Silent Sunday Cemetery Scapes ~ Ascension Burial Ground, Cambridge

Barn Fire Tragedy Kills 78 in 1727

To the Memory of

The 78 People who were Burnt to

Death in a Barn at Burwell.

On Sept. 8th 1727

This stone was Cleaned and 

This Inscription Engraved

Sept: 1910

These two pictures show both sides of the same stone marker

In 1727 a touring Puppet show troupe visited Burwell and was held in a local Barn as many of the villagers turned out with great enthusiasm to view the show. To prevent anyone from getting in without payment, the one small door was nailed shut as the show began. As the blaze tore throught the barn, this act prevented people, many of whom were children, were unable to escape.

The victims of this tragic event are buried in a mass grave and the monument that marks the site depicts a heart enveloped in flames.

   

The following is an extract from the Parish Registers of Burwell:

'At about 9 o'clock on the evening of September 8th 1727, fire broke out in a barn, in which a great number of persons were met together to see a puppet show. In the barn were a great many loads of new light straw. The barn was thatched with straw which was very dry, and the inner roof was covered with old dry cobwebs, so that the fire like lightening flew around the barn in an instant. There was but one small door, which was close nailed up, and could not easily be broken down. When it was opened, the passage was so narrow and everybody so impatient to escape that the door was presently blocked up, and most of those that did escape, which was but very few, were forced to crawl over the bodies of those that lay in a heap by the door.'

'Seventy six perished immediately and two more died of their wounds within two days.'

'The fire was occasioned by the negligence of a servant who set a candle and lanthorne in or near a heap of straw which lay in the barn. The servant's name was Richard Whittaker, from the parish of Hadstock in Essex, who was tried for the fact at an assize held in Cambridge on 27 March 1728 but was acquitted.'

Parisian Puppet Show circa 1910

The Controversy of a Native New Yorker

Sacred  to the Memory of

William Jauncey of the

City of New York, in the United

States of America, and

Fellow Commoner of St. John's

College, Cambridge

he died November 19th

A.D. 1830 Aged 19 Years

To the Extreme Grief of his Family

and those many Friends whose Esteem

and Affection he had ~ the remainder is unreadable

William Jauncey Thorn was born on the 9th July 1811, he later changed his name by dropping the 'Thorn' and becoming just William Jauncey. 

He attended St.John's College Cambridge in 1830 and he died as a result of a hunting accident, in which he was thrown from his horse and then died the following day as a result of his injuries. 

According to information on the Thorn Family website  it appears that young William Jauncey's body was returned to the USA  in 1856 and that he was interred in the family vault in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. 

Young William was to have inherited a vast sum upon reaching the age of 21 years from his Mother's Uncle ~ who was also called William Jauncey and who had died in 1818.

 The Will stated: 'I give and bequeath all the residue and remainder of my property, both in England and America, of every kind and description whatever, to the said William Jauncey Thorn, when he arrives to the age of twenty one years, to him, his heirs and assigns forever'.

However soon after young Williams tragic death, a controversy arose when his Father, Colonel Herman Thorn contested the legal effect of the bequest, as it would now be considered to go to other relatives including a niece, Elizabeth Hoyt.

Whilst this case was ongoing, Colonel Thorn compromised the claims of five other relatives by paying them for their interests and then by purchasing Elizabeth's share of the residue at a cost of $6,000. 

When the total amount of the bequest was discovered to be worth $1,465,000, Elizabeth Hoyt claimed that her share had been fraudulently obtained from her and a court case ensued. 

Unfortunately I could find no further outcome of this case.

Nobel Laureate ~ John Cockcroft

John 

Douglas Cockcroft

O.M K.C.B C.B.E Sc.D F.R.S

First Master of

Churchill College

27th May 1897

18th Sept 1967

Whose love was his strength

Timothy

son of John

and Elizabeth Cockcroft

Jan 26th 1927 Oct 11th 1929

Elizabeth

Beloved Wife

Loving Mother

Oct 26th 1898

Aug 4th 1989

John Douglas Cockcroft was a British Physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for splitting the Atomic Nucleus with Ernest Walton in 1951. Cockcroft was instrumental in the development of Nuclear Power.

