Flashback Friday - Weather Worn and Forgotten

*Originally posted 15th May 2012*

? Aged 71 Years

Mary ?

Two weather worn and eroded gravestones found at St James the Less, Stubbings, Burchett's Green and St Luke's Churchyard, Maidenhead, Berkshire.

The only information that can be gleaned from these stones are, 'Aged 71 Years' and 'Mary'.

An all too common sight in Britain's churchyards and cemeteries.  The poorer classes were not able to afford the marble and granite markers of their rich counterparts.  Having to make do with softer local stone or Limestone.  Sadly decades and even centuries of wind and rain has stripped them of their identities and thrown them into worn obscurity.

 

 

 

John Bosely, Master Bricklayer of Burchett's Green, and His Daughter Jane Bosley

John Bosley

Jane Bosley

"In loving memory

 of 

John Bosley 

who died January 11th 1865 

aged 77 years. 

My Redeemer Liveth."

***

"Sacred to the memory 

of 

Jane 

eldest daughter of John and Eliza Bosley 

who departed this life 

February 7th 1854 

aged 22 years."

Buried side by side in St James the Less churchyard in Stubbings, Burchetts Green, Berkshire.

John Bosley, a master bricklayer, was born in Heavvitree, Devon around 1793.  He was married to Eliza Stroud and their eldest daughter Jane was born in Bray, Berkshire, in 1833.

John and his daughter Jane can be found on the 1851 Census living in Burchett's Green, Berkshire, along with John's wife and Jane's mother Eliza Bosley, and John and Eliza's other children, James, and Eliza. I have been unable to locate any further documents regarding John or Jane.

Fanny Brewer of Woodlands, Burchetts Green, Berkshire

Monument to Fanny Brewer, St James the Less, Stubbings.

"Scared to the memory of Fanny.  Loved and loving wife of Frederick Brewer of Woodlands, Burchetts Green.  Who died Nov 6th 1894 aged 46 years.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes

He giveth his beloved sleep."

Fanny Brewer was born Fanny Hawkins in Southwark, Surrey 1848 to Charles, a  cabinet maker, and his wife Esther Turner. Fanny first appears on the 1851 Census aged 3, living with her parents, siblings, and maternal grandmother Esther Turner, at 2 Hatfield Place, Southwark, Surrey. 

1861 finds Fanny and her family living at The Elms, Wooburn, Buckinghamshire. 1871 and the family has moved again, this time to Barnes, Surrey, where they ate living at 1 Lime Villas, Cleveland Road. Visiting the family at the time of the census is a wine merchant called Frederick Brewer.

On 12th January 1876 Fanny married Frederick Brewer, and became saddled with a name that would make many of us titter today.  Fanny Brewer. In 1881 Fanny and her husband are living in Hampstead, London. Living with them is Fanny's younger sister Jessie Hawkins. By 1891 Fanny, Frederick, and Jessie had moved to "Woodlands" in Burchetts Green, Berkshire.

Fanny and Frederick had no (living) children despite their 18-year marriage.  Fanny passed away on 5th November 1894 aged just 46 years. The Maidenhead Advertiser reported on the funeral on Wenesday 21st November 1894 

"FUNERAL OF THE LATE MRS. BREWER. 

—The remains of the late Mrs. Fanny Brewer, who died at her residence, Woodlands, Burchett's Green, on the 6th inst., after a brief illness, were interred in the pretty little churchyard of Stubbings, on Nov. 10th. The coffin, which enclosed a leaden shell, was of polished oak, and was almost hidden by a rich profusion of wreaths and crosses, while the grave was lined with evergreens and autumnal flowers. The service was impressively performed by the Rev. G. S. Hodges, vicar. There was a large number of persons to witness the interment. The coffin bore the following inscription: "Fanny Brewer. died 6th Nov., 1894, Aged 46 years." The funeral arrangements were entrusted to Mr. J. C. Webber."

Sometime after Fanny's death, Frederick moved to Ruislip along with Fanny's sister Jessie. 

Weather Worn and Forgotten

? Aged 71 Years

Mary ?

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

Two weather worn and eroded gravestones found at St James the Less, Stubbings, Burchetts Green and St Luke's Churchyard, Maidenhead, Berkshire.

The only information that can be gleaned from these stones is, 'Aged 71 Years' and 'Mary'.

