Commemoration Funeral Bier

To Mark the Coronation of

KING GEORGE V

This Bier is Provided for Use in the

Parishes of St.Germans, St.Peters and

St.Mary the Virgin

Wiggenhall 1911

And is the Property of the Joint Parishes

By the main door in the Parish church of Wiggenhall St.Mary Magdalen, stands the Funeral Bier that was purchased to commerate the Coronation of king George V. This bier would have been used by the three Parishes of Wiggenhall to transport coffins on their final journey from the deceased's residence to the Church.

Click here for more information on St. Mary Magdalene Church

Centenarians of Pinner

This Stone

was Erected by Private Subscription

in Memory of

Betty

Widow of William Evans of this Parish

and

Daughter of William and Ann Weatherly

Born at Ruislip 27th April

1751

Died at Pinner 10th August

1853

Aged 102 Years

I could find no further information regarding Betty Evans or why this stone was erected by private subscription for her. 

However there are three other centenarians buried in the Churchyard of St. John the Baptist in Pinner, Middlesex : William Kenelsby who died in 1775 aged 118 Years and of whom I wrote of in my previous post.
The others are Ann Winfield of Ruislip who died in 1851 aged 100 Years and Charles James who died in 1923 aged 102 Years. however I could not locate their burial sites in the churchyard.

Retired at the Age of 112 ~ Died Aged 118 Years Old

William Kenelsby

Died Nov. 7th 1775

Aged 118 Years

Willian Kenelsby was for many years a servant for Lord Henry Beauclerk's family. He retired from service in 1769 at the age of 112 years old.
His wooden headboard stands in the Churchyard of St. John the Baptist, Pinner, Middlesex.
I could find no further information on this gentleman, but only the following on Lord Henry Beauclerk whom he worked for.......

Lord Henry Beauclerk was born 11th August 1701 and was the fourth son of the first Duke of St. Albans, Hertfordshire. 
Henry's first commission at the age of 16 was that of an Ensign in the 31st Foot. 
Ten years later he became a Captain of the 3rd Foot and went on to become the Colonel of the 48th Regiment  at the age of 42. 
He returned to his first Regiment two years later when King George II appointed him Colonel of the 31st Foot. 
He retired from the Army after an argument with the Duke of Cumberland.

Lord Henry Beauclerk became a member of Parliament for Plymouth 1740 ~ 41 and for Thetford 1741 ~ 1761 on the interest of his kinsman the Duke of Grafton.
In 1759 Lady Beauclerk wrote to the Duke of Newcastle asking for financial assistance.
On the 5th January 1761 Henry Beauclerk died and his widow was granted a pension of £400 per year.

Regency Style Tombstones

John Winston  ~  John Winston

Is the most legible name on both of these stones, but it looks as though another name beginning with the letter 'M' appears above it on the left, all other information on these stones is not fully legible

On first appearances the inscriptions on these headstones look as though they could be easily read, but the lichen has made it almost impossible.
I believe these headstones to be in a Regency Style and whilst I have seen others of this period with flaming urns and obelisks, I have not seen them carved in such deep relief and in so much detail. I especially like the round name plate which appears to be hanging on the obelisk, shame it's not now legible.
The name Mr. John Winston appears on both headstones, but as is often the practice, a husbands name may appear larger than that of his wife's, even when it is her monument. Mr. Winston must have been a wealthy man, as these monuments are grandly embellished and also because they are quite close to the church door ~ prime location was more desirable and so came at a higher cost.

 St. Mary's Church, Eaton Socon, Cambridge

Champion Flat Racing Jockey

This is the grave of

Elnathan ~ Nat ~ Flatman

1810 ~ 1860

A famous jockey who was known

to be honest, sober, discreet and plain living.

He started as a 15 year old apprentice in

William Cooper's yard. His riding

career began in 1829 and ended in 1859.

He headed the list of top jockeys for

seven consecutive years 1846 to 1852. During

his career he won the 1000 Guineas three times,

the 2000 Guineas three times,

the St.Leger three times, and the Derby once.

Nat Flatman riding Preserve 1835 Painted by John Frederick Herring Jnr.

With the Horse Racing town of Newmarket just half an hour away, I decided to visit the Churchyard of All Saints and the Cemetery there.
So it only seems fitting that my first post from this town should be that of a Champion Jockey.
Elnathan 'Nat' Flatman b. 1810 ~ d.1860 was a British Champion Flat Racing Jockey who began his career as an apprentice at the age of fifteen. By 1840 he was dominating British Racing by winning the Champion Jockey title thirteen years in a row.
During his thirty four year career, he won many important races in England including ten Classics.
In France he was often listed as Edward Flatman and he competed in several major races there. He had three wins in the most prestigious race in France, the Prix du Jockey Club and two wins for filly's in the Prix de Diane.
Nat Flatman retired from racing in 1859 and died the following year and is buried in the Churchyard of All Saints Church.

