Colonel David Sherlock - His Lovely Life Ended

Taphophilia is a passion for and enjoyment of cemeteries. The singular term is a taphophile.


Monument to Colonel David John Christopher Eustace Sherlock, All Saints Maidenhead Cemetery, Maidenhead, Berkshire.


"In devoted memory of Colonel David J. C. E. Sherlock D.S.O (distingished service order) Royal Artillery the beloved husband of Constance Nash Sherlock   Born June 6th 1879  His lovely life ended February 18th 1938  Constance Nash Sherlock 1900 - 1959."

David John Christopher Eustace Sherlock was born 6th June 1879 in Dublin Ireland to David Joseph Sherlock and Mary Zeena Elizabeth Murphy.  In 1900 David joined the army, serving in the Great War, first with the Royal Horse Artillery and then later with the Royal Field Artillery.  In 1930 David married Constance Nash.

The Catholic Herald printed a small notice of death for David on 28th February 1938 -

"Gallant service during the European War, in which campaign he was wounded and was six times mentioned in despatches. brought high honour, both from Britain and from France, to Colonel David John Christopher Eustace Sherlock, who died on the 18th inst. at his home at Burnham, Buckinghamshire. The Royal Honours List awarded him the D.S.O., while France made him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour and gave him also the Croix de Guerre.

Colonel Sherlock was in his fifty-ninth year. The son of Mr. David Sherlock, D.L., of Tullamore, he was educated first of all in Ireland, at Clongowes Wood College, and afterwards at Beaumont. He joined the Army in 1900. In the Great War he served with the R.H.A. and the R.F.A. He retired about eight years ago."

Sadly for such a well decorated man I can find very little information on his life or that of his wife Constance.

Quo Fas et Gloria Ducunt
Where Right and Glory Lead

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Edith Marion Rosse - Murder?

Taphophilia is a passion for and enjoyment of cemeteries. The singular term is a taphophile.


Memorial to Edith Marion Rosse (Milady), All Saints Church, Bisham, Berkshire.

"In love ever remember Edith Marion Rosse [Milday] who peacefully fell asleep in London on the 14th day of Septmeber 1932"

Unfortunately I cannot find out much about Edith's early life, but the end of her life is embroiled in mystery. 

In 1932 Edith was living with a fellow stage actor Arthur Maundy Gregory.  Arthur was experiencing financial difficulties. He was under pressure to repay to the executors of Sir George Watson £30,000 advanced for a barony he never received.  At the time Edith had £18,000 in her bank account.  She refused Arthur's requests for a loan, saying that the money was for her old age.

On 14th September 1932, Edith slipped into a coma and died and left all her money to Arthur, in a will scrawled on the back of a menu card from the Carlton Hotel. Arthur supervised her burial, specifying a riverside plot in the churchyard at Bisham. He ordered the coffin lid to be left unsealed and the grave to be dug unusually shallow, only 18 inches from the surface.

Edith's niece, who expected to inherit from her aunt's will made a complain and the police exhumed Edith's body on 28th April 1933.  The coffin was found to be waterlogged.   Bernard Spilsbury, a forensic scientist used by the police, was in little doubt that the burial arrangements Arthur had made were intentional since, "the effect of water on decaying remains would make it impossible to detect the presence of certain poisons."

Arthur was arrested in Germany, but never tried for the suspected murder of Edith.  Arthur died in a German Camp in on 28th September 1941.


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May Peabody Osborne - Dig the grave and let me lie

Taphophilia is a passion for and enjoyment of cemeteries. The singular term is a taphophile.


Memorial to May Peabody Osborne, All Saints Church, Bisham, Berkshire.

"In Memory of May Peabody Osborne beloved wife of Charles Glidden Osborne.  April 14th 1936.

Under the wide and starry sky, dig the grave and let me lie, glad did I live and gladly die.  And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me, here he lies where he longed to be.  Home is the sailor from sea and the hunter home from the hill."

May Peabody Osborne was born May Henderson Peabody on 28th April 1891 at Evanston, Cook County, Illinois, USA to Francis Stuyvesant Peabody and May Henderson.   May first married Addison H Stillwell on 2nd January 1914 at St James Episcopal Church, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA.  They were to divorce 1922.

On 1st September 1923 May married her second husband Charles Glidden Osborne and sailed with him and her children from her first marriage,  May Henderson Stillwell, Elizabeth Allison Stillwell and Frances Peabody Stillwell, on the Leviathan to England in the October of 1923.  In 1928 May and Charles had their only child together, Mahmea Enid Lolita Osborne.

May Peabody Obsborne died on 14th April 1936 in Marlow, Buckinghamshire aged just 44 years old.

It was the verse on May's gravestone that caught my eye first.  The line, 'under the wide and starry sky, dig the grave and let me lie', struck a cord with me.

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Adeline Blanche and Thomas Young

Taphophilia is a passion for and enjoyment of cemeteries. The singular term is a taphophile.


Monument to Adeline Blanche Young and Thomas Young, All Saints Church, Bisham, Berkshire.

"In Loving Memory of Adeline Blanche wife of Thomas Young who Died November 14. 1922.  Aged 52 years.  Also of Thomas Young who Died May 18th 1932 in his 70th year."