John was born on 27th May 1897 at Todmorden, W.Yorkshire, England. His family had been Cotton Manufacturers for several generations.

He studied mathematics at Manchester University in 1914 and served as a Signaller in the Royal Field Artillery during the First World War. He then returned to Manchester and studied electrical engineering and after an apprenticeship with Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Co. he went to St. John's College Cambridge and took the Mathematical Tripos in 1924 and became a Fellow of St.John's in 1929.

In 1925 he married Eunice Elizabeth Crabtree and had six children, John Haslam ~ known as Timothy was born 29th January 1927 ~ 86 years ago today, but died at the age of two years old. He is buried with his Father and Mother in the Ascension Burial Ground, Cambridge.

John and Elizabeth had four daughters and another son. 

He worked on the acceleration of protons in 1928 and was joined by Ernest Walton. 

In 1929 he became a Fellow at St.John's and in 1939, Jacksonian Professor of Philosophy.

In that same year he took a war~time appointment as Assistant of Scientific Research in the Ministry of Supply and started work on Radar to Coast and Air Defence problems. After which he was appointed Head of the Air Defence Research and Development Establishment.

In 1944 he went to Canada and took charge of the Canadian Atomic Energy Project and returned to England in 1946 as Director of the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell. From 1954 to 1959 he was scientific research member of the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority.

In 1959 he became First Master at Churchill College, Cambridge and Chancellor of the Australian National University, Canberra. From 1960 to 1962 he was President of the Institute of Physics, the Physical Society and that of the British Association for the Advancement of Science from 1961 to 1963.

John Cockcroft recieved honorary doctorates from some 19 Universities and a fellow or honorary member of many Principal Scientific Societies.        

Nobel Laureate ~ George Paget Thomson

George Paget Thomson

K.T   F.R.S

1892 ~ 1975

Scientist Nobel Laureate

Master of Corpus Christi 

and his wife

Kathleen Buchanan Thomson

1900 ~ 1941

Daughter of

Rt Rev. Sir George Adam Smith

George Paget Thomsom was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1937 for his work in discovering the wave like properties of the electron. The prize was jointly shared with Clinton Joseph Daivsson who made the same discovery independently.

George was born in Cambridge on 3rd May 1892. He was the son of Physicist and Nobel Laureate J.J. Thomson ~ who had won his Nobel Prize for discovering the electron as a particle.

George read Mathematics and Physics at Trinity College, Cambridge. When World War One broke out in 1914 he was commissioned into the Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment. After service in France, he became a Fellow at Cambridge. 

  

In 1924, George married Kathleen Buchanan Smith, daughter of the Very Reverend Sir George Adam Smith. They had four children, two sons and two daughters.

In 1930 George Paget Thomson was appointed Professor at Imperial College and in the late 1930's during the Second World War he specialised in Nuclear Physics and as a chairman of the 'Maud Commitee' in 1940 ~ 1941 he concluded that an Atomic Bomb was feasible.

In later life he continued this work on Nuclear Energy and also wrote works on aerodynamics and the value of Science in society.

George stayed at Imperial College until 1952 and became Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He was Knighted in 1943 and died on the 10th September 1975 and is buried in the Churchyard of St. Andrew and St. Mary in Granchester, Cambridge. 

Sleeping in Tombs

Photo not from Mill Road Cemetery

 

I saw this article on the front page of our local paper the 'Cambridge News' and was shocked to see how the Mill Road Cemetery in Cambridge had quite literally become a 'Sleeping Garden' not for the Dearly Departed, but the Drunk and Drugged.

Here is the full story:

 

Drunks and Addicts 'Sleeping in Tombs' by Chris Havergal

 

Drunks are pushing the lids off tombs at a Cambridge cemetery to sleep inside them.Horrified people living close to the graveyard have also reported seeing drug-addicts injecting themselves while sat in graves.

