT EDMONTON
On Tuesday a sad accident occurred at Edmonton. Between the Silver Street and Edmonton Stations on the great Eastern (Metropolitan Extension) is an excavation of considerable extent, gravel having been taken out to form the ballast for the permanent way of the line. The surface draining of the adjoining land and one or two springs have continued to flow into the hollow until an immense quantity of water has accumulated. The depth, except in a few spots, averages, however, about five feet. The pond belongs to the railway company. There are notices warning the public not to trespass upon the company’s property, but no active steps are adopted to prevent people from doing so. Since the frost set in a good number of persons ventured on the ice, and on Tuesday three children- two girls and a boy- named Heath, whose parents keep the Cock Tavern, at Hounsfield, just outside Lower Edmonton, and a girl named Alice Bird, daughter of a dairyman of Church Lane, Edmonton, were among the skaters and sliders. Suddenly the ice gave way and they disappeared under the water. A young labouring man named Nichols dived into the hole, but all were drowned. The girls Heath were fifteen and fourteen and the boy and Alice Bird were thirteen.’
The Cock Tavern in the Houndsfield area, Lower Edmonton.
As mentioned in the heart-wrenching report above the Heath’s had moved the relatively short distance from Bishops Stortford to Edmonton where they took responsibility for the Cock Tavern, a large Victorian pub (sadly reportedly closed in 2015 due to structural weaknesses in the building). Minnie Heath and Frederick Heath were both born in Edmonton in 1875 and 1876 respectively. In the aftermath of the accident the family returned to Bishops Stortford where, as mentioned earlier Joseph took up work at the Fox Brewery in Dunmow Road. Edward Heath was born in the town in 1879.
Foxes Brewery, Dunmow Road Bishops Stortford (early 1900's).
On the monument facet 90 degrees to the panel that commemorates Elizabeth, Alice and Joseph. There is another dedication that reads:
‘Also of
SUSAN HEATH BELOVED TWIN DAUGHTER
DIED JANUARY 3RD1876
AGED 2 YEARS AND 7 MONTHS’
Young Susan's fate recorded on another facet of the memorial.
Tragedy heaped upon tragedy….
The 1881 census tells us of a girl, Annie Heath aged 7 at the time of the count. Interrogation of local baptismal records show that Annie Heath and Susan Heath, the twins mentioned in the grave inscription, were born on either 10th or 18th April 1873, one of the dates is obviously being a mistake, but the records are in agreement that the girls were baptized at St Michael's Church on 19th June 1873.
That Joseph and Caroline had to suffer the additional loss of their daughter not a month after losing their three eldest children is almost beyond endurance.
But for this family, life did go on. The 1891 census tells us that Joseph is once again in the pub game proper, now recorded as Brewer and Inn-keeper of the Rising Sun, a pub that until recently was located at 19, Northgate End (the pub closed in 2001 and was demolished in 2003). However, available records show that by 1895 the Riser (as it was known to some I used to drink with in the Half Moon) had changed hands, Joseph had gone and the name above the door was that of Richard William Hickmott.
Another check with the records confirmed the worst as far as Joseph is concerned where his demise is recorded in the death register for the first quarter of 1896. He was 59 years of age.
Caroline soldiered on for a while longer, appearing as the widowed head of the household that was now located close by the Rising Sun at 150 Barrells Down Road. In this 1901 census Caroline is 63 years old. The residency of the property was by this point much reduced with only Charles and Edward still living under the same roof as their mother. Charles had followed his father into the brewing business.
The final piece of the jigsaw, noted from the 1911 census was that Charles was at that time living as a single man in at 137, Fore Street in Upper Edmonton, and now earning a living as a ‘Millwright’. Presumably, this is an indication that Caroline had passed away at some time in the intervening decade.
Sorry that it is not an uplifting story, but I hope it may be of some local interest.
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