Imagine being boiled to death!

 

St Michael, Madeley, Shropshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

Just as we arrived there was a thunderstorm with heavy rain and hail. Then just as suddenly it turned into a pleasantly sunny afternoon. That is English weather for you!

 

Eight year old Charles Arthur Turner was fatally scalded when he fell into the discharge pit for the Meadow Pit Mine winding engine boiler.

 

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/ 

 

 





The mason had a problem with the word "ABOVE".

 

St Andrew, Welsh Frankton, Shropshire

(Click on a image for a larger version)

 

 

Yet another church using the "flower meadow" excuse to explain the three foot tall foliage that made surveying parts of the site almost impossible.

 

 

 

The mason seems to have had a problem with the word "ABOVE".

 

 

 

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/ 



Can you read the name of the deceased?

 

St Luke, Onecote, Staffordshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

 

 

Claire and I went on holiday to Staffordshire, so of course we visited a few cemeteries!

 

 

 

The mason seems to have got into a real muddle over the first name of the deceased.

 

 

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/ 



A nine year old who died "after a few hours illness"

 

All Saints, Flore, Northamptonshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

 

 

A lovely church that suffers badly from road noise.

 

 

A nine year old who died "after a few hours illness".

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/  



10 children in one family died in their infancy

 

St Augustine, Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

 

The church is situated high above the town and it must have been a lovely location before traffic noise spoilt things.

 

 

 

Can you imagine what it is like to have 10 of your children dying in their infancy?

 

 

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/ 

 

 

 



Two died when the boiler on a steam engine exploded.

 

St John the Baptist, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

 

This church was adjacent to the large town cemetery but although it covered a large area there were not many graves with readable headstones.

 

 

Thomas Scaife and Joseph Rutherford both worked for the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway and were killed when the boiler on a steam locomotive exploded at

Bromsgrove on 10th November 1840. Scaife was killed at once but Rutherford

died the next day.

 

 

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/ 



A charming yet poignant statue of a young child

 

St Chad, Prees, Shropshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

 

St Chad is a late fourteenth century parish church - on a pre-1066 site. The large porch dates to the fifteenth century and the tower to 1758. The entire church was restored in 1864.

 

 

 

A charming statue of a young child who is clutching toys in both hands.

 

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/ 



A jockey killed at Ludlow Racecourse in 1970

 

Stoke on Tern Cemetery, Stoke on Tern, Shropshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

 

The military section of this cemetery - with about 40 Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force graves - was particularly neat.

 

 

 

Frederik William Campbell Dixon was a jockey. He was killed at Ludlow Racecourse while riding the horse Pernie in the 4:30 race - the White Lion Novices' Steeplechase.

 

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/ 

 

 



Three teenaged siblings died in 1921, 1923 and 1927

 

St Peter, Edgmond, Shropshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

 

 

 

This sandstone church dates from 1080. It has a Saxon font and some impressive gargoyles. There were some very pleasant flower borders

near the entrance to the site.

 

 

Three teenaged siblings died in 1921, 1923 and 1927. I wonder if they were all suffering from an inherited disorder of some kind?

 

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/ 

 



The four Tranter children were murdered by their stepfather.

 

St John the Evangelist, Lawley, Shropshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

 

We only just managed to complete our visit to the cemetery

before it started pouring with rain.

 

 

 

The four Tranter children were murdered by their stepfather.

 

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/ 



Killed in a gasworks explosion in 1861

 

Broseley Baptist Church, Broseley, Shropshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

 

 

This was one of the very few sites we have visited were there was nowhere suitable

to park so Claire dashed round the site and I hovered in the car.

 

 

William Doughty was killed in a gas explosion in Bridgnorth Shropshire in 1861. The first man on the scene said, "I found a piece of tobacco-pipe between his teeth after he was dead, and concluded that he had been smoking. He had matches upon him. Gas and common air will ignite more readily that gas itself. It might have been caused by his lighting a match to ignite his pipe."

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/ 

   
 



An engaged couple who died on the same day in 1941

 

St Chad, Prees, Shropshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

 

St Chad is a late fourteenth century parish church - on a pre-1066 site. The large porch dates to the fifteenth century and the tower to 1758. The entire church was restored in 1864.

 

 

 

Ronald Wilson and Gwendoline Gladys Powell were an engaged couple

who died on the same day in 1941 - presumably in an accident?.

 

 

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/ 



Died during a church service in 1941!

 

Prees Green Methodist Church, Prees Green, Shropshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

 

 

As there were only a few graves I was going to do them on my own but then I decided to share an exciting discovery with Claire!

 

 

 

Mary Lucy Bowden "died suddenly in this chapel" in 1941 at the young age of 20.

 

 

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/ 



Seven children - but none reached 16 years old!

 

St Luke, Cradley Heath, West Midlands

 

 

The church appeared to be almost derelict at the back although the churchyard itself was reasonably tidy.

 

 

 

Joseph (died aged 5 years and 7 months), Joseph Henry (died aged 5 years and 6 months), Thomas (died aged 5 years and 4 months), Ebenezer (died aged 1 year and 4 months), Mary Ann (died aged 15 years and 1 month), Rachel ( died aged 3 years and 8 months) and Fanny (died 2 years and 4 months) were the seven children of Thomas and Esther Perry.

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/ 



The grave of John Heath - lynched by Bisbee Mob in February 1884.

 

Boot Hill Graveyard. Tombstone, Arizona

 

 

We visited Tombstone during a coach tour of Arizona and New Mexico in 2013. Of course we took the opportunity to visit some famous graveyards!

 

 

John Heath - lynched by the Bisbee Mob in February 1884.

 

 

All my new discoveries are published first on the social history group on Facebook so if you want to keep up to date with what is happening you will need to subscribe to the group by clicking on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609806292391471/