An all too common sight in Britain's churchyards and cemeteries.  The poorer classes were not able to afford the marble and granite markers of their rich counterparts.  Having to make do with softer local stone or Limestone.  Sadly decades and even centuries of wind and rain has stripped them of their identities and thrown them into worn obscurity.

For more Taphophile Tragic posts, please stop by Taphophile Tragics Blog

Augusta Silver, Annette Silver, and their mother Mary Ann Silver - Believeth

Lych gate at St James the Less, Burchetts Green, Maidenhead

Monument of Augusta Silver, Annette Silver and Mary Ann Silver, St James the Less Churchyard, Burchetts Green, Maidenhead.

"In memory of Augusta Silver Born June 15th 1842 Died April 3rd 1860 Also of Annette Silver Born May 24th 1850 Died 13th April 1861

Also of Mary wife of Richard Silver and mother of the above Born March 1st 1818 Died July 15th 1881

~ Who so ever liveth and believeth in me shall never die - St John XI 26 ~"

Augusta Silver was born in 1842 and Annette Silver in 1860 to Richard and Mary Ann Silver nee Kuy.

Richard Silver was born in 1818 in Burghfield Berkshire. On 16th March 1838 in Cookham Berkshire, he married Mary Ann Kuy. 

In 1849 the foundation stone to St James the Less church in Burchetts Green Maidenhead was laid. The architect Richard Cromwell Carpenter employed Richard Silver and his team to build the church that still stands there to this day. The small round window in the west wall

was given to the Church by Richard Silver.

Richard and Mary Ann can be found on the 1851 Census living in "Tittle Row" with their children Joseph Love, Augusta (spelt Agusta), Agnes, and 11-month-old Annette. At that time Richard was a carpenter employing five men. Mary was a dress maker.

Sadly in 1860 and 1861 the family was beset by double tragedy when 18-year-old Augusta passed away followed closely by his 11-year-old sister Annette. Maybe this is why Richard threw himself in to politics and the running of his beloved town, Maidenhead.

Richard was elected to Maidenhead Town Council in 1870, becoming Alderman from 1890 and Mayor of Maidenhead in 1872-73 and again in 1877-78. He passed awat at his home The Walnuts, Tittle Row on 17th December 1910. In his obituary his was described as;

"A keen antiquarian. His late residence, Etruria stands on the site of an old Roman villa, where Mr Silver unearthed some valuable pottery & specimens of which are to be seen at the British Museum and at the Maidenhead Museum."

After the death of his wife Mary in 1881 Richard married Jane Stuchbery in Cookham in 1883.
Richard and Jane are listed on the 1901 Census as living at Etruria along with their servants, Elizabeth Gibson, and Jane Sealey, my husband's great grandmother. Just six years later Jane was to pass away in 1907. On 27th November 1907, the Maidenhead Advertiser reported:

"FUNERAL OF THE LATE MRS. SILVER

The funeral of the late Mrs. Silver, wife of Ald. Richard Silver, J.P., took place on Wednesday last, at Maidenhead Cemetery. The service at the church and at the graveside was conducted by the Rev. T. F. Lewis (Congregational minister). The mourners present were: Mr. Richard Silver (the widower), Mr. T. W. Stuchbery (son), Mrs. Dutch and Mrs. Sewell (daughters), Mr. Frank Dutch and Mr. E. D. Sewell (sons-in-law), Mr. A. J. Thompson (brother), Mr. P. D. Thompson and Mr. S. R. Thompson (nephews), Mr. Joseph Silver and Mr. J. E. Silver (step-sons), and Mr. Oswald Thompson (nephew). Others present included Mr. C. A. Vardy. Mr. A. H. Neve, Mrs. Thompson (" Hollydene "), and a number of friends of the family. By special request there were no flowers. The coffin was of polished oak. Messrs. Silver and SOM., Ltd., carried out the funeral arrangements most satisfactorily."

Family Connections: Brother and Son Joseph Love Silver

West wall of St James the Less Church in Burchetts Green Maidenhead, showing the small round window given by Richard Silver

Louisa Cannon - We Shall Not All Sleep, But We Shall All Be Cherished

Monument to Louisa Cannon, St James the Less Churchyard, Stubbings, Burchett's Green, Maidenhead Berkshire.

"Sacred to the memory of Louisa Cannon 

 Who died May 14th 1868 in the 17th year of her age.

~ We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be cherished ~"

Louisa was born in 1851 to Henry Cannon, a basket maker and his wife Ann Green. They lived in an area known as Maidenhead Thicket, once a haunt of highway men and a rumoured stop off point of Dick Turpin.

