Shells and Stones!

Four years ago, I noticed that a Bath graveyard was having an open day and went along. The Perrymead Roman Catholic graveyard was very pretty and I was captivated by a grave that stood out from the neat formality of the other resting places. On top of the green chipping covering, dozens of shells, stones and the occasional trinket were scattered. Perhaps the sea shells came from beaches that the person buried there enjoyed visiting. Relatives might have collected them and brought them here. Whatever the reason, it was very striking.

Norwegian Sailor's Headstone

Another headstone in Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bristol. Norwegian merchant seaman, Salve Lislevand who served on M/S Slemmestad. He became ill and died on November 22, 1943. The day he died, his ship was passing Gibraltar and was bound for Liverpool from Oran. Perhaps his body was taken ashore by a Pilot Boat and landed at Bristol?

Some very useful details can be found on a very informative website HERE.

Victim of Drowning

This spectacular memorial can be found in Bristol's Arnos Vale cemetery. It is topped with sculpted group of a funerary urn with a coat of arms, enwrapped in a Union Flag. At its base is an officer's shako [helmet] and sword belt. It is Grade II listed.

An inscription reads:
In memory of Lieutenant James Anthony Gardner, late of HM 7th Royal Fusiliers. The beloved and only child of James Anthony Gardner and Eliza, his wife, who was accidentally drowned whilst bathing at Alwaye, Cochin Malabar Coast, East Indies, October 26th 1861, aged 30 years. Interred in the Protestant burial ground at Cochin, October 27th, 1861, and removed to beneath this spot by his, bereaved parents, March 18th 1863.

Gardner, who father was Governor of Bristol Gaol, joined the Regiment in the Crimea before the Battle of Sebastopol. He was awarded the Crimea Medal with Sebastopol clasp and retired in 1860.

Architect's Memorial

Six of Undercliffe Cemetery's memorials have Listed Building status and one of those is to William Mawson. He was an architect of the Mawson and Lockwood practice which designed Bradford's Town Hall, Wool Exchange, the Saltaire Mill and village and Feversham Street School, to name but a few. Mawson died on April 25, 1889 aged 6. His listed monument is a granite obelisk on a pedestal to one side of the cemetery's main terrace.

The cemetery stands on a hillside overlooking the City of Bradford and Wikipedia records it as containing some very impressive Victorian funerary monuments in a variety of styles. It is a notable example of a Victorian cemetery where a number of rich and prominent local residents have been buried, notably mill owners and former mayors. Undercliffe Cemetery has been grade II* listed by English Heritage in their register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historical Interest in England.

Fiddler Joss found Salvation!

Joshua Poole was an evangelist. The Manx Quarterly recorded his death, in 1908, thus:

The death took place on Sunday, May 17th, in Bradford, at the age of 82, of Mr Joshua Poole, an evangelist and temperance worker, who for many years was well known as " Fiddler Joss," Mr Poole's health broke down about twenty years ago, and in retirement he took up his residence at Halifax. Though little more than a name to the present generation, to those who had known him from the time of his first mission fifty years ago, " Fiddler Joss " was regarded as one of the most remarkable of modern evangelists. Born at Skipton, where his father followed the occupation of a saddler, he was a Sunday-school teacher in his youth, but, being of a roving disposition, he broke away from the family traditions, and in Bradford became a pothouse fiddler, a gambler, and a heavy drinker. In the course of time he became as familiar with the inside of a prison as he was of the public house. When at length his wife swore that her life was in danger from his oonstant violence, he was sent to prison for six months, not being able to offer the required security to be of good behaviour. In Wakefield Gaol he resolved, through the influence of the prison warder, to reform. From that time he became a pledged teetotaller, abandoned his loose life, and applied himself to steady industry. It was not long before he began to speak as an evangelist, and his fame spread far and wide. Indeed as a preacher to the masses, "Fiddler Joss" in his day had few equals. Along with his wife, Mary Poole, he conducted missions in all parts of the United Kingdom, and at one time was even induced to carry on a mission in France.

Death of Four Brothers

This grave marks a very sad event. It states: Here lie the bodies of four brothers. They were the children of Station Master Robert Smith of the Midland Railway Company and his wife, Harriet. All contracted Scarlet Fever in 1880 and were dead within a week. They were:

Horace Richard

9 years

Rowland

7 years

Godfrey

4 years

Ralph

1 year 7 months

The Barlow Memorial

The very striking Barlow Memorial can be found in Bradford's Undercliffe Cemetery. It depicts a reclining mother holding a small baby in her arms. It commemorates Anne Wagstaff Barlow (1834-1867) and her daughter Sarah Elizabeth who survived just a few weeks after her birth in 1859. Some say it illustrates the perils of childbirth in Victorian times.