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Piers

St James the Less, Litchfield, in the 1930s. Note Lady Herbert's tomb and the lychgate, as well as the wall and the path up to the church Sir Alfred Herbert's second wife, Florence, died unexpectedly in May 1930, the day before the completion of the legal arrangements for the creation of Lady Herbert's Garden in Coventry. She was buried at Litchfield in a tomb which she later shared with Sir Alfred , and her mother raised a lychgate at the entrance to the churchyard in her memory. The following press cutting (from June Gracey, her step-granddaughter) gives more detail about the memorial and Sir Alfred's improvements to the churchyard. The Late Lady Herbert - Memorials at Litchfield Beautifying the Churchyard Memorials which have been erected at St James' Church, Litchfield , Hants to the memory of the late Lady Florence Herbert, wife of Sir Alfred Herbert, of Dunley Manor, Whitchurch, Hants and head of Alfred Herbert Ltd , Coventry, were dedicated on Saturd...

For some more photos of the homes and the garden, click the heading. Florence is also commemorated by the lychgate at St James the Less, Litchfield Flowery Oasis in Central Coventry [The Midland Daily Telegraph, Friday May 30th 1930] It is a particularly happy thought that a section of Coventry's old City wall, built nearly 600 years ago in order to ensure the safety of the inhabitants in those troublous days, should now become the central feature of "A Place of Rest and Refreshment from the Growing Turmoil of the Streets". As Coventry has already learned through the medium of these columns, Sir Alfred Herbert has made himself responsible for a scheme whereby the most complete remaining section of the city wall, stretching between Cook Street gate and the Swanswell Gate in Hale Street will be cleared of its unsightly surroundings, the old stonework restored, and the vicinity laid out with beautiful gardens in memory of Lady Herbert, who's death took place on Sunday...

Alfred Herbert Ltd of Coventry, Warwickshire. Telephone: 8781. Telegraphic Address: "Lathe, Coventry". (1937) Alfred Herbert Limited were machine tool makers in Coventry. 1866 Alfred Herbert was born, the son of a wealthy landowner. The extent of the Herbert family fortune was considerable. His father, in addition to owning a town house in a salubrious area of Leicester, was the largest landowner in the parish of Whetstone, south of Leicester. Alfred Herbert was educated at Stoneygate Private School , and was destined for University and/or parsonage, until he met up with an old school friend William Hubbard , who worked on a lathe at Joseph Jessop's Engineering Co in Leicester. Herbert was fascinated by what the small lathe produced, so he persuaded his father to let him follow his friend's example. Subsequently he became an apprentice at Jessops. Later he became the manager of Coles and Mathews of The Butts, Coventry, and began producing machinery for the cycle tr...

The following is extracted from the brochure above, which was produced for the first opening of the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in 1960. The photos are of Sir Alfred and Lady Herbert, our grandmother . Alfred Herbert was born on 5th September 1866, the son of a Leicestershire farmer. After attending Stoneygate School in Leicester, he was apprenticed to Jessop and Sons after which he came to Coventry to take up the position of works manager in a firm of jobbing and general engineers, Coles & Matthews, in The Butts. A year later the partnership was dissolved and the business was offered to Alfred, who was 22 years of age at the time. He went into partnership with an old school-friend, WS Hubbard and with their fathers' supplying the necessary capital, formed the firm of Herbert and Hubbard. Hubbard was a clever mechanic with considerable inventive genius, so they decided to make machine tools, the first of which was a very ingenious machine for picking, sorting and storing pi...

"Humble workers and eminent industrialists united in Coventry Cathedral this week to honour in a Memorial Service the great man who embodied them both - Sir Alfred Herbert . The tribute of little women pensioners who came from the homes he provided for them in Lady Herbert's Garden , and the tribute of the company directors from the length and breadth of the land would have been of equal value to Sir Alfred. One line in one hymn stood out in the whole service provided food for thought by those who loved and those who honoured him. It was 'Beauty for ashes of the vanished years'. Besides being a man of faith, Sir Alfred has left much behind to show for the vanished years. The quiet works of this generous man were enumerated by the Bishop, Dr Cuthbert Bardsley . Some had never been heard publicly before; all had been done in an unostentatious manner. As the bishop spoke, a few yards away men worked on Coventry's glorious new Cathedral , answering a request fo...