The Bury, Hemel Hempstead
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The Bury is a building of historical significance in Hemel Hempstead in the county of
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
, England. It was erected in about 1790 by an attorney who worked in the town. It was the residence for the next two centuries of many notable people. It is now owned by the Dacorum Borough Council and is
Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.


Ginger family

William Ginger (1742–1793), an attorney, erected the current building in about 1790. He demolished a manor house on the site, which had previously been owned by his father William Ginger (1699–1783), who was also an attorney. He appears to have been unmarried because, when he died in 1793 at the age of only 51, the house was inherited by his younger brother Richard Ginger. In 1796 the magazine called the ''Monthly Mirror'' published an article about the property, which contained an etching of the house. They described the estate which they called "Mr Ginger’s Villa" in the following terms: Shortly after this, Richard Ginger, who had formerly lived in Queenhithe in London, was declared bankrupt and was forced to sell all of his property. A sale notice for all of his inherited Hemel Hempstead holdings was published in the newspapers in 1797 and is shown. The description of The Bury is as follows: William Hilton, a merchant who traded in England and Ireland, bought the property and lived there for about ten years.


Grover family

Harry Grover (1761–1835) was a resident in The Bury from about 1808 until his death in 1835. He was born in 1761 in
Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...
. His father was Montague Grover (1723–1795) and his mother was Letitia Moody. He became a solicitor, and married Sibylla Ehret, who was the granddaughter of the famous botanical artist Georg Dionysius Ehret. The couple lived in Watford for some years, and then in about 1792 they moved to Hemel Hempstead, where they rented several houses before they tenanted The Bury in about 1808 and later bought it. As well as being a solicitor, he became a banker and established the firm Grover and Pollard. The couple had ten children. One of them,
Henry Montague Grover Henry Montague Grover (1791–1866) was an English lawyer, cleric and writer. Life Born at Watford, Hertfordshire, he was the eldest son of Harry Grover, solicitor, of Hemel Hempstead, by Sybilla, daughter of George Phillip Ehret. He was educated ...
, became a notable writer. Henry died in 1835, and his wife Sibylla continued to live at The Bury until her death in 1853. The house was advertised for sale in 1854 and was bought by Anthony Thatcher.


Residents after 1850

Anthony Thatcher (1805–1869) was born in 1805 in Marylebone, Middlesex. He was a glass-bottle manufacturer. He died in 1869, and the house was rented for a few years by Charles Ridgway (1793–1876), a draper and landowner, and his wife Maria. James Brister was a tenant until 1876, when he departed for the
Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...
. Henry Wyman (1844–1894) was the next resident. He was a master brewer, and in 1879 he married Marion Steer (1853–1949). The couple lived there until about 1886, and then Rear Admiral Hugh Maximilian Elliot rented the property for two years. From 1888 until about 1892 Robert James Pratt, a school teacher, and his wife Harriet lived in the house. Mrs Anderson was the tenant in 1895; Lieutenant Colonel William Henry Dawes Jones, his wife Emily and children, in 1899. In 1908 John Hughes Drake moved into The Bury with his new wife, Muriel Rosdew Raffles-Flint, who was the daughter of
Stamford Raffles-Flint Stamford Raffles-Flint (6 February 1847 – 15 August 1925) was Archdeacon of Cornwall from 1916 until his death. He was the son of William Charles Raffles Flint and his wife Jenny Rosdew Mudge, daughter of Richard Zachariah Mudge, educated at Et ...
, the Archdeacon of Cornwall. Their wedding was reported in detail in the ''Royal Cornwall Gazette'', with accompanying photographs. In 1914 John joined the armed forces as a major and fought in World War I, serving in Egypt and France. He was
mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
three times and was awarded the Military Cross in 1917. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) on his return from the war in 1919. He joined the family company, called Messrs J. V. Drake and Co., who were sugar merchants. In 1926 Frederick Oldham Chinner was living at The Bury. By 1928 Judge Edward Watkins Cave was the resident, and he remained there for the next ten years. Geoffrey Thomas Unwin (1874–1948), who was a well-known sportsman, retired at The Bury in about 1944. In 1954 the building was bought by Hemel Hempstead Rural District Council and was converted for use as their offices. From 1969 the building was also used as a
registry office A register office or The General Register Office, much more commonly but erroneously registry office (except in official use), is a British government office where births, deaths, marriages, civil partnership, stillbirths and adoptions in England, ...
as well as council offices. The building passed from Hemel Hempstead Rural District Council to Dacorum Borough Council when local government was reorganised in 1974.


Museum and art gallery proposals

In 2016, Dacorum Council vacated the building and relocated its registry office to Hemel town centre. Dacorum Heritage Trust, a local history
advocacy group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the developm ...
, has proposed that the building should be converted into a museum and art gallery, to display a collection of archaeological and historical artefacts from the surrounding area. The project is currently awaiting necessary funding and planning permission to proceed.


See also

* :Local museums in Hertfordshire * :Art museums and galleries in Hertfordshire


Notes


References


External links

*
Dacorum Heritage Trust
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2017 Buildings and structures in Hemel Hempstead Grade II* listed buildings in Hertfordshire Proposed museums in the United Kingdom Georgian architecture in England Houses completed in 1790