Henry Frederick Tiarks

Mr H.F. Tiarks (Extract from The Bromley Record, November 1911)

Henry Tiarks"We regret to announce the death of Mr Henry Frederic Tiarks, of Foxbury, Chislehurst, which took place at his residence on October 18th. Mr Tiarks was born on December 23rd 1832, and had lived in Chislehurst for 34 years, during which time he had taken a leading part in local affairs and had won the esteem of all who knew him. He leaves a widow and ten grown-up children who mourn their loss, and the greatest sympathy has been extended to them in their bereavement. Mr Tiarks was interested in every organisation which had for its object the relief of those in straitened circumstances, and his loss will be felt very keenly. He was president of the Chislehurst and Cray Valley Hospital, in the foundation and endowment of which he played a prominent part, and was ever a generous friend of the institution. The splendidly equipped children’s ward was one of his latest and greatest gifts to the hospital. Mr Tiarks was also for many years president of the Chislehurst, Sidcup and Cray Valley Medical and Surgical Aid Society.

Mr Tiarks belonged to the old Parochial Committee, and was also elected to the first Chislehurst Parish Council. Upon that body being superseded by the Urban District Council, he was elected a member in 1900, and sat for some three years. He took a keen interest in the work of the Board of the Chislehurst and St Paul’s Cray Common Conservators, to which body he was elected in 1891, in succession to Mr Thomas Charrington. A staunch Churchman, Mr Tiarks held the office of Rector’s warden at the Parish Church for a quarter of a century. He was a trustee of the Manning and Anderdon Almshouse, a manager of the Church of England Schools, and in October 1906, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the Bromley Division. He was also president of the Kent County Chrysanthemum Society.

In the City, Mr Tiarks was a partner in the firm of Messrs J.H. Schroder and Co. of 145 Leadenhall Street, a firm with which he had been associated since 1846, when he was 15 years of age. For forty years or more he was a partner and took a leading share in many of the important activities of the firm, only withdrawing from active duties on the score of age at the end of 1905. A man of the soundest judgement, he did much to assist the progress of the firm, to which he devoted almost his entire attention, his only outside interest in the City consisting in holding for a number of years the position of governor of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation. His name will always be associated with the very best traditions of finance.

A son of the deceased, Mr Frank C. Tiarks, is at the present time a partner in the firm with which his father spent his life.”