34.27 – Arthur Stephenson, Albert Edward Fielden, and Mary Ann Scholfield

The two men in this grave, Arthur Stephenson and Albert Edward Fielden, were brothers. They had the same mother but different fathers. Their mother, Alice Ashworth, married Joseph Fielden in 1872 and had three children with him, Emma, James and Albert. Alice’s first husband, Joseph Fielden, died in 1884. In 1888 Alice married again, to Young Stephenson, who was the Landlord of the Lord Nelson Inn, and they had two children – Arthur and Wilfred.

There were two Albert Edward Fieldens living in Todmorden in the first decade of the 1900s, both born within a year of each other; one was a stiffener at a fustian dyeworks and married Ethel Barker in 1909, and whose daughter Vera is buried at either 23.27 or 23.39 (see the MI transcript for an explanation). The other, this one, was an insurance agent who Mary Ann Scholfield of 4 Shade Street in 1908. That Mary Ann is the daughter of John Arthur and Mary Ann Scholfield – the elder Mary Ann is the one buried here. This grave, therefore, contains two half-brothers and one of their mother-in-laws.

Mary Ann Scholfield (or Schofield) was born in 1865 to Emanuel and Elizabeth Mamwell, and died 3 days before her brother, Herbert, who is buried in the Mamwell grave which is alongside this one. It seems likely that this was a double plot initially. Mary Ann was only 22 years old when she died, not long after she married John Arthur Scholfield in February 1887. She was pregnant when they married and their time together was short indeed, with her passing away in August of the same year. She died from complications during or after childbirth as did a shockingly large number of women in those days – 8.5 of every 100 mothers. Their daughter Mary Ann was baptised at Christ Church in October 1887, her birth having been registered during the July/August/September quarter of that year. Her family is discussed at more length in the Mamwell/Ginley grave at 34.28.