Notable Burials

General Sir Francis Warde, KCB

PENINSULA/WATERLOO

TO THE MEMORY OF
GENERAL SIR FRANCIS WARDE
KNIGHT COMMANDER OF THE MOST HONOURABLE ORDER OF THE BATH,
WHO DIED AT READING MAY 1879, AGED 89 YEARS

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
ANNABELLA ADEANE
OF BABRAHAM HALL IN THE COUNTY OF CAMBRIDGE,
THE BELOVED WIFE OF GENERAL WARDE, THE ROYAL ARTILLERY
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE AT WOOD SIDE LODGE,
THE 28TH JANUARY 1864, AGED 72

Their pedestal memorial stands at the front of the church in front of the South Transept.

General Sir Francis Warde:

Francis Warde was born c.Dec 1790, Westerham, Kent,
almost certainly at Squerryes, the Warde family seat.
Warde Family Tree: (From www.kentarchaeology.com)
Francis married Annabella Adeane 14 December 1832 at St Marylebone (Middx).
1841 Census: Living in Shooters Hill Plumstead.  His wife, Annabella, is described as “Ann Ward”, His Occupation is “Army”. Both showed their birthplace as “Kent”.

12 May 1866. Made Colonel Commandant Royal Artillery,
1871 Census: Widower, with a manservant at Cambridge Terrace, Paddington,
Occupation: Lieutenant-General (Retd.) 15th Brigade Royal Horse Artillery.
May 1873: Knight Commander of the Bath.
Died at Reading, May 1879. Aged 89, Buried, Holy Trinity, Penn Street, Bucks.

Annabella Adeane:

Parents: Robert Jones Adeane (1763-1823) of Babraham Hall, Cambridge.
High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire, 1822-23.
He married, 26 August 1785, Annabella, daughter of Sir Patrick Blake, 1st bt,
of Langham Hall (Suffolk), four children:
I. Charles-James, b. 14 June, 1786; d. young.
II. HENRY-JOHN, heir to his father.
III. Annabella, (1787-1864), baptised at Langham (Suffolk), 1 July 1787;
married Lieut.-Gen. Sir Francis Warde, 14 December 1832,
at St Marylebone (Middx), no children;
IV. Louisa, m. Rev. William Barlow, Prebendary of Chester.

Annabella Adeane died 28th January, 1864, at Woodside Lodge,
now known as Woodrow High House, Amersham, Bucks..

General Sir Francis Warde: Military Career

2nd Lieut 4 March 1809. 1st Lieut 8 March 1812. 2nd Captain 3 July 1830.
Captain 15 June 1840. Bt Major 9 November 1846. Lieut Colonel 7 May 1847.
Colonel 13 September 1854. Major General 8 March 1860.
Lieut-General 24 August 1866. General 15 Apr 1877

Served in the Peninsula War, June 1812 – Apr 1814.  (Between Napoleon’s empire & Bourbon Spain for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars). (Brigade Major 6/9th Brigade April- October 1813.
Assistant Adjutant-General, October 1813 – April 1814).
Present at siege of Cadiz.

Present at Waterloo, 18 June 1815 in Lieut Colonel Sir Hew Dalrymple Ross’s Troop & with the Army of Occupation.
Served in Malta 1830 -­1832.
Colonel Commandant Royal Artillery, 12 May 1866.
Knight Commander of the Bath, May 1873.

From ‘Wellington’s Men Remembered, Volume 2’

Waterloo 200

June 18th 2015 at 11 am officers and soldiers from the 1st regiment – Royal Horse Artillery based at Larkhill, gathered at Holy Trinity Penn Street to lay a wreath in honour of General Sir Francis Warde, who fought in the Battle of Waterloo. This wreath laying mirrors the act of remembrance by the Royal Artillery exactly 100 years ago on 18th June 1915 despite WW1, and the wreath is the same design, featuring laurel, corn-flowers and red roses. The ceremony was conducted by Lt/Col Nick Launders, who spoke of the Battle of Waterloo when Wellington led a united international army from a number of European nations fighting against the ambitions of a dictator wishing to control Europe. The event was coordinated with the help of Stuart Reid of the High Wycombe branch of the RA Association.

Penn Street & Holmer Green church newsletter 5/7/2015.

Countess Georgiana Howe

Article from: The Shields Daily News, Saturday July 12th, 1919.

