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We are all, by now, familiar with the well known burials at Houghton Hillside Cemetery, those of Sir George Elliot, Rev John Grey and General Beckwith, but over 7000 other people were buried at Houghton’s old cemetery, and each burial has its own story to tell. A selection of tales is included here. If you know anything about these people, please contact Paul Lanagan.
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Henry Fairbairns, who was recorded in 1855 as being the Governor of the Poor Law Union (workhouse), was buried at Hillside Cemetery on June 6th 1863, aged 67 years.
A year later it was noted that: “...for several years before his death, [Fairbairns] was incompetent, and if dismissed would have been a pauper.” in a letter by the Poor Law Inspector, Mr N. Edward Hurst, dated February 1st 1864.
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John Robinson Legge, founder of the well-known solicitors firm, and clerk at Houghton workhouse, died on February 23rd 1885 and was was buried at Hillside Cemetery four days later, aged 75 years. A fragment of his memorial, which appears to have been bulldozed in the clearance of the 1970s, was excavated in August 2010; only his name and date of death are visible.
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Other members of this family were interred at Hillside. Lewis Compton Legge was buried there on August 5th 1875, followed by his daughter Ada Louisa Legge, who died August 19th 1887 aged 22 years and was buried 6 days later at Hillside Cemetery. Ada lived in Gainsford at the time of her death, which may explain the 6 days between death and burial. |
The damaged remains of the Legge memorial stone can be found erected on the rock face at Hillside Cemetery. Obscured by ivy growth, the inscription reads:
Mr William Rawling, a member of the Houghton Local Board, died at his home on January 28th 1888, aged 49 years. William was an active advocate of the right of the workingmen to a large participation in the management of local affairs, and he was also a prominent Primitive Methodist. He was buried at Hillside Cemetery on February 2nd 1888.
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Rev Richard Stepney, a Wesleyan minister for over fifty years, died at Houghton-le-Spring on November 13th 1888, aged 77 years. Richard lived at The Quay, Church Street. He was buried at Hillside Cemetery on November 15th 1888; Thomas Smith certified the ceremony.
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James Shafto, a retired miner of Mount Pleasant, Market Place, Houghton-le-Spring was buried at Hillside Cemetery on October 7th 1896 after being mangled on a roundabout at Houghton Feast. His legs had been torn from his body during the incident on the night of Saturday October 4th 1896.
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Margaret Ann Carr was shot dead by a revolver on December 2nd 1888. A miner, named Albert Hendy, 25 years of age, was committed for trial by the Houghton-le-Spring magistrates. Margaret was buried at Hillside Cemetery 81 days later on February 22nd 1889.
John Dixon was murdered on December 31st 1886 - New Years Eve – by John McCann, a miner. The two men had been drinking together and Dixon was stabbed following a struggle for a knife which McCann held. John Dixon was buried at Hillside Cemetery on January 4th 1887. The murderer, McCann, was convicted at Durham Assizes on January 26th 1887. He was sentenced to death but this was later reduced to life imprisonment; McCann, however, did not remain in prison long as he died on April 29th 1887 - cause of death: acute delirious mania!
William Goodricke, who was headmaster of the Nesham Hall Academy for Young Gentlemen, was buried at Hillside Cemetery on November 30th 1854, aged 51 years. He was the twenty-first person to be buried at the burial ground; his impressive grave remains there to this day, having been uncovered by Paul Lanagan on April 14th 2007.
John Beckwith JP, of Silksworth House, and of Trimdon, died at the age of 87 years on April 23rd 1891, following a few days’ illness. John was the brother of the late General Beckwith, and uncle of Captain Beckwith JP, chairman of the Houghton-le-Spring Highway Board. He was a bachelor, and had earlier lived in India. He was buried at Houghton Hillside on April 27th 1891 in the Beckwith grave, the memorial stone of which remains erected on the rock face:
Members of the Greenhow family from the well known hardware store, which was founded in 1805, are buried at Hillside Cemetery. For many years the shared headstone of Robert and Mahala Swales and their daughter, Mahala Greenhow, could be found on the plateau, however this was one of the memorials which suffered at the hands of the clearance work in the 1970s. In 2010 the base of the headstone was recovered and re-erected in a random position on the plateau of Hillside Cemetery. The inscription reads:
The remains of two year old Ann Maria Reed (aka Anne Reid) were interred at Houghton Hillside Cemetery on October 28th 1866, following her gruesome murder by Henry Brownless, a pitman aged 55 years.
Brownless had attempted to kill his daughter-in-law by blowing up a barrel of gunpowder, but instead killed the child. The incident took place on October 18th but it wasn’t until December 20th that Brownless was sentenced to death at the Durham Assizes for the murder.
The sentence, however, was reduced to life imprisonment following a second and successful plea of insanity; nevertheless, he spent time at Millbank Prison, London, and then Portland – not in an asylum – something which was questioned by many observers.
George Henry Taylor B.A., Headmaster of the Royal Kepier Grammar School, was buried at Houghton Hillside Cemetery following his death from fever on October 27th 1866 at the age 47 years. Nothing too unusual about that, even his relatively young age, however, four days before his death, on the night of October 23rd, he composed the following poem which came to him during a dream:
[1] Lord ! my weary soul is yearning.
[2] Lord ! my weary soul is yearning.
[3] But the warfare is not over ;
[4] Faint and stricken in the battle,
[5] Then a voice comes softly, sweetly,
[6] Then revived, encouraged, strengthened,
[7] Then, oh then, dear Lord, receive me.
Make of that what you will. George Henry Taylor’s headstone, another of those memorials recently recovered from the 1970s deposition site, has recently been re-erected in a random location on the plateau of Hillside Cemetery, and currently stands in a precarious and unstable condition.
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PAGE UPDATED: 27/08/2012
Copyright © Books of the North 2009 - 2011.
Copyright © Books of the North 2009 - 2011.
Copyright © Books of the North 2009 - 2011.
and PRISCILLA MARIA BECKWITH widow of Genl W. Beckwith who died June 3rd 1877 aged 70 years
and JOHN BECKWITH of Silksworth and Trimdon formerly of Calcutta who died April 23rd 1891 aged 87 years
Copyright © Books of the North 2009 - 2011.
MAHALA WIFE OF THE ABOVE DIED JULY 14TH 1891 AGED 82 YEARS MAHALA GREENHOW THEIR DAUGHTER
DIED NOV 15 1891 AGED 44 YEARS. HE IS NOT DEAD...
Yearning for its home of rest ;
Anxious eyes for ever turning
Towards the mansions of the blest.
Yearning for its home of rest ;
Anxious eyes for ever turning
Towards the mansions of the blest.
Foes without, and foes within,
Fiercely o'er my path assail me,
Tempt me with the bait of sin.
I raise my feeble hands and cry,
Save me, save me, Abba, Father !
Save me, save me, or I die.
Bringing peace, expelling fear.
Cheers my drooping spirit, saying,
Courage, Christian ! God is near.
Onward I my steps pursue.
Looking upward, looking homeward,
Keep the golden gates in view.
Ope the gates, and let me in,
To thy loving bosom take me.,
Ransomed, pardoned, freed from sin.
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