During his career, Flatman had his portrait painted several times by Artists such as the Equine artist Harry Hall and John Frederick Snr. After his death the town named a Street in Nat Flatman's honour.  

Nat Flatman Street, Newmarket, Suffolk

Equerry in Waiting to King George the Fifth

MDCCC LXIV ~ 1864

MDCCC CXXXI ~ 1931

Esse Quam Vederi

Third and Last Baronet of Leasowe

In the County Palatine of Chester

Knight Grand Cross of the Royal

Victorian Order in Waiting 

to His Majesty King George the Fifth

A Captain of the Royal Navy

The headstone is that of Sir Charles Leopold Cust, who was born on the 27th February 1864 and was the 3rd and last of the Cust Baronets when the title became extinct upon his death on the 19th January 1931. 

He served in the Royal Navy on HMS Minotaur, Alexandra and Thunderer and also as the Equerry in Waiting to King George V. He was awarded the following honours GCVO, CB, CMG . 

He rests in the Churchyard of St.Peter and St.Pauls, Belton, Lincolnshire. 

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. 

Wednesday's Child

Sacred to the Memory of

Edward ( Ted ) Francis

Son of

Francis John & Louisa Clapcott

Accidentally killed 8th Aug. 1931

Aged 9 Years 9 Months

A sudden call

At God's command he fell

He had not time to bid his friends farewell

Death came without a warning given

And bade him meet his God in Heaven

All Saints Church, Freshwater, Isle of Wight

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.

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.

ARP Warden's Memorial ~ IOW

Sacred to the Memory of

Senior Warden EDWARD A. KERSEY

Warden MONTAGUE B. BRINTON

Warden WILLIAM M. COWBURN

Mrs ALICE F. HANN W.V.S

Killed on Duty during the War 1939 ~ 1945

We Will Remember Them

Erected by their Comrades of the Civil Defence

Warden and Ambulance Services East Cowes 

In September 1935, four years before WW2 began,  Stanley Baldwin the British Prime Minister, issued a circular entitled Air Raid Precautions ~ARP~  which suggested local authorities should make plans to protect their people in the event of a war. This included the building of public air raid shelters.

In April 1937 the government created an Air Raid Wardens' Service and during the next year recruited around 200,000 volunteers. These volunteers were know as Air Raid Precaution Wardens and their main role was to protect civilians from the danger of air~raids.

ARP Wardens patrolled the streets during blackouts, to ensure that no light was visible.
If a light was spotted, the warden would alert those responsible by shouting something like 'Put that light out!' or 'Cover that window!'.

Anderson Shelter in Garden ~ Gas Masks being carried in their cardboard boxes

The ARP Wardens also reported the extent of bomb damage and assess the need for help from the rescue and emergency services.
They were also responsible for the issue of gas masks and pre-fabricated air~raid shelters ~ Anderson and Morrison shelters ~ they also organised and staffed the public air raid shelters.

The ARP's knowledge of their local area, enabled them to find and reunite family members who had been separated after the 'All Clear siren' was sounded.
There were 1.4 million ARP wardens in Britain, mostly part time volunteers who had other full time day jobs.

The ARP Warden was issued with a helmet with the letter 'W' upon it, a whistle or wooden rattle, a hooded torch and canteen of water as seen here carved in stone.

Colonial Governor ~ Sir Claud Hollis

Festina Lente

In Proud and

Loving Memory

Sir Claud Hollis

G.C.M.G  C.B.E

Born 12th May 1874

Died 22nd Nov 1961 

Festina Lente ~ Make Haste Slowly or More Haste, Less Speed

Sir Alfred Claud Hollis  GCMG, CBE ~ 1874 ~ 1961 ~ was British administrator who served as British Resident to the Sultan of Zanzibar between 1923 and 1929 and Governor of Trinidad and Tobago between 1930 and 1936 and author of a historical account of Spanish Trinidad.

He also wrote books on the Language and Folklore of the Masai and Nandi.

Summer Solstice

Today is the longest day of the year.

Daisies in St.Mary the Virgin Churchyard, Widdington, Essex

Wednesday's Children

Standing along the path at the side of St. John the Baptist in Pinner, are the headstones of the  Hill and Weall families, their similarity in style and close proximity could suggest they may have been related.
However, the one thing they do share is the sad loss of their daughters.

The four headstones on the left belong to the Hill's and the two on the right are the Weall's 

Here Lyeth

the Body of

Jane Hill, Daughter of

Daniel & Susanna Hill

of this Parish

who departed this life

3rd June 1803

in the 8th Year of her Age

Here Lyeth

the Body of

Ann Hill, Daughter of

Daniel & Susanna Hill

of this Parish

who departed this life

29th October 1800

In the 14th Year of her Age

Here Lyeth

the Body of

Mary Weall Daughter of

John and Mary Weall

of this Parish

who departed this life

4th September 1800

Aged 8 Years