Lady Georgiana Elizabeth Howe, née Spencer-Churchill, born 14th May 1860, daughter of 7th Duke of Marlborough, and sister of Lord Randolph Spencer-Churchill, Winston Churchill’s father.  Married Richard George Penn Curzon, 4th Earl Howe, 4th June 1883.  Lady Georgiana died 9th February 1906, following a long illness and was buried in Congerstone churchyard in Leicestershire, near the family’s estate at Gopsall.

Photograph: Illustrated Leicester Chronicle, Saturday September 20th, 1919.

In 1918, Lady Georgiana’s widower George, 4th Earl Howe, moved his main residence to his Buckinghamshire seat at Penn House, having sold the Gopsall estate to Sir Samuel Waring, of Waring and Gillow.

Lady Georgiana Howe’s body was exhumed in July 1919 and reburied in Penn Street churchyard.

George Howe also resided for part of the time at a house called Woodlands, near Uxbridge, as well as using Curzon House, the family’s London residence in Mayfair, whilst in London.  His mother, Isabella, widow of the 3rd Earl Howe who died in 1900, divided her time between Penn House and the family’s London residence at Curzon House in Mayfair, where she died in 1922.  She is buried with Georgiana and other members of the Howe family in Penn Street churchyard.

The 3rd Earl Howe, Richard Curzon-Howe, (1822-1900) was the son of  the 1st Earl Howe and inherited the title when his elder brother died in 1876.   He was a professional soldier, joined up at the age of 16 and reached the rank of full general.  He was the present, 7th Earl Howe’s great grandfather.

Addendum from Earl Howe, May 2020, not only was Lady Howe removed, but also the Howe monument as well as the entire Lych gate leading to Congerstone church.

They were re-erected in Penn Street churchyard where they rest today.


“Earl Howe has caused an obelisk to be raised twelve feet high, mounted on a three-step pedestal, to be erected over the newly-built vault in Congerstone churchyard (Leicestershire), where , little more than a year ago, the remains of Countess Howe were interred. On the front of the second step are engraved the family arms and motto, “Let Curzon hold what Curzon held.” and near the base of the obelisk is the inscription, “To the beloved memory of Georgiana Countess Howe, wife of Richard George Penn, fourth Earl Howe.  Born 1860, died 1906; daughter of John Winston, seventh Duke of Marlborough.” At the side is also inscribed, “The bitterness of death only touches the living.” At the head of the obelisk are four bronze figures, standing in niches, representing Loyalty, Love, Courage and Truth, and the whole is surmounted by a bronze cross.”
South Bucks Standard – Friday March 8 1907.

Curzon motto,
“Let Curzon Holde what Curzon Helde”(Click images to enlarge)
Poem: from ‘Break, Break, Break’
by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill;
But O for the touch of a vanish’d hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!

 

Sir Alan Hughes Burgoyne MP

Lieut-Colonel Sir Alan Hughes Burgoyne, was MP for Aylesbury, and died in office in aged 45, 26th April 1929.  His funeral and burial at Penn Street was held on 1st May 1929, The Revd. E.M. Davies (Vicar) and his predecessor, the Revd. Arthur Browning officiated.  Sir Alan’s wife, Lady Irene Victoria Easor, died just 9 months later, 12th February 1929, aged only 48.

Sir Alan and Lady Burgoyne lived at Finchers in Beamond End, and had a London town house at 33 Eaton Terrace.

A brief biography from the Australian Newspaper Archive: Trove:

“Sir Alan Burgoyne was born in1880 and completed his education at Queen’s College, Oxford. He was a man of varied interests and was prominent in parliamentary, scientific and naval spheres, and was a great traveller. He published several works on phases of the war, under the sea and on land, and founded the Navy League Annual in 1907. It was while in Port Arthur, in 1903, that he was arrested by the Russians on a false charge of spying. He was director of several commercial interests, which included the Australian Wine Importers, Ltd. He owns considerable property in Australia. During the war he served in France, Italy, Palestine and India, and was made a Lieut.-Colonel in 1918. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a skilled engineer, and a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society Council. He married in 1906, Irene Victoria Easor, second daughter of Earl Macdonald.”

There was a comprehensive full page report on Sir Alan’s life and work in The Bucks Examiner, Friday May 3rd, 1929. (PDF file 900k, opens in a new window) .

The striking Celtic Cross memorial stands at the rear of the Church.

