Following an enquiry by Dr. Hoffman, a Home Office inspector, held in the Lloyd Hotel on Friday the 25th November, 1881 an embargo was placed on the opening of new graves in the churchyard and new burials limited to those parishioners in possession of a family grave with sufficient space to accommodate a fresh coffin.
I was curious to see the effect of this ruling and especially to find the identities of the last people to be buried in the churchyard of old St. Clements. Initially I took a look at the burial records of St. Clement’s Church. They confirmed the statement made to Dr. Hoffman that the average number of interments over the previous ten years had been 38. However, after closer inspection, they indicate that in the 2 years immediately prior to the enquiry the number of burials taking place was around 30 per year possibly due to the deteriorating state of the graveyard. This figure fell immediately to the low 20’s; by the end of the decade the number of interments had fallen to single figures and by the turn of the century the number was down to 2-3 per year2
These parish records also provided me the names of the individuals in those final interments. Unfortunately, the records provide no indication of family relationships so further research was necessary in censuses rate books and directories. Even so my “detective work” was being thwarted until I spotted this tombstone while visiting the churchyard on another quest.
Thomas Caleb Butcher :- (Buried 25th February 1916)
The very last person to be interred in the Parish Graveyard was Thomas Caleb Butcher3, a smith / joiner, on the 25th February 1916. As revealed on his tombstone Thomas was buried in the Ashcroft family grave. William Ashcroft, a slater /mason, was the first husband of Thomas’s wife, Sophia (née Richards). According to the inscription he was the grave’s first occupant (18th July 1865), however the parish register has a burial on the 15th February, 1853 of Mary Elizabeth Ashcroft who was the 20-month-old daughter of William and Sophia.4
Also occupying this grave is Sophia Butcher (Ashcroft/Richards) buried on the 17th November 1905 and her son, with William, William Ward who was buried, aged 19, on the 15th May 1872.
The Ashcrofts and Butchers were long-term residents on Church Road renamed St. Clements Road latterly at No. 43.
Thomas Caleb Butcher died at 43, St. Clements Road on the 22nd February 1916 and left the sum of £1,292-16s -1d to his new wife Mary Ann (née Parkinson) of Pendleton, Nr. Salford, Lancashire an instructress in a laundry and the widow of John Statham, a commercial clerk. Thomas had married Mary Ann, who was nearly 20 years younger, in the June quarter of 1909 in the Chorlton registration district of Manchester.
Emma Lester: - (Buried 9th December 1914)
Emma Lester was the penultimate person buried in the old churchyard. Finding Emma’s family plot was tricky until after perusing the list of the tombstone inscriptions5 dated the 18th February 1976 made by Manchester City Council in advance of landscaping of the grounds, I found her burial in a Jones family grave.
Emma Lester was born Emma Sidwells in Rangemore, Nr. Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, and married Edward Jones, recorded as a cashier of Stretford, Lancashire, at St. Mary the Virgin, the parish church of Weeford, Staffordshire on the 18th September 1869. After her first husband died on the 23rd December 1889 Emma re-married in the December quarter of 1890 to Joseph Vann Lester, a clerk from Bermondsey, Surrey. The couple appear at 43, Bold Street, Moss Side, Lancashire on the 1891 census. However, in both the 1901 and 1911 censuses is absent from 54, Bishop Street, Moss Side in 1901 and 20, Kensington Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester where in 1911 Emma was running a boarding house. Emma Lester/ Jones died on the 5th December, 1914, in Manchester’s Royal Infirmary, and was buried in the grave of her mother-in-law, Elizabeth, husband Edward, and two of her children; a son Harold Newton, died on the 13th December, 1872 aged 1 year and 10 months and a daughter, Emma Elizabeth, who died at just 12 months old on 23rd March, 1876.
A sum of £77- 4s –6d was left in her will to her daughter Clara Elizabeth Jones.
Thomas Hepplestone: - (Buried on 9th March,1910)
Finding the grave of Thomas Hepplestone who was hindered by the fact that the first person interred in it was Gertrude Moore on the 30th August 1876. Although described as the child of Thomas and Hannah Hepplestone she was in fact a more distant relative who was residing with the couple. His wife Hannah pre-deceased him and was buried on the 11th March 1897.
Thomas was a well-known Manchester gunsmith and in Chorlton-cum-Hardy lived variously at 5, Whitelow Road, and 6, Warwick Road. He was born in 1826 in Prestbury, Cheshire. When he died at Warwick Road on the 4th March 1910 his estate was worth £2042 - 18s - 10d
Eliza Mellor: - (Buried 2nd February 1910)
Eliza Mellors grave was the most straightforward to find as she was buried in her husband, Thomas’s. Thomas Mellor was buried on the 9th July 1875. He was a farmer of White Hill Farm, Nell Lane in what was then part of Withington, Lancashire. In her widowhood Eliza continued in business as a market gardener and latterly a florist; a wise and profitable move following the opening of the nearby Southern Cemetery. When Eliza died on the 30th January 1910 at Rose Cottage, The Nurseries, Nell Lane, Withington, Manchester she was able to leave in her will £925-0s –9d to her three children two sons William and John Thomas and daughter Eliza. At today’s value the amount would be more than £110.000.
