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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Lincolnshire => Topic started by: ReginaldJohn on Wednesday 07 March 12 06:01 GMT (UK)
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G'day. I have just discovered that a 'lost' ancestor died in Glanford Brigg (and not where my records said he had). Does anyone have a record of burial sites in the town - or first prize would be transcripts of headstone data. My ancestor in question is Alfred Benjamin Harris. Died August 1928. Also, I would be REALLY interested to know if he had a Rev. in front of his name. Any help would be gratefully received.
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Welcome to Rootschat RJ,
I can tell you where he is Buried but not much more as I am in Australia also!
(the G'day gave it away)
As Death Reg has just Alfred B, at least you now know he was Alfred Benjamin Harris.
Burial;
Alfred Benjamin HARRIS, 21 August 1928, St Andrew, Kirton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire, Age 71, Abode Kirton in Lindsey.
(Source FreeREG)
If no one lives nearby or has other suggestions for you maybe you could email the Church.
Trish :)
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Wow Trish - that was prompt. Thanks. I am now hoping that somebody local may be able to follow your clues and take a peek. There are some wonderfully kind people out there!
I am actually from the other place that says G'day - New Zealand. Now I am REALLY intrigued. What is your relationship to Alfred and is there a family history in the name Trish (Patricia I presume)? I thought that I was the only line of descendents.
Alfred Benjamin is my mysterious GGF and I am happy to trade with you what I have on him if you want.
Cheers
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Hi RJ,
No I am not related in any way. I was just trying to help you.
I was born/bred in NZ also :)
Hopefully someone lives nearby to look for you.
Cheers,
Trish
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Well thanks. You HAVE been a huge help. Kind regards from the Shakey Isles.
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MI St Andrew, Kirton in Lindsey
In Memory of Etta Grace Harris who passed away 16th Dec 1914 aged 28, (Killed in German shelling of Hartlepool). Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Also to the Memory of Rev. A. B. Harris, Baptist Minister here 1902 - 1916 who entered into life 19th August 1928 aged 71 years. Life for evermore.
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Thanks Jenni. I have (with the help of kind people like yourself) found that plaque. I am still at a loss to where the old man is buried. I fear that having his name on the plaque is a bit of a red herring. All of the records say that he is buried there - but we cannot seem to find a grave.
I am also at a loss to know where Etta is buried. Although, when one reads the stories of the bombardment, there may well have been nothing left to bury.
Thanks again for your kind help. Being on the other side of the world, I cannot toddle down on a Sunday afternoon and look for myself.
Kindest regards from the antipodes.
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Burial register is here (left hand page) http://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/RecordDisplayTranscript.aspx?oid=520914&iid=405755
Etta also buried there http://www.lincstothepast.com/Burials/520914.record?ImageId=405712&pt=T
Note the marginal note to say she died at Scarborough. :)
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Thanks Jennie & Geoff. Those references are amazing and I cannot thank you enough!
Jennie, I was clearly too tired when I answered your message because I now realise that the words that you quote are different to the plaque that I found. Have you actually seen that gravestone or are the words that you quote from an electronic record somewhere?
I think that you have found the grave that has eluded me.
This is the plaque that I had found. I now need to locate and photograph the grave.
This is suddenly becoming most exciting!
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I did find your answer a bit confusing when you said you still had to find where they were buried. The information is from the actual grave but the details were taken from the gravestone in 2008 so may not still be there. I will try and get to St Andrews later this week and if gravestone is still there I will take a photograph and send it to you. Cannot go for a couple of days because of car being in the garage for repairs.
Jennie
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Jennie, you are wonderful. Thank-you a zillion times.
Somebody did look a while ago but found nothing. I now suspect that we were looking for the wrong thing. Alfred was the local Baptist minister from 1902 to 1917 - but had long since moved on. It made no sense for him to be buried in Glanford Brigg at all. But that was what the records implied. Then we found the plaque on the wall and assumed a red herring.
Alfred's only daughter, Etta, was killed in the bombardment in 1914 and I had never found her grave - another task for another day I thought.
Now you have supplied the missing piece of the puzzle. She was buried in the churchyard where her father was minister. When he died, he was buried next to her - so it is HER grave that we must find. Bingo!
Kind of sad, because his wife is buried on the other side of the world.
Would you mind also taking a photo of the area around the grave so that we can find it more easily if we ever make it to the UK again?
Thanking you ever-so-very-much.
John Harris
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Hi John,
Success. I found the grave but am a bit mystified by what I've found. The gravestone has the wording for the Rev. but doesn't mention Etta at all, but what is confusing is the first word on the stone says, "Also", implying that there has been someone else mentioned, and of course in 2008 the wording for Etta was somewhere on this grave. I even looked on the back and found nothing. Looking at the stone there is no evidence of any parts being broken off and there are no holes in the top of the stone where another part could have been fixed. I have been trying unsuccessfully to attach a photo to this message but I keep getting 'Timed Out'. If you message me privately and give me your email address I will send you the photos I took.
Jennie
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Hi John
Just realised my photos were too big so have reduced them. I hope this works and you get the photo.
Jennie
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Hi again John
Here's another photo but I won't post any more because I don't want to take up any more space. It is the small scroll-top stone.
Jennie
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ETTA HARRIS
You may all like to know that ETTA is remembered at her old school, Christ's Hospital, Horsham, Sussex, When she attended Christ's Hospital, the girls' school was at Hertford but it moved to join the boys's school in 1985. There was a plaque in memory of Etta at Hertford and it is now on the wall of the chapel at Horsham. The story at the school is that she was having breakfast when the bombardment started and she immediately jumped to her feet, said "I must go to my girls" and was half-way down the street when a shell landed, killing her instantly.
