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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Surrey => England => Surrey Lookup Requests => Topic started by: hurley42 on Sunday 21 October 12 00:53 BST (UK)
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Hi
Just wondering if anyone could take a photo of a grave in Epsom ? As I live in Sydney Australia I am not quite 'around the corner' to the cemetery !
The grave in question is listed on a Grave Photo Project website but the link to the actual high res image does not work. Frustrating.
Details are:
John Nixon d 23 November 1927
Grave No F228A ??? (buried with his wife Emma who died in 1937)
Epsom Ashley Rd Municipal Cemetery
I had more details on the grave kindly supplied by the manager but unfortunately my computer crashed and I lost the relevant email plus contact info.
Very much appreciated if anyone can assist.
Cheers
Robert
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Hi
You can request a free image of the gravestone from the website.
http://www.gravestonephotos.com/public/gravedetails.php?available=yes&fullname=John%20Nixon&grave=50970&personid=103400
Regards
Valda
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Hi Valda
Yes thats the site I tried to use but the image is not forthcoming !
There is a technical problem with it (The high res image).
Hence my request for a photo in this post !
Cheers
Robert
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Hi Robert
Sorry I still don't understand. Do you mean when you sent off your email request for the photograph it wasn't sent you? There are no high resolution photographs actually on the website. You have to request them.
You mean the form and sending off the email link is not working?
http://www.gravestonephotos.com/public/requestimage.php
If that is not working have you tried the 'contact us' to tell them there is a technical fault?
http://www.gravestonephotos.com/public/contact.php
Regards
Valda
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Hi Valda
Yes I made the e-request and the response did not 'work'.
Elsewhere on that site I think they explain that some photo links do not work .. hence my photo request on this site !
I sent a subsequent email explaining that no grave photo/or contact info for other parties interested in the grave was forthcoming. An auto response was sent initially sent to to me but it was 'empty/blank' ie no information.
No response to my 2nd email yet and that was some weeks back as I recall.
So for this particular grave it does not work.
Cheers
Robert
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Hi Robert
I live only about a mile away from Epsom cemetery and should be able to take a photo for you this week. I've noted the details and will check the cemetery map for the grave location.
Sue
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According to the list of Epsom Cemetery burials there is no John Nixon listed, but there is an Emma of 20 Heathcote Road, Epsom who was buried on 8 April 1937 age 83 in grave F228A.
www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/EpsomCemeteryBurialsN.shtml (http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/EpsomCemeteryBurialsN.shtml)
I will check the exact gravestone inscription when I go.
Sue
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Hi Sue
Yes the internet list of burials for Epsom does not mention John Nixon but you will find his grave there as his name is missing by error.
I had e-contact with the local history people and also the Council Cemetery Manager (unfortunately all of these emails were lost when my computer crashed recently) and they confirmed that his grave is indeed there but not mentioned on the list you refer to !! Its an oversight.
Many thanks for your kind offer. I am very keen to be able to read the inscription on the grave as it has taken me about 3 years to track this ancestor down ! All I had to begin with was a photo of John in an unidentified uniform that turned out to be from the Royal Artillery. Once that fact was established it took a while to crack the National Archives at Kew but just 2 months back a researcher found about 90 pages of references to him in military records. From that point on I had several links to follow (marriage, Census and birth records) and that is what led me 'to' Epsom.
The details you have for his wife Emma (d 1937) should lead you directly to the family grave which contains both parents and one of the sons. The Nixon family resided at 20 Heathcote Rd Epsom from perhaps 1883/4 until well into the 20th Century as far as I can tell.
My contact email is:
*
Should you ever need any images from cemeteries in Sydney Australia - I am more than happy to oblige ! I live in the eastern suburbs and we have 2 large 19th Century cemeteries facing the Pacific ocean - quite picturesque.
Cheers and thank you once again.
Robert
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Robert
I've been looking at mentions of John Nixon in UK newspapers. You may have some of this already, but before he moved to Epsom he was Labour Master at the Farnham Union workhouse (he is listed there in the 1881 census as the Porter). He was appointed to a position at the Epsom Union in June 1881 or thereabouts. His replacement at Farnham was elected by the Board of Guardians on 16th June 1881 (Aldershot Military Gazette 18 June 1881).
In 1877 he had applied for the position of Relieving Officer for Southampton No1 District but was not successful. He was described as porter, Farnham Poorhouse.
SJ
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Hi ShaunJ
Yes I knew about the links to Farnham workhouse and the 1881 Census link but not about the newspaper references. He left the Royal Artillery in late 1875 and was last stationed on IOW. I have given a draft of my findings to date to the Epsom Historical Society for their records.
Are all of these references from the Military Gazette ? (I do have free access to many UK newspapers via the Australian National Library).
Thank you for those comments. It all adds up to an interesting story.
I already have some 20 pages on his brother Henry who came to NSW in 1875 and had a career with the NSW Railways. He retired in 1912 and had a divorce in 1888-89.
Fortunately both brothers were employed in public sector agencies with extensive work records that are fully traceable some 135 years later !