The Penn Street Double Tragedy

THE PENN STREET DOUBLE TRAGEDY

ADJOURNED INQUEST ON THE TWO VICTIMS

Yesterday, (Thursday), at the Guildhall, High Wycombe, Mr. A. E. W. Charsley, Coroner for South Bucks, resumed the inquest – (adjourned from Tuesday, September 24th) – on the double fatality which occurred at Penn Street on the night of Saturday – Sunday, September 21st – 22nd. The victims of this sad affair were:

DIED

Southwood, Walter Archibald Bruce, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. A. B. Southwood, of “Rose Cottage,” Penn.
Cook, George, 31, Finchers Lodge, Amersham, son of Mrs. Emma Cook, a widow.

INJURED

Lawrence, Dorothy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. Lawrence, “Penn Wood View Cottages,” Penn Street.
Page, William Frank, Tylers Green, Penn.

The story is a familiar one by now. All the parties concerned – deceased, the injured, and the witnesses at the inquest – attended the first dance of the season at Penn Street Village Hall. After the dance, at about midnight, Miss Dolly Lawrence and Mr. Cook strolled a short way up the road towards the Church, and the couple had just turned and were making for her home, which faces Penn Wood, when a motor cycle driven by Mr. Southwood, with Mr. Page as pillion-rider, collided with them. As a result of the collision Mr. Southwood and Mr. Cook received such terrible injuries that they died shortly afterwards at Wycombe Hospital, where they were taken: Mr. Page was detained in Hospital with injuries, but was released during the week; Miss Dolly Lawrence, who was taken home, received such head injuries that she was seriously ill for several weeks, and the adjourned inquest was held in abeyance until her recovery.

The Bucks Examiner, Friday, October 25th, 1929.

George Cook was buried in Penn Street Churchyard, 25th September, 1929.

Original Page from The Bucks Examiner, Friday, 25th October, 1929
With full text of the proceedings at the inquest. (PDF file, 900k, Opens in new window)

Ellen Wilkinson & The Twixtlands Five

From time to time the Penn & Tylers Green Residents Society receives enquiries from people outside the immediate area, usually concerning matters of local and social history, often linked to their own family stories …

One such enquiry, received just before Christmas, concerned the final resting place of one Ellen Cicely Wilkinson who with others lived in Penn Bottom in the Autumn of 1939. Now, I imagine Ellen was not typical of those that enjoyed the rural atmosphere of Penn Bottom between the wars, she was the MP for Jarrow, had led the Jarrow March and was a founder member of the British Communist Party, she had travelled to Russia and met Leon Trotsky, and following the Labour Party landslide in 1945 she became Minister for Education and died in office in 1947.

Although keeping a London flat she must have retained fond memories of Penn as she is buried in Holy Trinity Penn Street.

However, there is still more to be told, as Ellen shared the house in Penn Bottom – known as Twixtlands – with other notable socialists of the era.

Probably best known was Herbert Stanley Morrison, he of the Morrison shelter widely promoted and used in WW2. One-time leader of the London County Council, he became Home Secretary in the Coalition Government 1940-1945 and then Deputy Prime Minister in Clement Attlee’s 1945-1951 Labour Government.

The third Labour MP present that Autumn was John Jagger who had represented Manchester Clayton since 1935, a committed trade unionist he became Morrison’s PPS in 1940 until his death in a road accident 1942.

This accident took place in Clay Street Penn Bottom when his auto-cycle collided with a motor car driven by a local farmer, Jagger was on his way to Beaconsfield station to catch a London train.

The remaining two residents were Anne & Doris Wilkinson, sister & sister-in-law to Ellen, Anne was a staunch supporter of her sister throughout her political career both sharing various London addresses for many years.

Ellen Wilkinson 1947 and her sister Anne, 1965 (Front of Church)

So, within Twixtlands had resided political figures of considerable national & international reputation and there had been iconic visitors as well, Mahatma Gandhi among them … and yes it still stands today as Little Penn Farmhouse

This article would not have been possible without reference to the “1939 Register”, it provided the Government with a snapshot of the civilian population of England & Wales just after the outbreak of WW2.

It was taken on 29th September 1939 and was used in the introduction of Identity Cards & Ration Books. It later played an important role in the launch of the NHS. It can be viewed on both the Find my Past and Ancestry websites.

Ron Saunders, P&TG Village Voice, February/March 2019.

