Florence Helena Du Vergier. Alderman & Councillor of Hackney 1923-53, Vice-chairman of Hackney's Housing and Town Planning Committee in 1935 (at least), Chair in 1937 (at least) and Mayor 1943-4. Particularly interested in housing & public health.
From the Picture source: "Cllr Florence du Vergier was appointed mayor in 1943. She was the first woman to hold the role in what was a relatively good year for female representation – 12 new women councillors had been elected. A teacher, Cllr du Vergier was a founding member of Hackney North Labour Party. She’s also one of only 41 people to have been given the Freedom of Hackney – the highest award in what was then the Borough of Hackney, before the creation of the modern local authority area in 1965. Cllr du Vergier was a founding member of the National Association of Labour Teachers, who tasked themselves with formulating much of Labour’s post-war education policy."
Geni gives some personal information: Born as Florence Melzer c.1890 in England. Married Elphage Du Vergier. Died c.1960.
Our colleague, Andrew Behan, advises that Florence Helena Melzer was born on 8 January 1882 in Stoke Newington, Middlesex (now Greater London), the eldest of the eight children of Edmund Melzer (1853-1929) an Austrian who had been born in Bohemia and Caroline Melzer née Banes (1858-1941). Her birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1882 in the Hackney Registration District, Middlesex (now Greater London).
In the 1891 census she is shown as aged 9 years and a scholar, living at 41 Brooke Road, West Hackney, London, with her parents and three siblings: Alice Edith Melzer (b.1885) - a scholar; Ernest Frederick Melzer (1887-1960) - a scholar and Constance Amy Melzer (1888-1984). Her father was described as a china and glass merchant.
On 10 September 1893 she, together with her three siblings, was baptised at West Hackney Church, Stoke Newington Road, Hackney, where in the baptismal register their family were shown to be still residing at 41 Brooke Road and that their father was a commercial traveller.
When the 1901 census was undertaken she was described as aged 19 years and a pupil teacher, living at 97 Mildmay Grove, Islington, London, with her parents and six of her siblings: Alice Edith Melzer - a scholar; Ernest Frederick Melzer - a warehouse boy (china); Constance Amy Melzer; Sidney Harold Edward Melzer (1891-1933); Dorothy Francesca Melzer (1895-1947) and Albert Cecil Melzer (1897-1982). Her father was shown a traveller, china and glass.
She married Elphage Du Vergier (1878-1963) in the 3rd quarter of 1906 in St Clement's Church, Great Ilford, Essex (now Greater London) and they had one child, Edmund Elphage Du Vergier (1908-1990).
She was shown in the 1911 census as 29 years, having been married for 4 years and giving birth to one child. She was described as a London County Council Elementary School Teacher for Mentally Deficient Children and was living with her husband and their son in the seven roomed home of her parents at 49 Argyle Road, Ilford, Essex (now Greater London), together with five of her siblings: Alice Edith Melzer - a shorthand typist; Constance Amy Melzer - a shorthand typist; Sidney Harold Edward Melzer - a motor assembling electrical engineer; Dorothy Francesca Melzer - a shorthand typing student; Albert Cecil Melzer - a school student and an unmarried female cousin called Hodrvig Gellner, aged 23 years, an Austrian resident from Bohemia who was a clerk and foreign correspondent to a fancy goods merchant. Her husband was described as a wood carver and her father showed himself as a china and glass commercial traveller.
In the 1939 England and Wales Register her date of birth was shown as 8 January 1882, that she was a teacher and a member of the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) service living 64 Maury Road, Hackney, with husband, who was a managing director of a wood merchant company and also a member of the ARP, together with their son.
Her death, aged 75 years, was registered in the 4th quarter of 1957 in the Hackney Registration District, London. Probate records confirm that her address had been 64 Maury Road, London, N16 and that she died on 21 December 1957 at Hackney Hospital, London, E9. Her body was cremated on 27 December 1957 in the Newham District, London. Administration of her estate was granted to her widower husband who was shown as a company director. Her effects totalled £2,162-11s-8d.
She is shown as: 'MRS. FLORENCE H. DU VERGIER. J.P.' on the plaque attached to the drinking fountain on Stoke Newington Common, London, N16; as 'VICE - CHAIRMAN - ALDERMAN MRS. F. H. Du VERGIER. J.P.' on the opening memorial stone attached to Banister House, Homerton High Street, London, E9 and as 'CHAIRMAN ALDERMAN MRS. F. H. DU VERGIER. J.P' on the inauguration memorial stone attached to Nisbet House, Homerton High Street, London, E9.
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