William Taylor was born in 1861 in Heptonstall, the son of Paul Taylor, a mason, and his wife Sarah Ann (Paul and Sarah later became licensees of the Fox and Goose in Hebden Bridge). In 1871, Willie aged 9 was working as a mule piecer, in 1881 he was a cutter out, but by 1891 …
Read more “16.2 – Sarah Jane, William, Ernest and Annie Taylor”
This is a grave where the relationships between all three people took a short spell to unpick. Not one of these three is biologically related to the other, but all three men meant something to a Suthers. Not that poor Felix got the chance to become a man. In chronological order, we will begin. Patrick …
Read more “12.37 – Felix Sebastian Muldoon, Patrick McDonald and Thomas Sutcliffe”
The unmarked vault plots are fairly easy to both clearly identify and radically beautify. This one was a group effort and we hope its inhabitant likes what we’ve done. Thomas Frederick Lloyd was born in March 1888 in Manordeifi, Pembrokeshire – a long way from Todmorden! His father Thomas was a gardener at Pentre Mansion …
This is another grave hidden under the school extension, and another explanation about why these graves matter. It starts with those we know are buried here and ends with those who we can only guess at, for now. Harold Allister was born in 1895 to James and Louisa Allister. In 1908 he can be found …
This vault space is one that had to be entirely rebuilt – from remortaring the bricks to rearranging the squares and adding gravel. It isn’t perfection, but it’s affection. FOCCers care about the graveyard and the people here, and we do our best. It’s better than what this family have had for a very, very …
Read more “V5.10 – Ingham and Ivy Stansfield, and Sarah and Emily May Cunliffe”
Death of a Volunteer. This magnificent gravestone is Frank Ashworth’s. He was one of the founder members of the Todmorden Company, 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers which was formed in 1877. The newspaper clipping details his grand send off – imagine a funeral like that in the town today. It just wouldn’t happen. From the …
This grave was highlighted as part of our first Holocaust Memorial Day tour, due to Fred’s membership of the Freemasons – more information has been added to flesh out the lives of the others in this distinctive double vault, with its two identical crosses engraved with Celtic knots. Picture a summer dawn, 1862, Dobroyd. The …
Read more “V6.5 – Alan, Fred and Hannah Maria Dennett, and Thomas and Margaret Dennett”
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 …
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”
John Arthur Woodhead was born in 1889 in Todmorden – in 1891, he was living at 12 Shade Street with his parents, 5 siblings and maternal grandmother. His father John Herbert Woodhead was a clogger with a mildly chequered past; serving time at various points for stealing and unpaid debts, with the theft being from …