There is only one person named on this low, sinking gravestone – Sidney (or Sydney) Jackson – but he may not be on his own.
Sidney was born in Lion Street, Todmorden on the 3rd October 1863. Only his mother, Ann Jackson, is named on his birth certificate, his father’s name is left blank. He was the middle of three children and had an elder brother, Fred, who was born in 1860 and a younger sister, Clara, who was born in 1866. His siblings, were, like him, illegitimate. Did they have the same father? Possibly, but there aren’t any clues as to who any of their fathers were, so it’s something we will never know.
Little is known about Sidney, in 1871 he was a scholar and was living with his mother (described as a widow) and siblings at Martin Street, in 1881 the family were living at Bridge End Buildings, he was working as a calico warehouseman, living with his mother (this time described as unmarried) his siblings and two female cousins (the daughters of his mother’s brother, George, who were looked after by his mother after their own mother died). We do know that he worked at Waterside Mill and that he played cricket for them in a match for puddings in July 1881.
His young life ended on the 2nd November 1883 at his home in Martin Street, when he died from kidney stones and nephritis.
Although there’s only one name on the stone it’s possible that Sidney isn’t on his own in the grave as there are more members of his family buried at Christ Church whose whereabouts are unknown, 5 of whom predeceased him. This grave is in the older section so we would expect at least one of these people to have a higher probability of being here than if he was somewhere else.
His grandfather, John Jackson, a weaver, who was living at Wadsworth Mill, was the first to be buried on the 29th January 1853. He died unexpectedly and the story of his death made it into the newspapers but most of the others (with one notable exception) didn’t.
His mother’s sister Elizabeth was buried at Christ Church on the 4th March 1860. Almost fifteen years passed before there were more family burials and then there were two in quick succession, his aunt, Mary, the wife of his mother’s brother, George, who died after the birth of her youngest child, was buried in February 1875, and her death was closely followed by his grandmother’s, Grace Jackson (nee Akroyd) who died on the 21st March 1875.
The last family member to predecease Sidney was his mother’s brother Gibson, who died aged 43 on the 27th May 1879. Gibson’s death caused a lot of newspaper interest, both locally and nationally and must have been the talk of Todmorden for quite a while as he died a few days after he was punched on the nose, following an argument between him and the man who hit him, Robert Halstead, in the Mason’s Arms, Gauxholme.
