Wednesday's Child

Sacred

to the Memory

of Our Little

Tom

who died Jan. 10th 1882

Aged 2 Yrs 10 Months

The good condition of Little Tom's wooden head and footboard, lead me to think that they are not the originals. Tom has no surname that is visible, so who replaced them and when ?

Monday Mourning ~ Wooden Headboard

Another Wooden Headboard,

this time from St. Peter's Church, Arlesley, Bedfordshire 

In Memory of Mary the wife of Joseph Newbury

who died Februaury 13th 1872 Aged 50 Years

Remember me when you pass by. As you are now, so once was I.

As I am now, so you must be, Prepare yourself to follow me.

After reading an epitaph like this, life sounds all downhill from now on. 

St. Peter's, Arlesley, Bedfordshire 

A Poets Wooden Headboard

When I took this photo in my local cemetery in Saffron Walden, of the wooden headboard of the Johnson Family, I did not realise that it was rather special. For it seems that wooden headboards are rather rare and uncommon, due to their relatively perishable material.

So I decided to include it, for that reason alone and the inscription reads :

Arthur Tregellas Johnson - Born Oct 12th 1876 - Died Dec 31st 1896

Hilda Mary Johnson - Missionary in Bengal - Born Oct 12th 1877 - Died July 24th 1915

Owen Bennett Goold Johnson BA ( Cantab ) 2nd Lieut. Suffolk Regiment

Born April 17 1888 - Killed in Action April 9th 1917 - Buried at Arras

Donald Fredric Goold Johnson BA ( Cantab ) Lieut. Manchester Regiment

Born March 6th 1890 - Killed in Action July 15th 1916 - Buried at Bouzincourt

Donald was a Poet and won the Chancellor's Medal for English Verse with a 14-stanza poem "The Southern Pole", on Capt Scott's expedition.

At the outbreak of war he abandoned plans for writing a study of Chaucer and was gazetted to the 2nd Battalion, Manchester Regiment. He was sent to France in late 1915 and participated in the opening of the Battle of the Somme in July. On the 15th, during the action to take Ovillers, while holding a trench against a German counter-attack, Donald was killed.

To read some of Donald's poetry, click on the + symbol below to zoom in and scroll down by moving the side bar - "The Southern Pole" is on page 74 and a Poem dedicated to the memory of his sister Hilda, titled H.M.J on page 11.