GRAVE OF THE MONTH

Alfred Brindley – coachman & groom

(1854 – 1895)

Alfred was born in Newbury in 1854, the son of Charles, a general labourer.  His mother, Ann, died in 1860 and his father in 1862, leaving him an orphan at a very early age.  Although he had two older brothers and one younger sister it is unclear from Census returns where he lived while he was growing up.

He married 18 year old Lucy Eliza Smith in 1881 and they settled in Greenham to raise their family.  Their first son, Charles, was born in 1882, followed by Samuel in 1889, Charlotte in 1890 and finally Fred in 1893.  Charles was given a place at Christ’s Hospital School through his hereditary connection to the John West gift.

Alfred worked at Springhurst – a large house on land which is now The Nightingales - as a coachman and groom to Arthur Southby, a banker.  The family lived in a cottage adjacent to the property.

Sadly, Alfred died in the winter of 1895 and was buried on the 8^th February.

Lucy, in her early thirties, was left alone with her young family.  However, just two years later, in 1897, she married Francis Taylor.  Together they had two daughters and a son.  But Lucy’s happiness was short-lived.  Francis died in 1913 and was buried in the same plot as Alfred.

Both men laid together for twenty years waiting for Lucy to join them. She died in 1933.

Many of Alfred’s great-grandchildren still live in Newbury.