Elizabeth Reynolds - an extraordinary life

My mother’s aunt was baptised Hepzibah Reynolds in Eye, Suffolk, England in 1845. She was one of nine children. Her father, James Reynolds occupation was a 'Mole Catcher'. 

To follow her progress in life and to have some idea of when and where she lived I have enlisted the aid of the British Census which was taken every ten years. Whilst it gives some idea of her life of course it is very basic in content.

1851 Census   The family were living in TanHill, Eye, Suffolk and Hepzibah was shown as being a scholar and seven years old.

1861 Census   By this time Hepzibah had changed her name to Elizabeth for reasons unknown.  Her father James was at one time a lay preacher and had given several of his children Biblical names but perhaps she preferred a more common name.  In this Census Elizabeth was living in Diss, a small town near Eye and was a General Servant.     

1871 Census   Elizabeth had moved once again and was employed as a Housemaid working in a large house in St George, Hanover Square, London. The head of the house was a retired Indian Army General.  What was interesting in the Census is that it also shows Mary Ann Reynolds, her younger sister, also working there as a Housemaid.

1881 Census   This Census finds Elizabeth employed in Windsor Castle as a Housemaid amongst a huge staff (with, of course, details of the Royal family in residence there). Makes fascinating reading. She evidently was good at her job and the right sort of personality because she finished up being a personal chambermaid to Queen Victoria. We only have one photograph of Elizabeth, dressed in black with a fashionable bustle. 

Elizabeth Reynolds

Quite a commanding presence but my mother said that she had been told that she was a very warm caring person who spoke well.  Apparently Elizabeth used to arrange for parcels of gingerbread from the Royal Household to be sent to her namesake Elizabeth Reynolds (Daughter in law of Edward, brother to Elizabeth) my mother used to refer to this and apparently whilst some of the gingerbread was plain other samples bore the Royal Crest made out of confectioner’s sugar etc.  Needless to say they were regarded with some awe. Elizabeth had some fourteen years service with Queen Victoria prior to her death on 8^th April 1891 in Grasse, France. For someone who had been born in the little rural village of Eye in Suffolk to working in places such as Windsor Castle, Balmoral and Sandringham, going abroad as a member of the Royal entourage and being known to members of the Royal family it must have seemed a dream at times. By contrast, her home town Eye is a fairly small Suffolk village which is mentioned in the Domesday Book but has grown or expanded very slowly over the years. It is still quite quaint and a magnet for all family members to visit if in England.

The Memory of a Royal Tribute Preserved

In April 1891, when the Cote D’Azur was one of the favourite haunts of the British aristocracy, Her Majesty Queen Victoria, a very dignified old lady, was staying in Grasse at the Grand Hotel, accompanied by a large staff of servants.  It was then that an otherwise commonplace incident occurred. One of the chambermaids of the Sovereign, Elizabeth Reynolds, cut herself with a kitchen knife.  However, asepsis and antiseptics in those days were not what they are today, and in spite of great efforts by the royal doctor this lady died very quickly from septicaemia.

Very saddened according to her lady-in-waiting Mary Adeane, Queen Victoria immediately instructed her Private Secretary, Sir Henry Ponsonby, to acquire 'in perpetuity' a place in the cemetery of the town of Grasse where her servant could rest in peace.  And whilst the Queen was sadly mourning Elizabeth Reynolds, the architect Biasini began work to erect a monument whose inscription, in two languages, is gradually fading a little but can still be read:

"This monument was erected by Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, in affectionate memory of one who died in Grasse on 8th April 1891 in her 45th year after serving the Queen faithfully for 14 years."

The Court Circular of Sunday 12th. April 1891 of Her Majesty Queen Victoria in Grasse (France) reads:

“We greatly regret one sad event. A personal chambermaid of the Queen, Miss Elizabeth Reynolds, who had been in her service for fifteen years died on Wednesday of an injury to her hand which had become septic.  Her Majesty was greatly affected and took charge personally of funeral arrangements.”