Louisa can be found on the 1861 Census living with her parents and sister Ellen at Pinkney's Green, Maidenhead, Berkshire.  

Sadly, Louisa passed away at the age of 17 on 14th May 1868. Her gravestone, covered in algae, rests in a small village churchyard not far from where she and her family used to live. A young life cut tragically short. In 1872 Louisa's mother Ann would pass away in 1872, she rests in the churchyard. 

After the death if his daughter and wife, Henry can be found living with his son-in-law Charles William Allin and daughter Ellen in Highway Lane, Pinkney's Green, Maidenhead, until his death in 1884.

The final member of the Cannon family, Ellen, was to pass away in Maidenhead in 1929.

The Pretentious Lady Nora Royce Docker and her infant daughter Felicity Callingham

Monuments to Lady Nora Docker and Felicity Callingham, St James the Less Churchyard, Stubbings, Pinkney's Green, Maidenhead Berkshire.


The term 'Lady Docker' is also used in a derogatory way in the north of England, to describe a woman who has pretensions to be of high station but who in reality is anything but.


Lady Nora Royce Docker was born Nora Royce Turner in Debry, Derbyshire on 23 June 1906 in a flat above a butcher's shop, to Sydney Royce Turner and Amy James. Sydney, a mechanical engineer, was a self-made man who after beginning his working life as a shopfitter for the chemists Boots, eventually invested in motor cars, setting up his own showroom in Birmingham.

Nora can be found on the 1911 Census living with her parents and her elder sister Bernice Amy Turner at Garrick House 152 Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Sadly in 1922 when Nora was 16 years old, her father suffered a nervous breakdown and committed suicide by throwing himself from the ferry between Holyhead and Dublin.

- "The Turners had to sell their car showroom and release their servants. Amy Turner invested in a pub – the Three Tuns at Sutton Coldfield – but Norah found it so difficult to adjust to her new life that she could not bring herself to work behind the bar.

She was even more dismayed when her mother decided to leave the thriving business to invest in another pub – this time the Swan Hotel at Tenbury Wells. This business quickly failed and the Turners were forced to return to Birmingham, now in financial difficulties.

This brief flirtation with poverty made Norah determined never to experience it again. Just before his suicide, her father had made her promise that she would take care of the family, should anything untoward happen to him."

In 1924 aged 18 Nora left for London to seek her fortunes and became a dancer at London's fashionable Cafe de Paris. It was here that she met her first husband Clement Callingham, head of Henekeys wine and spirit merchants. They soon set up home in Maidenhead, despite the fact Clement was waiting for a divorce from his estranged wife Pamela, who cited Nora in the action. In 1938 when Nora was 32, they married at Chelsea Registry Office. In 1939 their son Lance was born and later joined in 1943 by their daughter Felicity.

On the 1939 Register Nora, her husband Clement, and their young son Lance can be found living at Baddow House, Pinkney's Green, Maidenhead Berkshire, with several servants.

Tragically Felicity was to pass away at the tender age of nine months old. Her resting place is directly behind that of her mother.




In July of 1945 Clement Callingham became ill and shortly after passed away.

A year after the death of her first husband Nora married his elderly friend Sir William Collins, President of Fortnum & Mason in 1946 in Westminster. He too passed away in 1948.

Nora was married a third time in 1949 to Sir Bernard Dudley Frank Docker, chairman of Birmingham Small Arms, Daimler and a director of the Midland Bank, Anglo-Argentine Tramways and Thomas Cook and Son. Unfortunately, due to their excesses and as Nora felt, the attentions of the press and paparazzi, the couple were not well liked.  Nora was banned from the Lady's Enclosure at Royal Ascot due to her scandalous affair with her first husband, and from the Monte Carlo Casino for slapping a waiter.  Both Nora and Bernard found themselves banned from Monaco due to her behaviour during the christening party of Prince Albert, where Nora tore up a crepe Monegasque flag. Their christening gifts were even returned without a note. 

Bernard passed away in 1978 and Nora moved to Majorca, yet she frequently visited England and her beloved son Lance.

On December 11th 1983, Nora was discovered dead in her room at the Great Western Royal Hotel in London. She was 77 years old, and she had lived life to its fullest.

She now rests peacefully in a small Berkshire village churchyard along with her daughter and two of her three husbands. Almost forgotten.

Sir Bernard and Lady Docker's former £4.4 million apartment has recently come up for sale.