Police revealed the full impact of street drinking on the Petersfield neighbourhood in their bid to ban alcohol sales at a shop which they claim is a “soft touch” on liquor sales and a magnet for troublemakers – News and More in Norfolk Street.

Officers said problems started at the store and spread out into the surrounding area, including to Mill Road cemetery, which is plagued by drunkenness, littering, defecating and drug abuse, and can be accessed via an alleyway opposite the newsagent.

In a statement, Pc Alan Tregilgas said: “It is not unusual to find drunken persons sleeping in this area and in some cases tombstone lids have been pushed off so they can sleep inside them.
“One resident said she was shocked when she saw a male sitting on a grave with his trousers down injecting himself in his thigh in full view of everyone.”
In a first for the city’s force, officers have drawn up a dossier of evidence to support a request to revoke News and More’s licence, and this will be determined by councillors on Monday, January 7.

In the file, police and residents allege street drinkers frequent Norfolk Street itself from 8.30am, intimidating pupils at St Matthew’s Primary School by drinking, vomiting, urinating and begging, and by letting dogs run free.
Evidence about News and More include claims that:

* Staff opened the door of a fridge containing alcohol for two men who were too drunk to do so themselves and then sold liquor to the pair.

* A drunk man was asked for directions to the shop because he said 'it was the only place he would get served'.

* The store is seen as a 'Soft Touch' by people determined to get alcohol, whatever state they are in.

* A binge drinker died hours after being served alcohol there, having been refused liquor at another nearby newsagent because he looked sick.

Pc Peter Sinclair, the force’s licensing officer, said he believed owner Shailesh Patel was “knowingly breaching” licensing rules by serving drunks and that there was a “causal link” between sales at the shop and disorder.

He said advice given on numerous occasions “appeared to have fallen on deaf ears” and that the Patels “have by their behaviour treated the law-abiding residents in the area with utter contempt”.

However, the Patels have won support from customers, 39 of whom have written letters calling for the licence to remain in place – plus 112 who signed a petition.
They claim the Patels are careful about who they sell alcohol to and that it would be unfair to single out News and More when street drinking was a citywide problem.
Mr Patel said he had voluntarily stopped selling super-strength alcohol and that he had “tried his best” to prevent problems.













 

Surgeon of the Parish ~ Linton, Cambridge

In Loving Memory of

Harriette

Wife of Frederick Bennett

Died January 30th 1893

Also of

Frederick Bennett

For Many Years Surgeon of This Parish

Die 11th Dec 1896 Aged 70.

So I Googled Frederick Bennett's name and occuption and approx year that he would have been practicing and discovered the following information:

Frederick Bennett, a surgeon in England. ~as on his sons marriage certificate~
His son Frederick Henry Bennett b ABT 1848,at Islington,Middlesex, a wine Merchant, married 12th May 1877 in the parish of Woodford, Essex to Emma Baker b.ABT 1845.

Their children, Frederick George and Agnes M. B.ABT 1880 ~twins~, Sydney Harmond b 1882 and John Henry b.1881. The boys and their mother Emma immigrated to New Zealand in 1913.

I then contacted Sally Riches in New Zealand who had posted this information, offering her my photo of the headstone and to see if she had any photographs of Frederick or Harriette, she wrote back to say:

 What a nice surprise to get your message 7 yrs after posting my one.

I would love to have a photo of the headstone. Frederick Bennett was my mothers great grandfather. I was always wanting to trace his medical background as early census listed his occupation as a chemist and then it changed to surgeon.

Most of the information I have is taken from the census records 1851-1891, but missing the family in 1861.    Frederick Bennett was born in 1818 in Wantage, Berkshire, son of John Bennett who was also a chemist. By 1851 Frederick was working in Clerkenwell as a chemist/drugist, then his occupation changes to Surgeon in London in 1856.
We lose his and his families whereabouts until 1871 when he appears as surgeon in Linton, Cambridge where he lives till his death in 1896 of Senile Decay.

