Tales of Overleigh Cemetery

Gravestones tell of two young boys drowned in the Dee at Saltney; one while trying to save the other.  Harry Riley Horton, a Goldsmith, who is buried with his nine infant children, died in 1893 aged 39.  This is the only Victorian headstone I have seen that has a photograph set in a small sealed frame.  After 100 years it is still faintly legible.  This practice is mainly carried out on the Continent.  Fireman John Trainer, who's son was washed overboard from "City Berlin" on 25th March 1882 aged 23 and his grandson died on board "SS Campania" on 8th January 1911, also aged 23 and buried at sea.

Professor Robert Newstead, the renowned Roman archaeologist who discovered the amphitheatre and many other Roman remains, is buried in the cemetery.  So too is John Douglas, that genius of Victorian architecture, responsible for so many buildings in Chester and many other towns.  He is buried just a few yards from Thomas Meakin Lockwood who also designed many of Chester's buildings.  It is appropriate that they should come to be buried so close to each other, and yet, I am surprised that men of such stature should have plain and simple monuments; their buildings are far more meaningful.

There is a most beautiful carving of a small sleeping child, Mabel Frances Ireland-Blackburn, who died on 13th November 1869 aged three and a half years known locally as the "chewing gum girl", a story made up to discourage children from swallowing chewing gum.  But in fact she died of whooping cough.

Richard Price, salmon fisherman, has a carving of the Grosvenor Bridge, the river and a fishing boat on his white marble headstone.

Another tombstone records a fatal hunting accident; the horse fell on barbed wire killing the rider.  No mention is made to the fate of the horse.

Edward Langtrey, the former husband of Lillie Langtrey, Victorian actress better known as the "Jersey Lily" and mistress of Edward VII.  He died in the former lunatic asylum, now the psychiatric wing of the Countess of Chester Hospital, on 16th October 1897 as a result of head injuries received through a fall on board ship returning from Ireland to Holyhead.  He was seen early on Sunday morning wandering in the streets of Crewe.  Later in the day he was found on the railway line in a dangerous position his face badly injured.  The police medical examiner certified him as not responsible for his own actions and had him removed to Chester Lunatic Asylum where he died the following Saturday.  A century later he is still remembered by the bus guides who give him a mention as they pass along Grosvenor Road.

Higher up the bank in the shadow of the mighty Grosvenor Bridge is the small and simple war grave of white Portland stone of a young Chester girl from Liverpool Road who was serving in the Womens Royal Air Force, Marjorie Anne Tucker aged 32.  She was a motor driver at RAF Sealand.  Along with a group of friends she arrived early at Sealand Station on 31st August 1918.  To reach the exit, passengers had to walk about 35 yards and then cross the line at the rear of the standing train.  Miss Tucker, being nearest to the line, failed to notice a train approaching.  She was struck on the back of the head and died instantly.  Her funeral was the city's first military funeral for a woman.  The coffin, draped in the Union Flag, was drawn by the tender that Miss Tucker had driven.  Tragically this was just three months before Armistice Day.

William Biddulph Cross, known for his galvanic cures (stimulation by electric current) and the maker of his own coffin, died 5th September 1908 aged 85.  He was a shoemaker, an electrician, possessed a wonderful library, bound his own books and framed pictures.  He was also a student of anatomy with many diagrams hanging in his room.  The coffin he made took him 10 years to complete.  It was made of thousands of matchboxes packed with wood and framed in black wood.  In a space on the lid was a battery, with wires and zinc plates throughout the coffin (I assume he intended to fit a light)?  During the two days the coffin was at the undertakers, Messrs Dutton and Sons, Frodsham Street, the shop was visited by hundreds of curious people anxious to have a look.  The funeral took place on a wet Wednesday afternoon.  Long before the hearse left the house in Crook Street hundreds of people crowded the Rows in Watergate Street and Bridge Street to get a better view.  Wreaths were hung on the hearse and the coffin with the battery on the lid were in full view.  At the cemetery the path to the grave was lined by large crowds.  Several policeman were on duty to control the crowds but they kept good order.  The battery was disconnected and removed before the remains were laid to rest and the crowds dispersed quietly at the end of the service.

The most amazing grave I have come across has to be that of Chester's, if not Great Britain's, "mother" of this or any century.  Mary Jonas, who died on 4th December 1899 aged 85, was the mother of 33, yes 33, children.  She gave birth to 15 sets of twins, each pair boy and girl, and three single births.  All survived to be Christened but most died before reaching adulthood.  Ten were still alive at her husband's death on 24th February 1892.  Mary Jonas was the winner of a competition promoted by a London magazine to find the lady most contributing to the population of the Empire.  The prize was free copies of the magazine for life.  The publication was Tit Bits!