I have found the Irish records hard to search (as they were both born in Co Westmeath - John in Delvin and Henry at nearby Rosmead - an estate where a one time Governor of NSW - Sir Hercules Robinson - once resided) but the UK and NSW material is plentiful (and in some instances free to search).
Cheers
Robert
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The Southampton item is in the The Hampshire Advertiser for April 21st 1877 on page 6. You can find it in both Gale and BNA.
The Aldershot Military Gazette item can be found in BNA, as can a few more mentions of him in court appearances in other papers
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Hi ShaunJ
OK thanks very much for the newspaper details.
I assume the court appearances were in relation to his job with the workhouse or later with the guardian board ??
His brother in NSW also appeared in court as a witness on several occasions in relation to his role as a Station Master. Interesting.
Cheers
Robert
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The Boards of Guardians were the local administrators of the Poor Law. The workhouses and their infirmaries were their responsibility. So to go from Porter to Relieving Officer would perhaps be a normal career progression within the system.
One of his court mentions (in 1882) was the prosecution of an inmate of the Epsom Workhouse who had tried to throttle him (Surrey Mirror, 29 July 1882).
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The start date in this transcription of a 1927 article is wrong:
"Mention should be made of the appointment of Mr. John Nixon as porter in March,
1883, because he subsequently became one of the relieving officers (in 1884) and still enjoys
his old age on his superannuation allowance...."
http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/EpsomUnionWorkhouseNewspaperReports.pdf
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Thanks for the leads ShaunJ.
I have a lot more research to do I guess !
Cheers
Robert
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Hi Sue
I have sent you a personal message with my contact details.
Hope the system works as I have not used this function before and my email system has been problematic lately !
Cheers
Robert
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Hi Robert
I got your PM, thanks.
I hope to get to the cemetery tomorrow, Wednesday, if it's not raining too hard!
Sue
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Hi Robert
I have just emailed you some photos of John Nixon's grave. Please let me know if they are not clear enough and I will try again! :)
Sue
.
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Hello Robert
The handwriting in some of the early burial registers is quite difficult to read and your John Nixon does appear in the online index, but is listed as John Wilson. Also the first person to be buried in Grave F228 is Norah Dixon (sic) in 1882. Her death is registered as Dixon, but it seems a bit of a coincidence.
I am arranging for the John Wilson error to be corrected, but it may be a while before it appears online.
Brian
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Hi Brian
OK thank you for that information. The 'Norah Dixon' reference is curious ! There appears to be no reference on the headstone as such.
Cheers
Robert
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I noticed that in the Epsom Explorer transcriptions there are other names in F228, both very young children: Brooks (1889) and Burrage (1910).
http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/EpsomCemeteryBurialsB.shtml
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Hi ShaunJ
I think the Cemetery Manager said there was a policy of returning 'unpaid for' graves for general reuse by the Board after a set time. Unfortunately I do not have the email anymore.
From my notes I can see that the grave was purchased by Emma Nixon for 3 pounds shortly after John Nixon's death on 23rd November 1927.
Cheers
Robert
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In that case the Dixon/Nixon thing is just coincidence.
Norah Dixon's address was given as Kindergarten so presumably she was either an inmate or a servant at Dorothy Mittendorff's Kindergarten & School for destitute girls in East Street
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I can confirm there is no reference to Norah Dixon or the names Brooks or Burrage on the gravestone.
If there is/was a policy of re-issuing graves after a certain length of time and Emma bought the plot after her husband's death that would explain it.
The grave is alongside the tarmac road in the cemetery now, but I don't know how long that road has been in that position. We would need to see a plan of the cemetery for the years the previous burials took place.
I wonder whether it is significant that John & Emma Nixon's grave reference number has the letter 'A' after the number.
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The letter 'A' after a grave number indicates that the plot is on one of the tarmac paths or one row back from a path.
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Thank you for that information. Would that mean that a grave without a letter suffix is in the same line, but further back from the road?
I haven't really studied a map of the cemetery - as you can probably tell!
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In theory it means that, but it does not always work. Plot F228A seems to have originally been on a path, but has newer plots in front of it and is now about 3 rows back from the path.
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The Boards of Guardians were the local administrators of the Poor Law. The workhouses and their infirmaries were their responsibility. So to go from Porter to Relieving Officer would perhaps be a normal career progression within the system.
One of his court mentions (in 1882) was the prosecution of an inmate of the Epsom Workhouse who had tried to throttle him (Surrey Mirror, 29 July 1882).
Hi ShaunJ
I tried to locate this item and other Court mentions ....using GALE ... without success ... do you still have the references or can you recall the search terms used ?
The Surrey Mirror appears to be unavailable on Gale .... or perhaps my inexperience with this particlular site explains the trouble I am having tracking down this newspaper reference. The Hampshire Advertiser of 21 April 1877 may refer to a John Wm Nixon (if my eyesight is correct !) - but my John Nixon had no middle name.
Any tips for handling the newspaper search for John Nixon would be most welcome !