There was a later inscription on one tombstone; that of the Manchester architect Thomas Edward Bridgen (died 15th February 1895) and his first wife Elizabeth Lax (died 26th April 1970) who has a commemorative window in the new St. Clement’s Church. In 1929, the death of his second wife, Ellen, on the 17th February was added, however she was cremated at the Manchester Crematorium on the 19th February 1929.
Finally, there is a map, which can be accessed on “Find My Past”, attached to the council’s schedule of tombstone inscriptions which shows where all the 360+ graves were located. However, they are now all empty; the remains were all exhumed and re-interred in Southern Cemetery in 1930.6 Unfortunately this map is also of not much aid in finding a specific tombstone as during the landscaping of the churchyard by Manchester City Council in the late 1970,s those which were not removed altogether were uprooted and laid flat to form a pathway. This was done with no regard to their original position. Only a few remain as markers of actual burials, one such being that of the Ashcrofts and Thomas Caleb Butcher, though not that of Thomas and Eliza Mellor.
Tony Goulding ©2020
Location; Chorlton
Pictures; Old St.Clement’s church and Graveyard 1880 m 70273, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass other images courtesy of Tony Goulding
I wish to acknowledge how useful Andrew Simpson's book "The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy" was as regarding the Archaeology digs.
Notes: -
1) By chance, a burial had taken place in the churchyard the Thursday before the enquiry so those present could observe the fresh grave of 4-month-old John William Marsh.
2) Of course, these figures must be set against the increase in the parish’s population on the one hand and the improvement in the general health conditions on the other
3) One of my favourite things is where one story has links with another. In this instance one of Thomas Caleb’s stepsons, George Redgate Ashcroft, committed suicide at 31, Dartmouth Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy in the morning of Wednesday the 11th January 1939. (His story was told in a post of the 20th March 2017).
4) Mary Elizabeth Ashcroft’s birth registered in The Chorlton registration district in the September quarter of 1851 (in the sub-district of Didsbury; mother’s maiden name, Richards according to an entry on the “Lancashire BMD” database)
5) Although this document proved to be very useful it has some limitations. Not all the inscriptions could be read due to the weathering of the wording and also it only records the occupants of graves with tombstones and then (as I have illustrated) only those whose names are inscribed on the stones. Also, too, some names inscribed on gravestones may refer to persons buried elsewhere.
As a result, I have to admit I was unable to find the family connections of the fifth most recent burial in Chorlton-cum-Hardy; that of William James Royle. He was born in 1839 in Macclesfield, Cheshire, and owned property on Ladybarn Avenue, Withington, Lancashire as well as a large boot and shoe shop at 42, Moss Lane West, Moss Side, Lancashire. He was buried from St. Clements Church on the 17th December 1909 his wife, Mary (née Morton) having pre-deceased him was also buried from St. Clement’s on the 29th July 1901. Presumably, they were interred in the same plot but other than that the trail ran cold.
6) Despite this skulls and bones were still being unearthed by the Archaeology digs carried out, in advance of the landscaping by the council, in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.
These parish records also provided me the names of the individuals in those final interments. Unfortunately, the records provide no indication of family relationships so further research was necessary in censuses rate books and directories. Even so my “detective work” was being thwarted until I spotted this tombstone while visiting the churchyard on another quest.
Thomas Caleb Butcher :- (Buried 25th February 1916)
The very last person to be interred in the Parish Graveyard was Thomas Caleb Butcher3, a smith / joiner, on the 25th February 1916. As revealed on his tombstone Thomas was buried in the Ashcroft family grave. William Ashcroft, a slater /mason, was the first husband of Thomas’s wife, Sophia (née Richards). According to the inscription he was the grave’s first occupant (18th July 1865), however the parish register has a burial on the 15th February, 1853 of Mary Elizabeth Ashcroft who was the 20-month-old daughter of William and Sophia.4
Also occupying this grave is Sophia Butcher (Ashcroft/Richards) buried on the 17th November 1905 and her son, with William, William Ward who was buried, aged 19, on the 15th May 1872.
The Ashcrofts and Butchers were long-term residents on Church Road renamed St. Clements Road latterly at No. 43.
Thomas Caleb Butcher died at 43, St. Clements Road on the 22nd February 1916 and left the sum of £1,292-16s -1d to his new wife Mary Ann (née Parkinson) of Pendleton, Nr. Salford, Lancashire an instructress in a laundry and the widow of John Statham, a commercial clerk. Thomas had married Mary Ann, who was nearly 20 years younger, in the June quarter of 1909 in the Chorlton registration district of Manchester.