My grandfather, George Reynolds, was unable to attend the funeral but another sister, Maria, was present.  On the return of the Queen to England, my grandfather George was summoned to Windsor Castle and had an interview with her Majesty. One of his most treasured possessions was a copy of  “Our Life in the Highlands”  by Her Majesty Queen Victoria and inscribed: “Presented to Elizabeth Reynolds by Victoria, R.I., Balmoral, 24th May 1883.”

On a sad note this book has been lost over the years.
After the death of Elizabeth, Alfred Burrows (her uncle, brother to Sophia Burrows) wrote a beautiful letter to Queen Victoria thanking her for the grave headstone etc. The letter was couched in very flowery terms and he signed off with “Your most humble and obedient Servant” 

I thought it might be worth rounding out these notes with a fairly brief Family Tree of the Reynolds family
                                          

Thomas Reynolds                                                     Elizabeth ?

Abt .1743                                                                    Abt.  1744

Bur  20 Nov 1812 (69 yrs old)                                   Bur 11 Apr 1826 (82yrs old)

Married abt. 1771/2  Occold, Suffolk

John                  Thomas            Elizabeth         Robert              Sarah                Mary

31 Dec 1775     8Aug1773       25Jun1780      19May1782      14Aug1785      23Dec1786

All bapt. Occold, Suffolk

Robert married First wife Mary Deekers on 25 Mar 1800, Eye

(Second Marriage to Rebecca Collins 17 Jun 1848)

Robert          Sarah          Charlotte          Charles          James          Abel           John

1801        28Nov1802     23May1808        1806              1809       24Aug1816   1817

James married Sophia Burrows (3Aug1809) on 25 Dec 1830, Eye

Ephraim            Maria            Enoch            Hepzibah            Samuel

 30Mar1834     14May1837   25Mar1841       1846                  1846

Mary Anne            Edward             George
12May1849          March1852        4Mar1855

All born in Eye, Suffolk

Alice Rayner (11Dec1860)  and George Reynolds married on 17 Jul 188, Bury St Edmunds

Alice Beatrice Reynolds (the only child) was born 10 Nov, 1898 in Eye Suffolk and died 14 Nov 1994 age 96yrs, Merrylands, New South Wales, Australia. Alice Reynolds married William Clifton Martin in 1919 in London.

James Reynolds had a second marriage to a Sarah Marriot (1823 Chedgrave, Suffolk) on 8 Dec 1875, Eye. Luckily we have a photograph of them on what I think is their wedding day which has been passed around the family. Whilst still more research is required on this family it will be done after I have finished some of the other areas I am researching on my father’s family. It is noted that Hepzibah (Elizabeth) baptismal year was the same as Samuel but she could have been born a little earlier as the previous baptism was five years earlier.

No recollections of family history should be complete without a little bit of scandal. Well!!!!   Maria Reynolds born 1837 had an illegitimate son Alexander Wray Reynolds born in September 1856 and baptised on 13 July 1866, Eye.  She married a George Green who was a Publican/Dealer in Mar 1869 who was a widower with three girls Stephanie, Laura and Bessie. Maria then had a daughter Maria baptised on 20 Mar 1872, Eye. However Alexander was sent to live with his grandfather James some time prior to the 1861 Census where he was shown as aged four years old.  He continued to live there for some years and was shown on the 1871 Census as being a butcher. At some time in the next few years he moved to South Africa where became successful and had butcher shops and properties in Capetown and Pretoria.

I made a brief mention of Elizabeth Reynolds (nee Rogers). She was married to Edward Reynolds (1852) who died of TB. It was believed that Alfred, as he was now known, had became smitten with Elizabeth and wanted to marry her. It appears that he was rejected because of the blood relationship primarily and not simply because of his illegitimate status. Alfred married and had three children-Edward, Hazel and Lillian. Alfred must have been worth a penny or two as he visited the UK quite often when he no doubt established a relationship with Elizabeth Reynolds who lived in Portsmouth-obviously not close enough. The children were taken into care after the death of Alfred following a cycling accident; and after the death of his wife from cancer by a Mr Higgins (relationship-unknown) Interesting that Lillian Reynolds studied music at the Royal Academy but apparently had not contacted her relatives in Eye.

John Martin
Family Archivist

Tweed Heads (4th July 2013)