Ellen Wilkinson died 6 February 1947, aged 55, at St Mary’s Hospital, London and was buried in Penn Street churchyard, 10th February, 1947.

There is a very comprehensive biography of Ellen Wilkinson on Wikipedia.

Sir Cecil Clementi and family

Sir Cecil Clementi GCMG (1875-1947), whose family grave is located on the western edge of Holy Trinity churchyard, hard up against Penn Wood, was a distinguished colonial administrator and scholar who served as Governor of Hong Kong (1925-1930), and of the Straits Settlements and High Commissioner of the Federated Malay States (1930-1934), the territories now known as Singapore and Malaysia. Clementi spent his entire career overseas. Born in Kanpur (Cawnpore) India, where his father served in the military, he attended St Paul’s School and Magdalen College Oxford before passing the Civil Service examination and choosing to serve as an Eastern Cadet in Hong Kong. He spent 13 years in the Colony, acquiring fluency in written Chinese and various spoken dialects, travelling extensively in China and rising to the position of Acting Colonial Secretary. During this period he published a translation with commentary of Cantonese Love Songs and was an early champion of Hong Kong University, founded in 1911. His next post was that of Colonial Secretary in British Guiana (1913-1922), followed by the same role in Ceylon (1922-25) before returning to Hong Kong as Governor during a time of crisis in relations between Britain and China. Clementi championed Chinese education in Hong Kong, where the Clementi Secondary School, founded in 1926, is named after him (Clementi Secondary School.). He also worked to outlaw the practice of domestic slavery of young Chinese women known as the mui-tsai  (妹仔) system.
His final post was Governor of the Straits Settlements and the Malay States at a time when they were among the most prosperous of Britain’s overseas territories thanks to the growth of the tin and rubber industries, both of them hard hit by the Great Depression.
For much of his career, Sir Cecil followed in the footsteps of his uncle, Sir Cecil Clementi-Smith (1840-1916), who also served in Hong Kong, Ceylon and, finally, as would his nephew, Governor of the Straits Settlements.

Sir Cecil Clementi and his wife Lady Penelope retired in 1934, and moved into Holmer Court in 1935,  (now demolished and the site of the housing development known as the ‘Clementi Estate’). He died there on 5 April 1947.

Their younger daughter, Cecily Joyce Clementi (1915-1940), predeceased her parents whilst working as a student nurse at Park Prewett Hospital (then a military hospital), Basingstoke. She is remembered at St Thomas’ Hospital Chapel, Lambeth on a memorial to nurses who ‘Died in the discharge of their Duties’.  Cecily Clementi died the day before her brother Cresswell was to be married.

She is buried at Penn Street, as is Lady Penelope (1889-1970). Memorial stones at the foot of the main headstone, which is adorned with a fine Celtic cross, commemorate one of the couple’s other daughters, Dr Dione Clementi (1914-2010), an historian, and Air Vice Marshal Cresswell Clementi (1918-1981) and his wife Susan (1918-2006).

By Graham Hutchings © (2020), who is writing a biography of Sir Cecil Clementi to be published by Hong Kong University Press.  Additional information and photograph re: Cecily Clementi, from Richard Maddox, Imperial war Museum.
Holmer Court image © Stuart King.

Footnote:
Sir Cecil and Lady Penelope Clementi very soon involved themselves in village life in Holmer Green.  Supporting Scouts, Brownies and the village schools among other things.

Sir Hugh Eyre Campbell Beaver KBE

Hugh Eyre Campbell Beaver was born 4 May 1890 in Johannesburg, the eldest of three sons of Hugh Edward Campbell Beaver, of Montgomeryshire, and his wife, Cerise, daughter of John Eyre, of Anglo/Irish extraction.  He was an engineer, industrialist, and founder of the Guinness World Records (then known as Guinness Book of Records).

Hugh Beaver was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, after which he spent two years in the Indian Police force from 1910. In 1921 he returned to England, before joining Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners, Engineers. In 1931 the firm was commissioned by the Canadian government to conduct a survey of its national ports. He spent seven months in Canada, during which time he was asked to supervise the rebuilding of the Port of St John, New Brunswick, which had been destroyed by fire. He was a partner of the firm from 1932–1942, and director general and controller general of the Ministry of Works from 1940–1945.

In 1946, he became a managing director of Arthur Guinness, Son and Co Ltd and stayed there until he retired in 1960.

