Edith Esther Anderson (1899-1977)
&
her memorial Altar Rail at Christ Church

Most of the rail in front of the High Altar at Christ Church Epsom Common was installed when the church was built in 1876. The earliest clear photograph of the rail (below) comes from part of a picture taken for the brief history published in 1926 to mark the church’s 50th anniversary.

The altar rail in 1926
Photograph from the Christ Church archives

As can be seen, the original rail had a gap in the centre to provide access to the altar for the priest and assistants. On 6 February 1980, the rail was modified by removing the finials on each side of the rail’s central gap and installing sliding rails in both halves of the main rail. (The work was undertaken by Vanpoulles Church Furnishers.) When these additions are pulled out and screwed together, the altar rail is made continuous and thus able to serve more communicants at any one time. They are shown extended in the photograph below, together with a close-up of the dedication text which reads: “The gift of family and friends in memory of / Edith Esther Anderson / who died September 28th 1977”.

The altar rail with the added central sections extended,
and a close-up of their dedication text
Photographs by Roger Morgan © 2019

Edith Esther Anderson was born on 27 November 1899, the first child of William Lyne Anderson and Edith Emma (née Church) whose Q1 1899 marriage was registered in the Wandsworth District. Edith junior was baptised at St Anne’s, Wandsworth on 14 January 1900. The 1901 Census records the mid-20s parents (with William working as a “Silk Warehouseman”) and 1 year old Edith living at 42 The Grove, Wandsworth. The couple’s second (and only other) child, Cecil William, was born in Wandsworth on 13 July 1904. By the time of the 1911 Census, the four-strong family had moved to “Inglewood”, Wimbledon Park Road, Southfields. 36 year old William was still a “Silk Warehouseman”, and 11 year old Edith was at school.

The family have left only a light trace in the readily available records. In 1918, there is a record of William serving as a volunteer Red Cross Orderly in Templeton House, Priory Lane – part of Roehampton’s Queen Mary’s Convalescent Hospital. The record gives his address as 137 Wimbledon Park Road, SW18, presumably the “Inglefield” of the 1911 Census.

At some point, the family moved to “Rockford”, 18 Christ Church Mount, Epsom. This cannot have been later than about 1930 since, by 1935, the family was well-established at Christ Church. The minutes of the Annual Church Meeting on 11 February 1935, record that the then Vicar, the Revd Lionel Mylrea, commended the 35 year old Edith for appointment to the just-vacated post of Church Council Secretary, “feeling sure that the selection of Miss Anderson was a wise one and that the duties would be well and ably carried out”. The meeting elected her “unanimously … with acclamation”.

The grounds for the Vicar’s confidence doubtless arose in part from Edith’s day job in the Civil Service. In the event, she served as Church Council Secretary for an astonishing 27 years, filling some 560 foolscap pages in three hardbound minute books with a succinct record of business – all in her neat handwriting which, as illustrated below, hardly changed over that long period.

The headings of Edith’s first (1935) and last (1962) minutes,
in her consistent neat handwriting.
Scanned from the Christ Church archives.

However, that gets us rather ahead of ourselves. While Edith had gone into the Civil Service her brother, Cecil, had become a Bank Clerk. It was perhaps on moving round the bank’s branches that he met Greta Swift. They were both aged 30 when they married in Q3 1934 – registered in the Newton Abbot District, which covered Greta’s then home (as in a 1932 Electoral Roll) of “Domik”, Dawlish Road Teignmouth where she lived with her parents, Sydney & Catherine, and older sister Shirley. (Greta had been born in Wrexham, Denbighshire. The family are found in the 1911 Census living at “Hillside”, Gathurst Road, Gathurst, near Wigan with the 47 year old father listed as a “Retired Mining Engineer”. It is not currently known when they moved to Devon. )

By the time of the September 1939 Register, the mid-30s Cecil and Greta (they never had any children) were back in Epsom, living at 119 Hookfield. Cecil is listed as a “Bank Clerk” (with the original record annotated to show him as also as a “Stretcher Bearer, City of London Emergency Services”), and Greta with the conventional “Unpaid Domestic Duties”.

Meanwhile, Edith and her parents remained at 18 Christ Church Mount. The 1939 Register records 39 year old Edith (who never married) and her mid-60s parents there. Edith is listed as a “Civil Servant” (annoyingly, with no indication of her grade or Ministry). While her mother is listed with the conventional “Unpaid Domestic Duties”, her father (William) is shown as a “Commercial Traveller (Retired)” – with the original record annotated to show him as also engaged in “Voluntary ARP Service”. (In 1942 and for the next 8 years, William also served on the Church Council and its Finance Committee, as well as Secretary and Treasurer of the Hall Committee – a post later filled by George Jeans.)

Edith’s mother (Edith senior) died, aged 75, at 18 Christ Church Mount on 26 May 1950, and was buried in Grave P507 of Epsom Cemetery on 31 May 1950. In 1961, her father (William – who, from 1942 to 1950 number of years, also served as a member of the Christ Church Council) was taken ill and, aged 86, died in Epsom Cottage Hospital on 10 April. He was buried in the same grave as his late wife on 14 April 1961. (There is the suggestion that the post-war Anderson Close – built off the corner of Christ Church Mount across the road from the family’s home at No 18 – was named after him.)

Edith stood down as Church Council Secretary following the Annual Church Meeting on 28 March 1962 – understood to be the result of some falling out with the then Vicar, the Revd Richard Falkner. The following Church Council meeting (on 11 April 1962), appointed her successor as Secretary and, in relation to Edith’s 27 years in the post, the minutes of that meeting recorded “universal regret at the ending of this most notable period of devoted work”.

During her many years of service, Edith helped Christ Church navigate: the difficult days of WW2; the sudden death of her second Vicar (the Revd John Matthews) in 1940; the challenging post-war recovery; and the consequent changes in society as a whole. All this was under a total of six Vicars – if one includes the acting Vicar appointed while the Revd Hugh McMullan took leave of absence in 1943 to serve for a period as an RAF Chaplain.

She continued as a member the Church Council for another three years, finally standing down at the Annual Church Meeting on 7 April 1965, when she was aged 65. For this last period, she was a Christ Church representative on the Ruridecanal Conference (the equivalent of today’s Deanery Synod). Indeed, she had been such a representative for a number of earlier years alongside her work as Church Council Secretary.

Edith continued to live at 18 Christ Church Mount until her death, aged 77, on 28 September 1977. The Probate record (noting the value of her estate as £ 99,140) is clear that she died at home. The fact that her death was registered in the Isles of Scilly was therefore initially puzzling. However, the explanation for this must that her death was registered locally by her widowed brother, Cecil, who had been living at “Sunholme” on the northern outskirts of Hugh Town on the island of St Mary’s for a number of years, perhaps having moved there on retirement. That was the address at which his wife, Greta, died on 10 January 1972, just short of her 68th birthday. And it was also where Cecil died, aged 88, on 20 December 1992.

Roger Morgan © 2019