Curious Epitaphs, Collected from the Graveyards of Great Britain and Ireland.

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Andrews William. Curious Epitaphs, Collected from the Graveyards of Great Britain and Ireland.

Preface

EPITAPHS ON PARISH CLERKS AND SEXTONS

TYPOGRAPHICAL EPITAPHS

EPITAPHS ON SPORTSMEN

EPITAPHS ON TRADESMEN

BACCHANALIAN EPITAPHS

EPITAPHS ON SOLDIERS AND SAILORS

PUNNING EPITAPHS

EPITAPHS ON MUSICIANS AND ACTORS

EPITAPHS ON NOTABLE PERSONS

MISCELLANEOUS EPITAPHS

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Amongst the most curious of the many peculiar epitaphs which are to be found in the quiet resting-places of the departed are those placed to the memory of parish clerks and sextons. We have noted at various times, and at different places, many strange specimens, a few of which we think will entertain our readers.

In the churchyard of Crayford is a grave-stone bearing the following inscription: —

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Our genial friend, Cuthbert Bede, B.A., author of “Verdant Green,” tells us, “As a boy I often attended the service at Belbroughton Church, Worcestershire, where the parish clerk was Mr. Osborne, tailor. His family had there been parish clerks and tailors since the time of Henry the Eighth, and were lineally descended from William FitzOsborne, who, in the twelfth century, had been deprived by Ralph FitzHerbert of his right to the manor of Bellem, in the parish of Belbroughton. Often have I stood in the picturesque churchyard of Wolverley, Worcestershire, by the grave of its old parish clerk, whom I well remember, old Thomas Worrall, the inscription on whose monument is as follows: —

It may be noted of this worthy parish clerk that, with the exception of a week or two before his death, he was never once absent from his Sunday and weekday duties in the forty-seven years during which he held office. He succeeded his father, James Worrall, who died in 1806, aged seventy-nine, after being parish clerk of Wolverley for thirty years. His tombstone, near to that of his son, was erected “to record his worth both in his public and private character, and as a mark of personal esteem – h. l. F. H. & W. C. p. c.” I am told that these initials stand for F. Hurtle and the Rev. William Callow, and that the latter was the author of the following lines inscribed on the monument, which are well worth quoting: —

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