Heritage Open Days/21st Anniversary of FoSOC
Exploring Southampton’s Victorian Cemetery
For our 21st anniversary, and for Heritage Open Days. we welcomed members of the public to the former Non-Conformist Chapel where they were able to see and enjoy FoSOC’s exhibition put together by Secretary, Val. And throughout the walk the rain stopped and the sun come out plus it was warm, after so much rain.
Geoff gave an introduction to the history of FoSOC, and the voluntary work we do in the cemetery, then took visitors on a walk that concentrated on people of prominence, and less so, who had been alive, and would have been known, during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837 – 1901). Geoff explained that, when opened in 1846, the cemetery presented something completely new, an attractive, a ‘Garden Cemetery’ pleasant to visit and a ‘Porch of Eternity’ for the living to contemplate, in a respectful way, the future. The initial attraction for the Victorians was the landscaping of what had been part of the Common and the different styles of architecture n the buildings represented there. Later, the chance to see sculpture and the graves of those seen in life on Southampton streets and, of course, people’s own family graves visited regularly in Victorian times.
The group heard the story of the Perkins’ family, very much a Southampton dynasty, 28 of whose members are buried in one vault just inside the main gates. Geoff showed the grave of Southampton’s youngest Mayor who had died only a few weeks after leaving Office; the very impressive Bull monument, by a family of builders, whose work locally and nationally can be seen today, and the striking Pearce Memorial, representing Faith, Hope and Charity, by sculptor Richard Cockle Lucas, that the sculptor regarded as his master work.
There were stories from the lives of eminent local Victorians, such as the founder of the Free Library, in Southampton, Timothy Falvey, and that of Captain Robert Moresby for his work in mapping the Red Sea and the treacherous waters round the Maldives. Geoff spoke about the circumstances surrounding the death and burial of 5-day old John Peake the very first burial of the lovely, sculpted profile of Mrs Algeo Browne and the railway engine on Edward’s Bist’s grave. The walk also included H J Buchan, where Geoff related how cremation became lawful in this country. There was the battle, with the Cemetery Committee, over the wording of the tribute on the grave of Mrs Elizabeth Kell, the wife of the Rev. Edmund Kell. The group also visited the grave of Rev James Crabb, who held services on P & O ships in Southampton before they left port and who was also known as ‘The Gypsy’s Friend’.
On the way round, Geoff told the story of Elizabeth Biggs, a victim of poverty, who had died of starvation and cold in December 1849 and how the poor were buried in the cemetery.,
The walk concluded with Argentinean Dictator, General Rosas, followed by the story of the Hebrew Burial Ground at the cemetery.
Photos taken by Bruce Larner