If anyone has a photograph of Etta we would dearly like a copy, please.
David
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G'day David
What an exciting message out of the blue! I actually know very little about Etta, although there are unverified 'stories'. She does seem to have been a 'good' person who did not leave a trail of destruction behind her.
Yes, I do happen to have a photo - which I shall dig out and send you next week. (I am unfortunately 110% committed until then I am afraid.)
Please do send pictures of the memorial and any other data that you might have on her.
I am happy to give you my email address if you wish.
Kind regards
John
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Hi David
A wee bit of confusion here. I copied your exciting missive to my cousin in Canada - who thought that I was asking him for a photo and then emailed the school. The perils of modern rapid (mis) communication.
My apologies for the confusion.
BTW, I also have a prize that was awarded to her by the school. I shall send you details of that as well. It may provide another clue.
Regards
John
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John,
Concerning pictures, just to save your time, we do have ONE pic. But, it is a 'happy snap' of a group of girls taking part in school play, taken with a poor camera, in poor lighting, and with Etta dressed as a pirate, heavily made up, with a bandanna and a rather tatty moustache. We have never used it, and, as I wrote earlier, would dearly love a better pic.
You may already know this, but the bombardment of Hartlepool is marked every year by a service at the memorial and I am sure they will be putting on a special event in 2014 to mark the centenary.
David
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This is hilarious.
As I indicated, my cousin in Canada wrote to the school and Clifford Jones kindly sent him the pirate picture. The hilarious part is that I was required to dress up as a pirate for a function last Saturday night, just as these messages started to flow!
I mentioned that I have a 'Companion to the Bible' that was presented to her. My sister has two further prize books of hers. I quote from a letter from her. I am not prepared to part with these books, but if you would like photos (or scans) of the inscriptions, I am happy to provide those.
I have two books which were presented to Etta by Christ’s Hospital. The first entitled ‘ Seekers after God ‘ by Rev F.W. Farrar, D.D., F.R.S. , Dean of Canterbury. The book is about the lives of three heathen philosophers, Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, who “amid infinite difficulties and surrounded by a corrupt society, devoted themselves to the earnest search after those truths which might best make their lives ‘ beautiful before God ‘.” The book has the Christ’s Hospital crest in gold on the cover and inside is inscribed “ from the gift of George Moore Esq. A Governor of the hospital 1849 – 1876. A Prize ‘ Intended as an encouragement to the attainment of knowledge of the Holy Scriptures’.” Awarded to Etta Harris – Upper IV July 1901. That was the year of the census and it appears from the census details that Etta was in Hereford at that time aged 15 years. What a book to read!!! At 15 !! – but it had only been published by Macmillan the previous year so was ‘hot off the press”.
The second book is a Holy Bible and book of Common Prayer together and also has the crest on the cover and is inscribed: The Gift of the Governors of Christ’s Hospital to Etta G. Harris, the 17th day of April 1903. I see on the school’s website that every pupil who reaches the final year at the school is presented with a Bible. Well this might be it! She would have been in the 6th form that year, 17 years old and ready to leave the school. What happened after that and did she return as a teacher and not a nurse?
Regards
John
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John,
Your cousin reached Clifford, an old friend of mine, before I did! Clifford is a very efficient member of the Museum team - and, of course, an Old Blue. Now that you have seen it, I am sure that you can see why I have always been reluctant to publicise the 'pirate' picture. It is amusing for family purposes, but hardly the way one wants to publicise a heroine.
The Holy Bible is a highly treasured parting gift to all leavers, while the Book of Common Prayer is an additional gift to monitors/monitresses (mine have travelled all over the world with me for over 50 years!) But, while highly prized by the owners and their families, they are certainly not rare. They are presented on the day one leaves.
I do not know what happened to Etta between leaving Hertford in 1903 and arriving in Hartlepool in 1912, I believe that she went to university and obtained a degree, but have never been able to discover any details.
Clifford is a very busy guy, and I am particularly interested in the history of Etta, so I suggest that you deal with me and I will direct any questions to Clifford, if necessary..
Regards,
David
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G'day. I have just discovered that a 'lost' ancestor died in Glanford Brigg (and not where my records said he had). Does anyone have a record of burial sites in the town - or first prize would be transcripts of headstone data. My ancestor in question is Alfred Benjamin Harris. Died August 1928. Also, I would be REALLY interested to know if he had a Rev. in front of his name. Any help would be gratefully received.
yeh.. G'day from Australia...I've been researching Crawford ancestry, and I think I've worked out "Glanford Brigg" - it's where the RECORDS were kept of burials in the last 300 odd years, for the northern part of Lincolnshire, not the actual church or graveyard. (It's now called just "Brigg", but it's still where all surrounding parishes send their info on hatches, matches and dispatches). Can anyone verify that?
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Thanks for your response Argusy. Nice to know that we have friends across the Tasman!
We did actually find my GGF there. It was a long and convoluted story, but he was buried with his daughter - who was killed in WW1. The graves are in a pretty sorry state right now however.
Cheers from NZ
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yeh.. G'day from Australia...I've been researching Crawford ancestry, and I think I've worked out "Glanford Brigg" - it's where the RECORDS were kept of burials in the last 300 odd years, for the northern part of Lincolnshire, not the actual church or graveyard. (It's now called just "Brigg", but it's still where all surrounding parishes send their info on hatches, matches and dispatches). Can anyone verify that?
It was a registration district from the start of registration of BMDs (1837) till the 1930s - all explained, together with the parishes included, here http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/districts/glanford%20brigg.html
The town of Brigg wasn't a parish till mid 1800s and its church events appear as Wrawby-
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LIN/Brigg/
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LIN/Wrawby/
:)