He married Harriette Bennett n May 15th 1847, daughter of George Bennett, Gentleman. She was born in Ullington, Gloucestershire.,

He and harriette had 3 children,
Frederick henry b.1848 who married Emma Baker in 1877 and became a Wine Merchant, they had 3 sons and 1 daughter
Harriette Georgiana b.1850 who married John Holt Moxon of Rugeley, Staffordshire and had 6 daughters and 1 son
Fanney b.1856
We are related to his son Frederick Henry Bennett and his son Sydney Harman Bennett.

We have no photos of him.

Many thanks for filling in some of the history Sally.

I Thought I Recognised This

Brompton Cemetery, London

Sacred

to the Memory of

General

Sir John Lysaght Pennefather

GCB

The Governor of The Royal Hospital Chelsea

Died 9th May 1872

In the 73rd Year of His Age

~ Verse ~

Also of Margaret, widow of the above

who entered into rest 7th February 1880

~ Verse ~

Also of Harriet Worrell ( Harrie )

The dearly loved wife of the Rev. Henry Pelham Stokes.M

Rector of Wareham Dorset: A Grand~daughter of the above

who fell asleep in Jesus 13th January 1882  

General Sir John Lysaght Pennefather GCB* B.9 September 1798 ~ D. 9 May 1872, was a British soldier who won two very remarkable victories. Firstly, at Meanee, India, where it was said that 500 Irishmen defeated 35,000 Indians.

Secondly, at the Battle of Inkerman, 5 November 1854 during the Crimean War, where he commanded a division of 3,000 Irishmen fighting in the fog were said to have defeated 35,000 Russians.

*Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Information from Wikipedia  

As soon as I saw the monument above, I recognised it as being veri similar to the one below from Histon Road Cemetery, Cambridge..... 

Histon Road Cemetery, Cambridge

I have shown this particular monument in an earlier posting and have always admired it because of the beautiful fine detailed Weeping Willow branches that are draped over it. 

I also liked the fact that it appeared to be an original design as I had never seen another quite like it, that is until I discovered that of Gen. Sir John Lysaght Pennefather in Brompton Cemetery. 

For They Are Jolly Good Fellows...

In the Churchyard of St. Andrew and St.Mary's in Grantchester, stands a monument to the Fellows of the Universities of Cambridge. The pelican at the top is a Christian symbol that denotes self~sacrifice.

It was earlier believed that the pelican fed it's young from a self inflicted gash, however the bird was merely feeding them from her pouch. The legend that was born from this observation, said that after the chicks had been killed by a snake, the mother bird resuscitated her young by feeding them her own blood. A great act of self~sacrifice for the sake of her children.

There are more names inscribed on the base of this monument than I have listed here, as all the horizontal surfaces have dedications as well. Unfortunately the lichens and weather have made them illegible.

Bruce Dickins

Fellow

Erlington & Bosworth

Professor of Anglo~Saxon

1880~1978

David James Bruce

Fellow

1928~1998

John Edward Lennard Jones

K.B.E ScD E.R.S Fellow

Professor Theoretical

Chemistry Principal

Univ. Col. Keele

1894~1954

Evelyn Garthmore

Fellow

1906~1990

John Thomson Mac ( Curdy ) ?

ScD Fellow

University Lecturer

1886~1947

Ronald R Henderson

A.O. C.M.G

Professor

1917~1994

George Stuart Carter

Fellow

1893~1969

Patrice Edouard Charvet

Fellow

1903~1993

and his wife

Eleanor Margaret

1904~1986

Malcolm Archer Sheridan Burgess

Fellow

1926~1978

John Harley Mason

Fellow

1920~2003

Stuart Dunsmore Elliot

Fellow

1907~1986

Gerard Mark Duveen

Fellow

1931~2008

Richard Bainbridge

Fellow

1922~1987

   

Wednesday's Child

Multiply Upon Him The

Blessings of Thy Love

John Spens

Born May 1st 1913

Died February 13th 1914

I was rather excited about this recent find in the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, because I have not seen a relief of a baby wrapped in swaddling bands like this before.
Also I believe that the circular crosses in the corners of the headstone represent Canterbury Cross, which are used by the Anglican Church, and this Burial ground was formerly that of St.Gile's and St. Peter's Parish.

