Parish : St Paul Grave register 22 rows from the west wall.
CFHS code PL170b
This grave was not identified when CFHS surveyed the Cemetery.
Monument
This cross, located in the parish area of St Paul, stands at the foot of a tree just north of the south path. roughly 14 rows east of the Lodge. Ivy has covered the monument for many years but a section on the east plinth fell off on 2023 revealing the very clear inscription for Ada. Ivy still covers the west side and its removal may compromise the monument.
Inscription
east face
In Loving Memory of ADA
The beloved wife of Frederick Mast
Who fell asleep 15th May 1904 Aged 56 years
west face
Also of Frederick T Mast who died May 15th 1915 aged 69 years
Frederick Thomas Mast (1846 – 15 May 1915)
Frederick was born in Gravesend, and baptised there on 4 March 1846. He was the son of Frederick (1822-1869) and Sarah Rebecca (née Munns) (1825-1903). Frederick Mast (snr) was a linen draper, later a station master and the family lived in Esher (1851). Frederick trained as a draper’s assistant and aged 15 was working for draper George Gargettine in Gravesend. By 1871 he was working as a coal merchant’s agent, and married Ada Ryder (1846-1904) on 11 April 1874 at St. John of Jerusalem Church, Hackney. The couple had four children: Charles Frederick (1875-1939), Ada (1876-1876), Edith Mary (1878-1930) and Arthur Girling Holmes (1884-1971). They lived for a while in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire where their youngest three children were born, before moving to Cambridge where he was agent for Messrs. J & H Girling, coal merchants.
The family lived at 6 Eastbourne Terrace, 89 Hills Road (at least 1881 onwards). He died ‘suddenly’ at home aged 69 years old and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 18 May. Girlings sent a floral tribute with the words ‘in loving memory of an old and faithful friend’
Ada Mast (née Ryder) (1846 – 15 May 1904)
Ada was born in Putney, the daughter of Charles and Mary (née Parker). She was baptised on 17 April 1846 at St. Mary’s Church, Putney. The family moved to Esher, where her mother ran a shop on Esher High Street and her father was a coachman. Before her marriage, Ada worked for artificial florist John Aldridge, who had a shop at 42 Wigmore Street, Marylebone. Ada died at 89 Hills Road and her funeral was held on 18 May.
Frederick and Mary’s daughter Edith was buried in the St. Mary the Great area of Mill Road Cemetery. Her grave has not yet been identified.
Edith Mary Mast (1878 – 24 September 1930)
Edith was the youngest daughter of Frederick and Ada, and was baptised in Waltham Cross on 19 May 1878. She lived with her parents and was not noted as having any occupation on census returns. When the 1911 census was taken she was documented as being a part time student of painting. Edith died at 89 Hills Road aged 52 years old and her funeral was held on 27 September at Great St. Mary’s before interment.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
Grave and Burial registers transcribed by CFHS
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any further information about this family please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]