Adeline Blanche Young was born Adeline Blanche Strafford on 3rd February 1870 in Middlesex to Thomas William Strafford, an insurance clerk at Westminster Fire Office and Eliza Rutland.  Adeline remained with her family until she married Thomas Young on 2nd June 1904 at the age of 41.  On the 1911 census Adeline can be found living with her husband Thomas at Warren House, Bisham, Berkshire.  Eleven years later Adeline was to pass away at the age of 52.

Thomas Young was born in Hackney, London in 1863 to Thomas Young and his wife Margaret.  On the 1911 census Thomas's occupation is listed as surveyor of insurance.  Maybe Thomas Young worked at the same company as Adeline's father.  Unfortunately I was unable to find out much more about Adeline and Thomas.

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Guest Post - Greenbank Cemetery Bristol

Emily Davis from Invasion Of The Creeps writes about her visit to Greenbank Cemetery in Bristol.

"Greenbank Cemetery was the first large cemetery after Arnos Cemetery to be set up in Bristol in 1871. It was extended in 1880 and again in 1899. In the north eastern section of the cemetery are the memorials to the civilians who died during the Bristol Blitz. Greenbank cemetery also contains a military cemetery from British and Commonwealth servicemen as well as graves of a German Luftwaffe crew killed during the Blitz. The Commonwealth War Graves commission indicates that 178 First World War and 129 Second World War casualities are commemorated at Greenbank Cemetery."

"The pics were just taken on my little hand held digital one sunny afternoon about 4 years ago and I was looking for graves with interesting carvings more than details.  The central chapel, which I don't have any pics of is in a dreadful state of repair, and I know some of the graves have been moved over to Canford."

 

 

"It is a beautiful place. Very peaceful and well kept. There is a proper gate and gatehouse, and paths that lead of to the left and older parts of the cemetery, to the right and the newer grave, and a drive that leads straight ahead and up to the central abandonded chapel. On the way up this drive is an avenue of angels and the like on high memorial plinths. There are angels everywhere in the cemetery. A lot of the older families have elaborate tombs."

All photgraphs copyright of Emily Davis and reproduced with permission.


To read more from Emily, please visit her blog at Invasion Of The Creeps.

Ann Green - 106 Years Young

Taphophilia is a passion for and enjoyment of cemeteries. The singular term is a taphophile.


Monument to Ann Green, All Saints Churchyard, Bisham Berkshire.

"In Memory of Ann Green.  For many yeard the faithful housekepper at Temple House.  Who departed this life the 4th of February 1862 aged 106 years."

Ann Green was born in Ireland around 1756 which makes researching her ealry life very difficult.  She appears on the 1861 Bisham cenus aged 105 as a widow boaring with Thomas and Maragret Smith near Temple Lodge, Bisham Berkshire.  As I don't have a maiden name for Ann and I haven't been able to find her on the 1841 and 1851 census returns, my research has hit a brick wall.

Temple House, Bisham

Temple house was a large manor house built by Samuel Wyatt for the mill owner Thomas Williams in the late 18th century.  The Williams were a very important family in Bisham with many of the men entering into politics.  It seems that they were very fond of Ann, making sure she had a beautiful marker for her final resting place.


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Cemetery Sunday - Broken

Broken Cross - All Saints Churchyard

A selection of broken or damaged gravestones I have come across on my cemetery wanderings.

There are many factors that contribute, vandalism, weathering, poor maintenance and local authorities pushing over stones in the interests of health and safety.

 

 

Cliveden House - Pet Cemetery, Taplow, Buckinghamshire

Taphophilia is a passion for and enjoyment of cemeteries. The singular term is a taphophile.


The 'burials' date from 1874 - 1956 and contain mainly dogs and a few horses or ponies, unfortunately I can find no information on the history of the pet cemetery, or whether all the animals belonged to the same family, the Astors of Cliveden House.  It's in the Ilex Grove part of the grounds and sadly is not very well maintained or even sign posted.  We just happened across it.

There has been a house on the site at Cliveden, meaning - valley among cliffs, in Taplow Buckinghamshire since 1666.  The present house was built in 1851 and is a Grade I listed Italianate mansion.  In 1893 the estate was purchased by William Waldolf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor.  He became a virtual recluse after the death of his wife Mary Dahlgren Paul in 1894.  In 1906 Viscount Astor gave Cliveden and its ground to his son Waldorf on his marriage to Nancy Langhorne. The Astor family remained at Cliveden until 1969 when the house and grounds were leased by Stanford University.  The house is now owned by The National Trust and is a Luxuary Hotel.

It seems that most of the pet 'burials' took place during the time the Astor family resided at Cliveden.  It is such a shame that no more is known of this peaceful resting place for man and woman's best friends.

"Christoper, A favourite pony"

"Flossie"

"Missie"

"Chono"

"Laddie"

"Trixie"

"Baloo"

"Doushky"

"Dixie"

"Daphne"

"Midget"

"Blennie"

"Pugsy, dear pug"

"Tommy"

"Wallace"

"Snuff"

"Traffic Light"

There is another more famous pet cemetery in Hyde Park, London.  To read more about it, click here.

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