A couple of weeks ago we visited an antiques fair in Harpenden. You never know what you will discover and on this occasion it was some old postcards. The lady selling them had packaged them into neat packs of 12 and, when I said I was specifically looking for pre WW1 cards which had been posted, she started looking through some of these packs and extracted the odd card here or there for my perusal. There weren't that many as it turned out but, what was unusual, was that they were all sent to a Miss Busby of Abbots Langley. I purchased three of them in the hope that I could research her further.
I knew that Abbotts Langley was a small village so there was a good chance of tracing Mary. I did and she was actually quite a local celebrity.
Mary was born on 5th September 1884. She was the daughter of the village undertaker, Homer Busby, and as a child, earned many a sixpence for holding gentlemen’s top hats at funerals. In fact the family business consisted of much more than just the undertaking business as Homer was a builder who had built a number of the larger houses in the area.
When her father died on Christmas Day in 1929, aged 73, Mary took over the undertaking business to become the only female undertaker in Hertfordshire and one of only a few in the whole country. She soon became a familiar sight at funerals dressed in her ankle length, dark grey worsted costume and large, broad brimmed, black straw hat. She later reminisced about the good old days when "we had beautiful black horses with plumes, and the gentlemen all wore black crepe around their top hats".
If she wasn't in her funeral attire she would mostly be seen dressed in a capacious blue gingham wrap around apron making for the churchyard with a gardening fork over her shoulder, to tend the graves she was commissioned to keep in order.
Mary was born on 5th September 1884. She was the daughter of the village undertaker, Homer Busby, and as a child, earned many a sixpence for holding gentlemen’s top hats at funerals. In fact the family business consisted of much more than just the undertaking business as Homer was a builder who had built a number of the larger houses in the area.
When her father died on Christmas Day in 1929, aged 73, Mary took over the undertaking business to become the only female undertaker in Hertfordshire and one of only a few in the whole country. She soon became a familiar sight at funerals dressed in her ankle length, dark grey worsted costume and large, broad brimmed, black straw hat. She later reminisced about the good old days when "we had beautiful black horses with plumes, and the gentlemen all wore black crepe around their top hats".
If she wasn't in her funeral attire she would mostly be seen dressed in a capacious blue gingham wrap around apron making for the churchyard with a gardening fork over her shoulder, to tend the graves she was commissioned to keep in order.
One of the postcards I purchased was sent to her in August 1913 from a friend which suggested some trauma in Mary's life. "So very sorry, my dear", the sender says, who hopes Mary will be able to get to the seaside as it is "the best reviver one can get". I wondered if some relation had died so I started looking into Mary's background. Unfortunately I didn't find out what the postcard was alluring to but I did discover some very sad facts about her father's siblings.
Her father, Homer, was one of four children born to Benjamin and Elizabeth Busby who were publicans at The Kings Head public house opposite the graveyard. I found that Homer's three siblings had all died relatively young, even for those days, so I sent for their death certificates :
Her father, Homer, was one of four children born to Benjamin and Elizabeth Busby who were publicans at The Kings Head public house opposite the graveyard. I found that Homer's three siblings had all died relatively young, even for those days, so I sent for their death certificates :
- Agnes, who had been born two years after Homer, died aged just 16 on 23rd May 1875.
- A few months later on 19th September 1875, Elizabeth, the oldest daughter, died aged 20.
In her life Mary referred to her customers as having "gone over the garden wall" and she went over her garden wall in 1973, aged 89. At her funeral, as a tribute to her love of flowers and gardens, the organist played "In an English country garden". Mary is buried underneath an avenue of lime trees in the graveyard she so carefully looked after.
Amazing what you can discover from the back of an old postcard !
Amazing what you can discover from the back of an old postcard !
Acknowledgements :
Lesley Brooks of Abbots Langley Local History Society.
Mary's obituary in the local Parish magazine "Outlook" written shortly after her death.
Lesley Brooks of Abbots Langley Local History Society.
Mary's obituary in the local Parish magazine "Outlook" written shortly after her death.