This small, decaying, but striking black cross marks a sad grave indeed, although an unusual one – even though four small children are here, and their parents did not stay in Todmorden, the parents are also buried here. Richard Newsome Howarth was born in Todmorden in 1865, and on the 1871 census shows with his …
Read more “22.21 – Richard, Ruth Ann, Bertha, Charles, Harold and Harry Howarth”
Grace was one of the first graves adopted as part of the FOCCT project and is not untypical in being a single child buried here with no other family members anywhere in the graveyard. Todmorden was a place of industry and people came from afar – some stayed, some left again. Her parents were Francis …
This grave is linked to 34.27, Stephenson/Fielden/Scholfield. Mary Ann Scholfield (or Schofield, depending on the source) was born Mary Ann Mamwell, to Elizabeth and Emanuel Mamwell. Herbert, buried here aged 8, was also their son. Herbert died aged eight, only 3 days after his older sister, who herself was only 22 years old. Even sadder, …
Read more “34.28 – Herbert and Elizabeth Mamwell, Lucy Anne Ginley”
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 …
Read more “34.27 – Arthur Stephenson, Albert Edward Fielden, and Mary Ann Scholfield”
If you walk past without looking closely, you’d think this was just part of the border of the path. But it’s not – it’s someone’s burial marker. We looked closer. John William Yourn was born in 1875. His father, William, was originally from Chacewater in Cornwall, near Truro. His mother Betty was a local girl. …
Born Jan 5th 1896, died Dec 4th 1896. “Thy Will Be Done” Francis was the firstborn son of Harold “Harry” Slaney and his wife, Mary Eleanor (Lambert) Slaney. Harry was one of 7 children born in Acton, Staffordshire, that number including a younger brother named Francis. Harry’s first profession was that of gardener, but in …
There are lots of Arthur Marshalls in this graveyard, and this is one of them – this Arthur was a fairly unremarkable man, but not everyone in here has a grand story. Some stories are fairly straightforward ones. We were glad to be able to verify this inscription before the stone finishes delaminating and becomes …
Read more “35.6 – Arthur and Ellen Marshall, Thomas and Mary Ann Greenwood”
This grave is one of a small number at Christ Church which contains a father and son who served in the World Wars, and only one is buried here – but the one missing is not, as is more commonplace, the WW1 veteran. Jack Ingham was born in Todmorden on the 15th September 1919, the …
Julia was born a Crossland in 1860, and was first married to John William Howarth in 1879 before marrying James Taylor in 1885 after being widowed a year earlier. James was from Shawforth, born the same year as Julia. In 1888 they set sail for the USA, for reasons we can’t quite work out, and …
Read more “3.26 – James, Laura Ellen, and Julia Virginia Violetta Taylor”
Bridget Greaves was born Bridget Stanton in 1849 in Dublin. Because a lot of Irish records were accidentally destroyed over time, it can be hard to track people down before they arrive in the UK or some other country. The first time we find Bridget here is in Newchurch, Bacup, in 1871, lodging with the …
Read more “2.15 – Samuel and Bridget Greaves, James Luke Stanton”