Emma Lester: - (Buried 9th December 1914)
Emma Lester was born Emma Sidwells in Rangemore, Nr. Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, and married Edward Jones, recorded as a cashier of Stretford, Lancashire, at St. Mary the Virgin, the parish church of Weeford, Staffordshire on the 18th September 1869. After her first husband died on the 23rd December 1889 Emma re-married in the December quarter of 1890 to Joseph Vann Lester, a clerk from Bermondsey, Surrey. The couple appear at 43, Bold Street, Moss Side, Lancashire on the 1891 census. However, in both the 1901 and 1911 censuses is absent from 54, Bishop Street, Moss Side in 1901 and 20, Kensington Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester where in 1911 Emma was running a boarding house. Emma Lester/ Jones died on the 5th December, 1914, in Manchester’s Royal Infirmary, and was buried in the grave of her mother-in-law, Elizabeth, husband Edward, and two of her children; a son Harold Newton, died on the 13th December, 1872 aged 1 year and 10 months and a daughter, Emma Elizabeth, who died at just 12 months old on 23rd March, 1876.
A sum of £77- 4s –6d was left in her will to her daughter Clara Elizabeth Jones.
Thomas Hepplestone: - (Buried on 9th March,1910)
Finding the grave of Thomas Hepplestone who was hindered by the fact that the first person interred in it was Gertrude Moore on the 30th August 1876. Although described as the child of Thomas and Hannah Hepplestone she was in fact a more distant relative who was residing with the couple. His wife Hannah pre-deceased him and was buried on the 11th March 1897.
Thomas was a well-known Manchester gunsmith and in Chorlton-cum-Hardy lived variously at 5, Whitelow Road, and 6, Warwick Road. He was born in 1826 in Prestbury, Cheshire. When he died at Warwick Road on the 4th March 1910 his estate was worth £2042 - 18s - 10d
Eliza Mellor: - (Buried 2nd February 1910)
There was a later inscription on one tombstone; that of the Manchester architect Thomas Edward Bridgen (died 15th February 1895) and his first wife Elizabeth Lax (died 26th April 1970) who has a commemorative window in the new St. Clement’s Church. In 1929, the death of his second wife, Ellen, on the 17th February was added, however she was cremated at the Manchester Crematorium on the 19th February 1929.
Finally, there is a map, which can be accessed on “Find My Past”, attached to the council’s schedule of tombstone inscriptions which shows where all the 360+ graves were located. However, they are now all empty; the remains were all exhumed and re-interred in Southern Cemetery in 1930.6 Unfortunately this map is also of not much aid in finding a specific tombstone as during the landscaping of the churchyard by Manchester City Council in the late 1970,s those which were not removed altogether were uprooted and laid flat to form a pathway. This was done with no regard to their original position. Only a few remain as markers of actual burials, one such being that of the Ashcrofts and Thomas Caleb Butcher, though not that of Thomas and Eliza Mellor.
Tony Goulding ©2020
Location; Chorlton
Pictures; Old St.Clement’s church and Graveyard 1880 m 70273, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass other images courtesy of Tony Goulding
I wish to acknowledge how useful Andrew Simpson's book "The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy" was as regarding the Archaeology digs.
Notes: -
1) By chance, a burial had taken place in the churchyard the Thursday before the enquiry so those present could observe the fresh grave of 4-month-old John William Marsh.
2) Of course, these figures must be set against the increase in the parish’s population on the one hand and the improvement in the general health conditions on the other
3) One of my favourite things is where one story has links with another. In this instance one of Thomas Caleb’s stepsons, George Redgate Ashcroft, committed suicide at 31, Dartmouth Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy in the morning of Wednesday the 11th January 1939. (His story was told in a post of the 20th March 2017).
4) Mary Elizabeth Ashcroft’s birth registered in The Chorlton registration district in the September quarter of 1851 (in the sub-district of Didsbury; mother’s maiden name, Richards according to an entry on the “Lancashire BMD” database)
5) Although this document proved to be very useful it has some limitations. Not all the inscriptions could be read due to the weathering of the wording and also it only records the occupants of graves with tombstones and then (as I have illustrated) only those whose names are inscribed on the stones. Also, too, some names inscribed on gravestones may refer to persons buried elsewhere.
As a result, I have to admit I was unable to find the family connections of the fifth most recent burial in Chorlton-cum-Hardy; that of William James Royle. He was born in 1839 in Macclesfield, Cheshire, and owned property on Ladybarn Avenue, Withington, Lancashire as well as a large boot and shoe shop at 42, Moss Lane West, Moss Side, Lancashire. He was buried from St. Clements Church on the 17th December 1909 his wife, Mary (née Morton) having pre-deceased him was also buried from St. Clement’s on the 29th July 1901. Presumably, they were interred in the same plot but other than that the trail ran cold.
6) Despite this skulls and bones were still being unearthed by the Archaeology digs carried out, in advance of the landscaping by the council, in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.
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