Flying Angels

From time to time, I come across this style of memorial. Aldershot in Hampshire, Gibraltar and the Liverpool Road (Birkdale) Cemetery in Southport, Lancashire - to name but three. I like it! These images show the memorial to Joan Mary Bailey in Southern Cemetery, Manchester:

Under Glass

I've been having a think about flowers under glass recently. This was because of looking at a pair of vintage postcards in my collection.

The first shows two examples of flowers under glass placed on graves in 1904. What particularly caught my eye was the base upon which the flower display rested which is inscribed 'In Memory of Fred'. I had seen a number of empty circular bases on graves in Lancashire cemeteries recently and hadn't realised their significance.

The second shows the shop window of T. Charlton Funeral Furnishers. In the window are examples of flowers under glass and, what I haven't seen before, representations of memorials. The first shows a distraught figure cling to a cross similar to the type of memorial often found in Victorian and Edwardian cemeteries. If anyone has seen similar items, I would be interested to know about it. Thank you.

Trumpets Shall Sound!

Poor Betty Heap died in 1888 aged 23 years. Her gravestone in Burnley Cemetery is a mass of inscriptions It gives me an excuse to go back and make careful note of what is recorded. I was also very impressed by this example of a stone mason's art. The wording on the banner that curls it way along under the floral tributes states:

'Trumpets Shall Sound And The Dead Shall Be Raised'

The Stone Infant

The Church of St Michael's and All Angels in the Bronte village of Haworth in Yorkshire has a graveyard that is visited by thousands of tourists every year. There are many poignant reminders of the high children's mortality rate of the time with 40% of children dying before the age of six.

The Haworth Church website records that there are estimated to be 42,000 burials in the graveyard and that many of the graves, from the time of the Bronte family, hold entire families including a number of infants. English Heritage, in its Haworth-Village of the Brontes leaflet, that one memorial records that Joseph Heaton buried seven infant children and that there are many similar gravestones in the village's burial grounds.

Joseph Heaton was a highly skilled stone mason and the memorial he carved for his family is the most visited grave in the graveyard. Locally, the grave is referred to as 'The Stone Infant' for it includes a representation of a child [said to be James Whitham Heaton] laid with its head resting on a pillow. A canopy above shelters the child.

The inscription reads;

SACRED

To

the memory of James William

Son of

Joseph & Elizabeth Heaton

of Haworth

who died

in the 1st year of his age

ALSO three infants of theirs

ALSO James Whitham

Their son died July 19th 1878

in the 2nd year of his age

ALSO Elizabeth their daughter

who died June 19th 1885

ALSO an infant son of theirs

ALSO of the above named

Joseph Heaton

who died March 18th 1914

in his 69th year

ALSO Elizabeth his wife

who died April 22nd 1917

in her 71st year

'Sweet Rest At Last'

Death of a female Parachutist 1906

Haworth New Cemetery is home to the grave Elizabeth Mary Cove who died on June 11, 1906 aged 21 years. Her professional name was Miss Lily Cole and she died in a parachute accident.

Lily was engaged as the main attraction at the Haworth Gala. She was to ascend in a gas-filled balloon high above the crowd and then jump from the balloon and land using a parachute. On the day of the Gala, problems with the balloon caused the jump to be postponed but, on Monday 11 June,  the balloon got off the ground. There was problem and she became separated from her parachute and plunged to the ground. She died soon after.

According to the Haworth Village website, there was speculation that the harness may have been tampered with - a relationship with another man causing jealousy. Another suggestion thought that as she approached Ponden reservoir she feared the balloon might land in the water and, rather than drown, she decided to jump. A very detailed account of the accident and the aftermath can be found HERE.

Haworth Bronte Churchyard

I hope to visit this graveyard soon. Here is a superb slide show by Mark Strange:

Sweet Baby James

This is one of the saddest sights in Darwen Cemetery. This is a lifelike representation of James who died in 1935 aged five years 11 months. He was the son of John and Lily Ann [surname illegible] and died on13 November 1935. Sadly, at some point his face was damaged as can be seen in the fourth photograph which clearly shows the cracks down the side of the head and around the neck and chest. What saddens me is that seems like James stands on his grave, in perpetuity, constantly watching the Cemetery entrance for sight of his parents coming to visit. At some stage, old age would have over taken them and they visited no more . . .