George Boughtwood

George Boughtwood succeeded Tom Murray as Superintendent of the Labour Home at Malta House in September 1910 and remained there until his retirement in 1939. He was born on 12 July 1872 at Hanningfield, Essex, son of a labourer, William Boughtwood and his wife Jane.¹ In the 1891 census he was recorded as a farm labourer, living with his parents at Rettendon, Essex.² A decade later he was described as a labourer at a waterworks, at Hadleigh, Essex³ where the Salvation Army had a farm that provided agricultural training, moral rehabilitation, and work for destitute men.

In 1906, George Boughtwood took the position of Superintendent of the Church of Scotland Labour Home in Dundee, which had opened the year before. He was promoted to take charge of Malta House, the largest of the Labour Homes, in September 1910. Almost forty years later, he retired in May 1939⁴ and moved to Malta House, Gore Road, Burnham in Buckinghamshire, where he was recorded in 1939,⁵ and died there aged 70, on 29 November 1942.⁶

George Boughtwood married Mary Jane Stokes on 08 April 1893 at Rettendon, Essex.⁷ She was born at Rochford, Essex in 1875,⁸ daughter of William Stokes, an agricultural labourer and Emma Bright.⁹ She died 10 February 1945 at Malta House, Gore Road, Burnham, Bucks.¹⁰

George Boughtwood and Emma Stokes had a daughter, Lilian (or Lily) Bertha Boughtwood, born 05 June 1894.¹¹ She was recorded at Malta House in the censuses of 1911 and 1921. In 1921 she was a teacher with the Haddington Education Authority.¹²

Lilian Boughtwood married botanist Harold Rederick Comber on 08 March 1928.¹³ Harold Frederick Comber was a horticulturalist and plant collector who specialised in lilies. He was studying in Edinburgh when he met Lilian Boughtwood. They emigrated to the USA in 1952 and she died at Troutdale, Oregon, USA on 06 February 1962.¹⁴

1. Baptisms (PR) England. East Hanningfield, Essex. 12 July 1872. BOUGHTWOOD, George. Ancestry collection ‘Essex, England, Select Church of England Parish Registers, 1518-1960.’ : accessed 22 March 2026.
2. Census records. England. Chelmsford, Essex. 05 April 1891. BOUGHTWOOD, George. RG12/1384/2. Ancestry collection ‘1891 England Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 22 March 2026.
3. Census records. England. Hadleigh, Essex. 31 March 1901. BOUGHTWOOD, George. RG13/1676/13. Ancestry collection ‘1901 England Census.https://ancestry.co.uk accessed 22 March 2026.
4. ‘Sunday Fellowship Salvation Army Singers at Stockbridge.’ Edinburgh Evening News. 08 May 1939. p. 7, col. 2. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 20 October 2024.
5. Census records. England and Wales Register. Eton, Buckinghamshire. 29 September 1939. BOUGHTWOOD, George. RG101/2148B. Ancestry collection ‘1939 England and Wales Register.’ https://ancestry.co.uk
6. Death announcements. Scotland. The Scotsman. 02 December 1942. p. 8, col. 7. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 22 March 2026.
7. Marriages (PR) England. Rettendon, Essex. 08 April 1893. BOUGHTWOOD, George and STOKES, Mary Jane. Ancestry collection ‘Essex, England, Church of England Marriages, 1754-1937.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 26 March 2024.
8. Births index (CR) England. Rochford, Essex. Q1, 1875. STOKES, Mary Jane. vol. 41, p. 257. https://gro.gov.uk: accessed 22 March 2026.
9. Census records. England. Rawreth, Essex. 03 April 1881. STOKES, Mary Jane. RG11/1768/03. Ancestry collection ‘1881 England Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 22 March 2026.
10. Probate records. England. Oxford. Probate. 15 May 1945. BOUGHTWOOD, Mary Jane. Ancestry collection ‘England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 26 March 2024.
11. Census records. England and Wales Register. Eton, Buckinghamshire. 29 September 1939. COMBER, Lilian B. RG 101/2148A. Ancestry collection ‘1939 England and Wales Register.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 22 March 2026.
12. Census records. Scotland. St Bernard, Edinburgh. 19 June 1921. BOUGHTWOOD, Lilian B. 685/1 13/ 17. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 22 March 2026.
13. Marriage announcements. Scotland. The Scotsman. 09 March 1928. p. 14, col. 7. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 22 March 2026.
14. Monumental inscriptions. USA. Sandy, Oregon. 06 February 1962. COMBER, Lilian B. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22828170/lilian_b-comber: accessed 22 March 2026.