 

What the Ivy Revealed

I love the Gothic atmosphere, that Ivy running wild can bring to the monuments in an old cemetery. It seems to add it's own contrasting message to the unchanging stillness and silence of the sentinal stones, reminding us that life is continually moving forward.

Having appreciated that though.....

I just had to peel it back to see what it would reveal underneath

A beautiful but sadly broken lily bud, before it had the time to blossom.

Britain's Brainiest Cemetery

The BBC named it 'Britain's Brainiest Cemetery' and in a recently written article said: A galaxy of talent lies buried here, in a little city of the distinguished dead. The story of academic life, of the birth of whole new disciplines since Victorian times, can be told through those who have their resting place here.

'It might have more IQ interred in one acre than any other in the world', writes Cambridge University history teacher Dr Mark Goldie.

The location is the Ascension Burial Ground in All Souls Lane, Cambridge.

This peaceful, yet wildly over grown cemetery is one of Cambridge's best kept secrets,  scarcely known to even the local people of the area.

At the last count, there are three Nobel prizewinners here, seven members of the Order of Merit, and over sixty who have entries in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: engineers, biologists, classicists, historians, poets, philosophers.

Collectively, these great minds, trace the revolution of thinking that began in Victorian times and produced the modern University.

This happened in three ways: Science, Secularisation, and Women.

Laboratory science took off, with larger labs appearing: Sir Horace Darwin ~ son of Charles Darwin ~ was crucial here, as an expert scientific instrument maker.

Another Son and Grandaughter of Charles Darwin are also interred here, as is

Charlotte Scott, pioneer woman student, who shocked the university in 1880 by performing outstandingly in the mathematics exams. Sadly it took decades before she could collect her rightful degree. She spent the later part of her career in the United States and was influential in the development of American mathematics, including the mathematical education of women.

 

Sir John Cockcroft, who split the atom in 1932, in the heyday of the great Cavendish Physics Lab, which produced a dozen Nobels. Later he became first Master of Churchill College - named for the great wartime leader who knew how to use science in war.

  

There's a sprinkling of astronomers here also, due to the nearby University Observatory including the astronomer who predicted the existence of the planet Neptune.



Also, Mr A.C. Benson, the author of the Patriotic lyrics ~ Land of Hope and Glory ~ for Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance Marches No.1.

Another grave in the burial site is that of Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins, who was the first to identify the existence of vitamins, back in 1912.

Sir Arthur Eddington who was the astrophysicist who made the crucial observations of a solar eclipse that confirmed Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

Sir James Frazer, who practically invented modern anthropology, even though he rarely left his college desk. His 'fieldwork' consisted of the study of the world's literature on ritual, folk religion, and superstition.

He smashed the traditional Christian belief by showing parallels between Christian and pagan myths. Frazer's book 'The Golden Bough' has never been out of print.

One of the most most sought-out graves is that of Ludwig Wittgenstein 1889 ~ 1951, perhaps the greatest philosopher of the 20th century.

Although this graveyard belongs to the Church of England - the parish of the Ascension -the usual financial difficulties, means that the church struggles to find the wherewithal to look after this historic place.

Cambridge ceased to be an Anglican enclave, and began admitting people of all religions and none - there are plenty of non-believers in this parish cemetery.

A Friends of the Ascension Burial Ground is being launched to save this little necropolis, because it is not officially part of Cambridge University, even though it lies in the centre of the University's development zone.

Once a year the Open Cambridge Scheme throws open it's doors to visitors dozens of labs, colleges, historic buildings, and gardens, including these burial grounds.

The former chapel is now the studio of American-born letter cutter Eric Marland.