Four Sisters of Barnston Hall

These tombstones in the churchyard of St.Andrews at Barnston, Essex, tell of sad and poignant tales of four sisters who all died young.
The first to die was, Martha Susannah who died of 'A slow decline' at the age of 14 years old in 1827. Thirteen years after that in 1840, Emma who was aged 22 years, was thrown from her horse. Eight months later, Jane who was aged 19 years old died of a heart attack and her demise was closely followed by 16 year old Maria, who succumbed to smallpox.


Sacred

to the Memory of

Martha Susannah

Third daughter of

Edward and Sarah Livermore

of Barnston Hall

who departed this life

April 3 1827

Aged 14 years

My life was like an April sky
Changing at each fleeting hour
A slow decline taught me to rely
And rest my hope in my Creators power

Sacred
to the Memory of
Emma
Fourth daughter of
Edward and Sarah Livermore
of Barnston Hall
who died Sep. 10 1840
Aged 22 Years

Our life is but a single thread
Which soon is cut and we are dead
Then boast not reader of thy might
Alive and well at noon and dead at night

Sacred
to the Memory of
Jane
Daughter of
Edward and Sarah Livermore
of Barnston Hall
She died May 30 1841
Aged 19 Years

The rising morning ca'nt assure
That we shall end the day
For Death stands ready at the door
To take our lives away

Sacred
to the Memory of
Maria
Youngest daughter of
Edward and Sarah Livermore
of Barnston Hall
who died Dec. 9th 1841
Aged 16 Years

Put not your trust in strength or youth
But trust in Heaven whose gifts they are
And now the solemn voice of truth
Hear, and to meet thine God prepare

This painting of the Livermore Sisters tombs by the artist Kenneth Rowntree was done in the 1940's as a part of the 'Recording Britain' series . It provides a record of the appearance of a typical country churchyard before the mass clearances of the 1950s and 1960s. These clearances led to a great deal of local social history to become lost forever as the gravestones themselves were often broken up.

Barnston Hall, the home of the Livermore Sisters as mentioned on their headstones.