The Denhams were an unlucky lot, all with early deaths – even by the standards of the day. They’re possibly the most unlucky family in this graveyard, even those who aren’t buried here. The fact that their stone was roughly laid flat by shattering the base only underlines the point. Olive Webster was a year …
Read more “41.58 – John, Olive, Sam, Tom, Sarah and Annie Denham”
Londoners, coming up here, taking our jobs, stealing our women! Well, you don’t hear that last bit these days, but for the sake of accuracy in this story we’ll pretend that’s still a relevant gripe in Todmorden. But people have always travelled for work and to try and do something different with the skills they …
Read more “42.ii – Mary, William, Sally, Betty and William Gunn”
Two Williams, father and son, with a world between their two jobs, and one of them with one eye on worlds other than these… William Dixon Sr. was born in 1772, probably in Batley near Leeds. Mary Hepworth was born in, we think, Huddersfield in 1776. Somehow they met, married in 1807, and started a …
Two husbands, four children; some of them are here, along with the woman whose affection they all held in common. John Binns was born in 1811 somewhere outside of Todmorden. The short time he was alive and the time he was alive in means we know nothing else about him apart from that he was …
Read more “42.16 – John Binns and Joshua, Betsy and Richard Taylor”
A grave where we know little about the inhabitants, but we’ve done our best to bring them to life a little bit. Robert Suthers started out life with only one parent – born in Mereclough in 1807, by the time he was baptised in October of that year his mother Mary had already died. An …
Read more “42.25 – Elizabeth, Ellen, Robert and Betty Suthers”
There are two names on this stone, a father, and his son, but only the father is actually in the grave. His son, Peter who is named died at sea, so has no known grave, which is why he is remembered here. The sole occupant of the grave, James Stuttard, was born in Oldham in …
This grave hold five siblings, four of which died very young. The fifth made it to adulthood but his life was needlessly chaotic, and one wonders what his poor parents made of it all. Those parents were James and Susan (Feber) Farrar of Todmorden, who were married at Heptonstall in March 1825. Just in time, …
Read more “42.34 – William, Sarah, John, James John and Howorth Farrar”
As always, the stories we tell aren’t always just of those buried here. There’s also those who might be buried here but aren’t named, and those who were left behind. This story starts with Edmund Mitchell, who was born in February 1810 at Lower Laithe to John and an unknown Mrs. Mitchell. Shore Baptist’s baptism …
They could have had a hefty monument, but children of three of the town’s wealthiest non-Fielden manufacturers and managers are buried here – you wouldn’t suspect would you? Of course one did have a Fielden connection, but it was purely business. Read on to find out more. Ellena Pilling, the uniquely-spelled first person buried here, …
Read more “42.56 – Ellena, Margaret, William Albert and Christiana Sutcliffe”
Older graves are fun because they’re often the places where you learn about seeds getting planted for other, later burials. That’s a clumsy way of putting it, but you’ll see what we mean. John Whitaker was born in Littleborough around 1794. We don’t know who his parents were, only that he and his brother James …