Hand in Hand!

Broken from its base, this headstone lies flat on the grass of Blackburn Cemetery in Lancashire. At first sight, it shows the familiar Victorian symbol of two hands clasped together. Above is the inscription - We Shall Meet On That Beautiful Shore. What makes this both poignant and unusual is that, instead of the usual male and female hands, this depicts a Mother's hand clasping that of its child. Very sad! It is the first of its type that I have seen, but there must be others. The grave marks the last resting place of Elizabeth Jane, the beloved daughter of Charles and Nancy Eastwood, whose short life spanned the period 1873-1876. Next came Ernest Charles who was born in 1880 and dies 12 days short of his tenth birthday in 1890. In 1901, their mother Nancy died aged 50, while father Charles lived on until 1910 aged 63 years.

I have since traced some details of the family who lived in Bright Street, Blackburn - Charles Eastwood was an Engineer and a Driver in a Cotton Mill. Wife Nancy is a Housekeeper, while there is a surviving son - Thomas Edwin who in 1891 was a 13-year-old Cotton Weaver. By 1901, he was Lorry Driver for a Corn Mill.