Eliza and William Deacon - Hotel Keepers of Berkshire

(C) Nicola Carpenter 2012

Taphophilia is a passion for and enjoyment of cemeteries. The singular term is a taphophile.


Monument to Eliza and William Deacon, St Luke's Churchyard, Maidenhead Berkshire.

"In loving memory of Eliza Deacon who died 11th February 1886 aged 57 years.  She looked well to the ways of her household.

Also William Deacon who died 10th September 1894 aged 59 years.  His end was peace."

Eliza Deacon was born Eliza Harman in 1828 in Bray Berkshire to Richard Harman, a labourer and Sarah Skinner.  In 1851, 22 year old Eliza was a house servant for the Gilpin family at The Grange, Hockliffe Bedfordshire.  Eliza married William Deacon in Westminster Middlesex on 12th November 1866.  Eliza was William's second wife, together they had a son James Henry Deacon in 1870. 

William Deacon was born in 1835 in White Waltham Berkshire to Thomas Deacon, a horse breaker and his wife Elizabeth.  In 1856 William married his first wife Mary Woodhouse and together they had four children, William, Thomas, Mary Selina and Emma Esther.  Mary seems to vanish completely after the 1861 census, however I have been unable to locate a death for her.  In 1871 William can be found with his second wife Eliza running The Ray Thames Hotel in Ray Mead Road, Maidenhead Berkshire.  1881 find the family still at the hotel in Ray Mead Road, now named The Ray Mead Hotel.

After Eliza's death in 1886, William married Elizabeth Ann Aylett in 1888 in Colchester.  In 1889 William and Elizabeth moved to The East Arms Hotel in Hurley Berkshire, three years before William's death, they can be found there on the 1891 census.

Elizabeth continued to run the East arms Hotel after her husband's death until the late 1900s.  Unfortunately I cannot find out what happened to Elizabeth after 1917.

(C) Nicola Carpenter 2012

Don't forget to link up with Cemetery Sunday every Sunday.


For more Tombstone Tuesday posts, please click here.