EDGECOMBE, Henrietta - Friends of Horton Cemetery

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b.1886-d.1914

^{I found that there was little information on Henrietta Edgecombe but by looking at her parents and siblings we have a picture of what her life was like. I have included this in her story in the hope that one day more detail can be added.}

^{Henrietta Edgecombe was born on 4th August 1886 in Ratcliff. Ratcliff is a little used name for an area now considered southern Stepney in East London.}

^{Henrietta’s parents}

^{Henrietta’s parents were Henry Edgecombe and Amelia Masters. The couple was married in 1864, the first marriage for both of them. Throughout most of his life Henry worked as a boilermaker. By the time of the 1911 census Henry Edgecombe recorded that he had been married for 46 years and he had 18 children (16 can be accounted for). Amelia must have been pregnant a lot of the time including with two sets of twins. The times between the deaths and births of children were often very close. By 1911, Amelia was a patient in The Cancer Hospital in Chelsea.}

^{Their Children}

^{Henrietta was one of the youngest children to be born in the family; many did not survive beyond their early years, only six lived to adulthood. It is not known why so many of the Edgecombe children died so young. The family lived in a very poor area where disease was rife.}

^{In 1850 (England and Wales) life expectancy was 42 years but over 25% of children died before the age of 5. These numbers were generally much higher in overcrowded cities.The common causes of death at the time were tuberculosis, smallpox, cholera and typhoid.}

^{We know Henrietta’s mother Amelia had smallpox, as she was admitted to Bromley House Workhouse on 18 January 1867. Records give the cause for her seeking relief as smallpox. She was admitted with her eldest son Henry aged one; he died a few days later. Amelia was discharged after three weeks.}

^{In 1884 when another child died (John Henry), his death certificate records the cause of death as Tabes Mesenterica (Congenital). Tabes Mesenterica was a tubercular infection of the lymph glands in the abdomen. As it was congenital, it is likely Amelia also had TB, although Tabes Mesenterica can be caught from drinking infected milk. John Henry Edgecombe was just two years old.}

^{Henrietta’s father appears to be in regular work as a boilermaker and his wife Amelia supplemented the income by making shirts.}

^{Henry and Amelia’s eldest daughter Louisa was one that survived to adulthood and she must have been a great help when her younger siblings were born. In total five daughters and one son survived childhood. Henrietta was the youngest of these.}

^{Growing Up}

^{In 1891 when the census was taken, Henrietta was 4 years old. The family was living at 28 Dorset Street in Ratcliffe. They had 3 rooms. 28 Dorset Street was a lodging house which they shared with one other couple. Henrietta was not recorded as attending school yet.}

^{By 1901 the family had moved and were living in nearby Hilton Street, Ratcliffe. They were living in 2 rooms but not sharing the property with anyone else. There were now just 2 children living at home, Henrietta and her older sister Maud. Maud worked as a shirt maker like their mother. Henrietta was 14 and still of school age.}

^{1911 Census}

^{By the 1911 census, all the older surviving siblings were married. Henrietta was 24; she and her father now shared a house with sister Lydia and Lydia’s husband Albinus Osborn. The two families were living at 12 Cawdor Street, Poplar.}

^{Lydia and her husband had no children. Lydia was working as a tailor’s assistant. They had three of the rooms in the house where Henrietta and her father had two. Henrietta’s mother, Amelia was also seen on the census at the Cancer Hospital in Fulham. She died shortly after this. It’s not clear on the 1911 census Henrietta is recorded as working as a machinist.}

^{Admission to Horton}

^{What happened between the 1911 census and Henrietta’s death at Horton Asylum on 2nd August 1914 is difficult to say. We do not know when Henrietta was admitted to Horton and whether her mother’s death was a pivotal reason. The cause of Henrietta’s death was Renal Calculus and hyrdonephrosis, a condition that would have been painful but whether it had also contributed to the reason for admission, it is not known.}

^{Henrietta was buried on 8th August 1914 in the Horton Estate Cemetery.}

^{Author’s notes}

^{We know so little about Henrietta’s life although looking at all the records available we can get a picture of the life of the Edgecombe family in general. It seemed that Henry was able to work as a boiler maker and likely support his family fairly well. There are no records of them seeking relief from the workhouse (except when Amelia had smallpox). Disease would have been a serious problem in the area.}

^{I wonder if Henrietta was affected by the family’s illnesses and the bereavements that never seemed far away and whether she suffered problems as a result of living in such a deprived area.}

^{It is perhaps understandable that Henrietta had a pauper’s grave in Epsom. With so many deaths in the family before, it was likely they all had common burials. Where the family lived there were no burial grounds, so Epsom may then have seemed a good choice anyway.}