Arthur Raynor Dyer mayor of Winchester

 

The memorial is located to your right as you enter the graveyard from the Alresford Road main gate.

Arthur Raynor Dyer and his wife are buried in St Giles Hill Graveyard. The granite memorial has an Inscription “Arthur Raynor DYER Alderman of this City and three times Mayor died September 3rd, 1925 aged 67 years.” His wife Elizabeth died April 3rd, 1934 aged 74 years.

Arthur is recorded in the Warren directory for Winchester, 1900, as a city councilor for the parish of Chilcomb and was mayor of Winchester between 1919 and 1921. Following the war, this must have been a difficult time for the city as the country rebuilt.

Arthur was born in 1858 in Braintree Essex. Arthur’s father was John Dyer. According to the 1861 census John was a master grocer living in Bocking. Elizabeth was born in Westminster in 1860. Her maiden name was Rayner, and the 1871 census lists Elizabeth as being an 11 years old living in Chelsea. This census records that Elizabeth’s household comprised her father Joseph, a brush shopkeeper, her mother Hephsbzelah Rayner, her sister Gertrude and her brother Henry. They had a servant and two visitors.

Arthur and Elizabeth were married in St Michael’s church, Chester Square, London, Westminster on the 17th of January 1882. In the 1881 census just prior to marriage he is listed as a grocer living in Braintree with his sister Ellen.

The Dyers moved the Winchester sometime between 1881 and 1891 but I have no record of when. In the 1891 Census, Arthur R Dyer was recorded as 33 years old living at St Georges Lodge, St Faith, Winchester. There were 5 people in the household in addition to Arthur and Elizabeth, including their sons AFR Dyer and John Dyer and daughter Gertrude H Dyer. The 2 boys, born in Braintree, were 7 and 6 respectively. Gertrude was 4, she was born in Winchester in 1897. They had 2 servants. Their son John died in 1911 age of 26 years. In the 1901 Census John was a 16-year-old boarder (pupil) at a school in Bishop Stortford Herefordshire. We have no other information.

The 1901 census records the Dyers as living in the Civil Parish of Chilcomb and the Ecclesiastical parish of St Johns. In addition to the 2 sons and a daughter mentioned above, there are 2 additional children daughter Edna C Dyer age 9 and son Godfrey M Dyer age 2 years.

In the 1911 Census Arthur was 54 years old and is listed as a Provision merchant living in Palm Hall on St Giles Hill. The household is listed as having 4 members other than himself. The members include 3 servants and his son Arthur Francis Rayner Dyer aged 27 at the time. Godfrey his 12-year-old son was at boarding school as a pupil at The College, Hadham Road, Bishop’s Stortford. It is possible that his mother was visiting him as she is not recorded at Palm Hall during this census.

At the outbreak of WW1 Arthur Francis Rayner Dyer joined the Kings African Rifles. He served in East Africa and attained the rank of captain before being killed in action on 30th September 1917 aged 34 yrs. He was buried in Dar Es Salaam war cemetery in Tanzania. He was married to Elsie Harrold the daughter of a tea dealer and grocery shopkeeper.

His 3^rd son Godfrey also joined up in WW1, He was 2nd Lieutenant. Godfrey may have married Evelyn List on 3rd Nov 1927 in Muttra India.

It seems that he survived and died in Richmond upon Thames in 1979. The other surviving children also gravitated to Richmond-up-on-Thames. Gertrude who went to secretarial college died in 1975 in Richmond. Edna appears to have traveled a lot before moving to Richmond where she dies in 1966.

After the war Arthur was mayor of Winchester three times between 1919 and 1921. At the time Arthur Raynor Dyer died 1n 1925 he was living at Palm Hall, Northbrook Avenue, St Giles Hill, Winchester. Probate in London on 3^rd November 1925 to Elizabeth Dyer window. Arthur Leopold Raynor solicitor and Stanley Clifton tailor Effects £83,434 6s 9p