Julius Caesar of Tunbridge Wells

No not that one! But the one who is buried in the cemetery here at Tunbridge Wells. Born in Prussia in 1832, Julius became a naturalised British subject in 1858, in the same year that he married Henrietta Letitia Fry, the daughter of James Thomas Fry of Baston Manor, Hayes, Kent.

After their marriage they lived initially in Camberwell, but later moved to Stratford House, Sandown Park on Pembury Road. They had 8 children, 4 boys and 4 girls. In the census of 1901, Julius is described as a retired foreign merchant, India. He was for many years an active parishioner at St James’ Church.

At the outbreak of the war in 1914, cavalry officers went out to requisition horses for the army. Julius owned a phaeton drawn by a matching pair of chestnut horses which was a familiar sight on summer afternoons on the Pembury Road. Julius was stopped by a military patrol and his horses seized, leaving him with a receipt from the army and the problem of getting home with his horseless vehicle.

He died on 26 July 1917. Probate records the value of his estate as £101,715 (about £7.5 million today). Henrietta died in 1920 and they are buried together in section A11 / 203