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Rachel HOAD (b. 31 January 1863, d. 28 January 1922)
Rachel was related to the Shipbuilding HOAD family of Rye.
She worked as a domestic and she was probably a housekeeper in the Birch farm at Gibbons Brook, when she met Richard Verrier BIRCH. This second marriage may have caused a family scandal considering it's circumstances (see the details of Henry Sisley Birch's birth), it is interesting to note that most BIRCH family burials are in All Saints Churchyard, Stanford, but his and Rachel's are in St. Mary's Sellindge.
Rachel BIRCH (nee HOAD) with her husband Richard Verrier BIRCH with their two children Henry Sisley BIRCH and his younger brother Robert Edward BIRCH.
Richard Verrier BIRCH (Born 1st February 1853 at Gimminge Brook (Gimmings Brook, now Gibbons Brook), Stanford, ch 1 May 1853, his middle name is recorded in the Bishops Transcript for Stanford as Valyer, however this is a misspelling, since his paternal great grandmother was Mary VERRIER. He died. 8th December 1935 and was buried at St. Mary's Churchyard Sellindge) Married i Sarah Ann SWAIN (born 1852, died 19th December 1896) from Elham, Kent. Then married on 25 October 1899 at St. Martin's Parish Church Aldington, Kent. ii Rachel HOAD (born 1863, died 28th January 1922, buried 3 February 1922 in St. Mary's Churchyard Sellinddge) Rachel's parents were Henry HOAD (born abt. 1815, died 1873), shipwright, & (ii) Sarah Elizabeth TOLHURST (First maried to ? IFIELD)
When Richard Verrier BIRCH died in 1935, my grandmother Elizabeth BIRCH (nee HODGES) was approached to contribute to a headstone, but finances had become so difficult at this time for her family, with the "national depression" that she felt unable to contribute.
My grandmother, also believed Mrs. HEAD a housekeeper to Richard Verrier BIRCH, had spent money that was due to be inherited by Henry Sisley BIRCH my grandfather. There is also family lore, which suggests that Richard was a gambling man and may have lost his money through this habit.
My grandmother Elizabeth BIRCH (nee HODGES) did not like Richard Verrier Birch and always said to my mother that he was an unpleasant man.
As ever these anecdotal threads of stories, are so difficult to follow and their truth is questionable.
Because of the depression, both Henry Sisley BIRCH and his stepson Albert James Punchard were both "stood off" from their farmwork and the family had to move through several jobs and locations, becoming caretakers of Malmaynes Hall, Upper Stoke, in 1936, eventually settling on the Isle of Sheppey around 1944, after Henry had retrained as a "threshing contractor".
Henry Sisley HOAD (BIRCH) (b. 29 April 1897, d. 4 January 1967)
Henry was born 2 years before his parents were married, and conceived, before Richard Verrier Birch's first wife died. This was a source of embarassment to him.