Page 542 - Reading Mercury

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Sat 29 March
DEATH OF MR. ERNEST JEFFREY
The sudden death of Mr. Ernest Jeffrey, late of 52, Langborough Road and of
Denmark Street, Wokingham, at his residence in Caversham on Sunday at the age of
46 years came as a great blow to his many friends in Wokingham where he was well
respected as an old resident.
He had been for nearly thirty years in the employ of Mr. W.T. Martin both at
Wokingham and Reading. Mr. Martin as Mayor in 1912 appointed him one of the four
Honorary Constables of the Borough, a position which he had occupied continuously
since. He served in the war and was a member of the Wokingham branch of the
British Legion.
The funeral service was held at the Wesleyan Church in Rose Street and he was
interred in the Free Church burial ground, Reading Road.

MRS. SOPHIA MURDOCH OF BUCKHURST

Mrs. Sophia Murdoch of Buckhurst, Wokingham, is
the widow of Mr. Charles Townsend Murdoch D.L.,
J.P., who, from 1885 to 1892, and again from 1895 to
the time of his death in 1898, was Conservative
Member of Parliament for Reading.
Daughter of Captain T.H. Speke, who in 1863
discovered the source of the Nile, Mrs. Murdoch’s long
public service is well known. She has always taken a
very keen interest in, and rendered valuable assistance
to, the cause of Conservatism in the country, and has
been President of the Reading Women’s Conservative Association. She was for some
time a member of the Grand Council of the Primrose League and President of the
Wokingham Women’s Conservative Association. During the war and immediately
after, Mrs. Murdoch devoted herself with great zeal and public spirit to several causes.
She was honorary private secretary to H.R.H. Princess Christian in connection with
the Soldiers’ and sailors’ Help Society in Berkshire, and later became honorary
private H.R.H. Princess Helena Victoria, President of the League of Mercy, of which
Mrs. Murdoch is a lady vice-president, and in which she takes a particular interest.
With the assistance of her friends she was able to raise £3,600 for the provision of six
cottage houses for disabled ex-Service men at Wantage. Mrs. Murdoch also acted as
President of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families Association for Berks. She is a life
president of the Berkshire operatic club, of which Princess Helena Victoria is Royal
Patroness and keenly supports that organisation’s efforts to help the hospitals. She is
also secretary for the Waifs and Strays Society, the Women’s House Mission and
other charities, and is president of both the Reading and Wokingham branches of the
Needlework Guild Society.
Her beautiful house at Wokingham has often been placed at the disposal of various
deserving objects for the furtherance of their work.

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Sat 12 April (extract)
LADY WINS AIR RACE
Miss Spooner’s Success at Woodley
STUNT FLYING
Opening of Aero Club’s Headquarters

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