He was greatly involved in the efforts to rebuild Britain and the British Empire after World War II, and was a co-opted member of Lord Reith’s Committee on New Towns 1946–1947, a member of the Building Industry Working Party 1948–1950, director of the Colonial Development Corporation 1951–1960.

Hugh Beaver was chairman of the Committee on Power Station Construction 1952–1953, where he advised on the Great Smog of 1952 in London. As a result of his advice on smog, he was made chairman of the Committee on Air Pollution 1953–1954, which resulted in the Clean Air Act 1956.

He was also interested in the promotion and application of science, and as a result was chairman of the Advisory Council on Scientific and Industrial Research 1954–1956, and chairman of the Industrial Fund for the Advancement of Scientific Education in Schools 1958–1963. With Sir Alan Wilson, he was a key sponsor of the creation of St Catherine’s College, Oxford by Alan Bullock.

He was knighted in 1943 and awarded a KBE in 1956. He also received honorary degrees from the University of Cambridge, Trinity College, Dublin, the National University of Ireland, and was made an honorary fellow of the London School of Economics in 1960. He also served as President of the Royal Statistical Society from 1959 to 1960. He died of heart failure in his London home, 16th January 1967.

Several generations of the Beaver family lived at Highlands, Cherry lane, Woodrow, Amersham.

Guinness Book of World Records

On 10 November 1951, Hugh Beaver, then the managing director of the Guinness Brewery, went on a shooting party in North Slob, by the River Slaney in County Wexford, Ireland. He became involved in an argument: Which was the fastest game bird in Europe, the golden plover or the grouse? That evening at Castlebridge house it was realised that it was not possible to confirm in reference books whether or not the golden plover was Europe’s fastest game bird.

He thought that there must be numerous other questions debated nightly in the 81,400 pubs in Britain and in Ireland, but there was no book with which to settle arguments about records. He realised then that a book supplying the answers to this sort of question might prove popular. He happened to be correct.

His idea became reality when Guinness employee Christopher Chataway recommended university friends Norris and Ross McWhirter, who had been running a fact-finding agency in London. The brothers were commissioned to compile what became the Guinness Book of Records in August 1954. A thousand copies were printed and given away.

After founding the Guinness Book of Records at 107 Fleet Street, the first 198-page edition was bound on 27 August 1955 and went to the top of the British best seller lists by Christmas. “It was a marketing give away – it wasn’t supposed to be a money maker” said Beaver. The following year it launched in the US, and sold 70,000 copies. Since then, Guinness World Records has gone on to become a record breaker in its own right, with sales of more than 100 million copies in 100 different countries and 37 languages, Guinness World Records is the world’s best selling copyrighted book ever.

Wikipedia and other sources.

Lady Georgiana Curzon

TO BE MARRIED NEXT WEEK:
LADY GEORGIANA CURZON AND LT. HOME KIDSTON. R.N.

The wedding of Lady Georgiana Curzon and Lt. Home Kidston, R.N. is to be on the 27th at Penn, Bucks, where the bride’s father, Lord Howe, has his seat. Lady Georgiana Curzon is Lord and Lady Howe’s only daughter, and bears a striking resemblance to her beautiful mother, who is also a Curzon and is the daughter of the late Colonel the Hon. Montagu Curzon. The bride-­groom-elect is still a serving sailor and has been “on loan” to the New Zealand Naval Division for two years. He is the youngest son of the late Captain Glen Kidston and of Lady Windham. (Photographs: Fayer of Vienna, Dorland House)

November 20, 1935, THE TATLER, Illustrated London News Group

There is a 25 second video of their marriage on the Pathe News website, and here on Youtube (Opens in new tab)

Lady Georgiana and Home Kidston had one son, Glen Kidston, born 1937, who died in 2018 and is buried at Penn Street.  Sadly Georgiana and Home’s marriage did not last and they divorced in 1943.  Lady Georgiana remarried 1st December 1953, to Lewis Stanton Starkey (1906–1975).

“Georgie” died 11 January 1976. She is buried at Holy Trinity, Penn Street, and on her grave there are two lines by Tennyson: “Oh for the touch of a vanished hand, and the sound of a voice that is still“.  The same lines which appear on her grand-mother’s memorial lych-gate at Penn Street.

(Thanks to Ron Saunders for finding this article from the Tatler)