Cemetery Sunday - Stanley's Angel

Holy Trinity, Cookham

 

Holy Trinity, Cookham

 

 

 

John and Harriet Nott of Cookham, Berkshire.

Monument to John and Harriet Nott, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Cookham, Berkshire, England.


"Sacred to the memory of John Nott, - late Lieutt in the 63rd Regiment of The Foot - Who died May. 30, 1839 aged 68 years.  Also Harriet Nott who died Octr. 17, 1863 aged 71 years.

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."


I have been unable to find very much on John Nott other than he was born around 1771.  On 8th October 1812 in Bedminster, Somerset, John married Harriet Thomas.  Together they had seven children that I have been able to trace between 1818 and 1830, William Thomas, Elathea, George, Henry Thomas, Albert, Julia and Jane.

 John Nott was to pass away on 30th May 1839.

I can find no further record of the Nott family until the 1861 Census when Harriet can be found living in Cookham, Berkshire with her son Albert Nott, his wife Ann and their six year old daughter, Grace Lousia.

Harriet then passes away 7 years later on 17th October 1868.

Cemetery Sunday - Footstones

Holy Trinity, Cookham, Berkshire.

All Saints, Marlow, Buckinghamshire.

Footstones were small headstone shaped stones placed at the foot of the grave, usually a reserve of the well to do, they only contained the initials and the year of death of those buried in the grave.  As churchyards and cemeteries became crowded around the late 1850s and space a premium, footstones fell out of fashion.  Today it is unusual to find footstones in situ, many have been either removed or placed against the headstone to aid grass cutting.  Many more sadly fell victim to lawn cutting instruments and were damaged beyond repair.

The Angel of Cookham

The Angel Cookham Churchyard
(c) Nicola Carpenter 2012

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


Angel monument to George Pendrill, Arthur Reed Louch and William Louch, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Cookham Berkshire.

"To The Memory Of - George Pendrill who died at Sutton Courtney, Berks July 8th 1890 aged 34 years.  Also of Arthur Reed Louch third son of the late Henry Louch Esq of Poplar London.  Who died at Sutton Courntey, Berks.  November 1st 1897 aged 58 years.  Also of William Louch twin brother of Arthur Reed Louch who died at Sutton Courtney, Berks June 8th 1901"

Arthur Reed and William Louch were born in 1839 in Poplar London to Henry, a ropemaker and Ann Louch nee Masterman.  On the 1841 Census they're shown living with their parents and sisters Ellen Masterman and Ada Reed at Manor Cottage, Poplar London.  Henry Louch was to die in 1848 and the family rope making business dissolved by his son Henry Louch in 1859.

"NOTICE is hereby given, that the Partnership heretofore subsisting between us the undersigned. Anna Louch, Henry Louch, and John Thompson, under the firm of Reed, Louch Brothers, and Thompson, at Love-lane, Shadwell, in the county of Middlesex, Rope Makers, has been dissolved by mutual consent, so far as regards the undersigned

John Thompson.—Dated the 27th day of December,

1859.  Anna Louch.  Henry Louch.  John Thompson."

In 1851 both Arthur and William were attending a boarding school in George Lane Woodford Essex.  Arthur and William split briefly in 1861 when Arthur was serving on a vessel in Pembrokeshire as an engineer and William, now a civil engineer was boarding with a Samuel Grey in Swindon GWR railway village, built by Brunel to help house the many railway workers and their families.  However in 1862 they can be found both serving in the Wiltshire Rifle Volunteer Corps 11th Company, Arthur as a Lieutenant and William as an Ensign.

In 1871 they were back living with their mother Anna and sister Louisa at The Elms in Hackney.  Both Arthur and William are listed as being ropemakers.  In 1881 Arthur and William have moved to Great Marlow and are living at Quarry Chalk Pits along with George Pendrill.  Arthur and William are again listed as engineers and George is an Engine driver.  1891 find the brothers living together aged 49 at The Green, Sutton Courtney in Abingdon, then Berkshire (now Oxon).  They're now listed as 'living on their own means'.

Sadly the twin brothers were to be separated by death with Arthur dying in 1897 and William in 1901.  His brother's passing must has come as a shock to poor William, who had to get used to living without his twin for a further four years.


George James Pendrill was born on 1st June 1856 in Rotherhithe Surrey to James a barge builder and Caroline Rachel Pendrill nee Gorsuch.

This monument and the research behind it has thrown up more questions than answers.

What event or reason that caused Arthur and William to leave the Wiltshire Rifle Volunteers to return to the family business of rope making?  Why was George Pendrill living with Arthur and William in Great Marlow and why did he move with them to Sutton Courtney? 

And most confusing of all...

Why was George Pendrill buried along with Arthur and William and not in his own plot or that of his family?


The Angel in the churchyard of Holy Trinity in Cookham was to inspire Sir Stanley Spencer.  He painted a picture of The Angel with the church tower in the background in 1953

The Angel, Cookham Churchyeard 1953

Sir Stanley Spencer looking at The Angel
in Cookham Churchyard

For more Taphophile Tragic posts, please click here.


** Update, I have since e-mailed Holy Trinity Church in Cookham asking for more information about the angel monument.  Unfortunately they had no further information to give.  However they did manage to find an identical angel monument in a Tiverton churchyard.  I am currently trying to find out if there is a connection between the two angels.

Winged Heads, Skulls, Crossbones

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


All photographs taken at Holy Trinity Churchyard, Cookham Berkshire.

For more Taphophile Tragic posts, please click here.