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| The grave of infant Janion |
A few weeks ago somebody at St. Bartholomew's cut down the huge rhododendrons that grew in the cemetery. Not all of them, but sufficient, that about half a dozen graves that had been swallowed up, are now visible and accessible again.
One of these (6602=PlotB G4) is half way towards the river to the right from the path when you enter from the bridge.
It is unusual, as it consists of a cross on a stepped base. The stones are quite common in the cemetery and usually date to the last quarter of the 19th century and the early 20th century. What is not usual, is the fact that the marker carries no inscription.
Instead on the ground in front of it is a flat, undecorated slab, typical of 18th and early 19th century gravestones in the cemetery. Despite being 136 cm long and 90 cm wide it carries only a single inscription:
Text:
In Memory of/
the infant son of Joseph/
& Charlotte Elizabeth Janion/
of Alderley Edge.
Born October 24th 1863/
Died/
November 14th 1863
Given that the stone is in the area of the 19th cemetery extension of St. Bartholomew's, this must have been one of the first graves to have been made into the new area.
Infant graves are, unfortunately, nothing unusual in Wilmslow. It is a bit unusual as it gives the birth dates as well as the death date, it is much more common to give the exact number of days and perhaps weeks, the child lived instead, suggesting that the family was not familiar with Wilmslow's commemoration patterns. Very unusual is the fact that the name of the child is not given.
The slab suggests that the Janion's had some money to spend and were able to breach the old tradition that only the officers of the church (from the vicar to the churchwarden and verger) and the largest contributors to the tithes in the parish traditionally had family grave markers. Before the extension, everybody else was interred for a number of years in graves without permanent markers and then transferred into the ossuary under the high altar.
While the grave is very early, it lies in an area, where in the following decades there are many graves of well-to-do members of Wilmslow and Alderley Edge were buried, interestingly, not many of these graves belong to the old families of Wilmslow, but represent the "new elite" that arrived after the coming of the railway, such as the residents of the large houses in Alderley Edge and along the Knutsford Road and in Fulshaw Park. The fact that the family describes itself as from "Alderley Edge" not "Chorley", underlines this. Older residents in that part of the parish, such as the Booths would continue to refer to the area as Chorley.
This fact that the area became a marker for the "new elite" might also explain the existence of the secondary grave marker in the form of a cross on a stepped base. It is at least 10 years later than the original marker, as it represents a much later fashion. This late provision of grave markers in not that unusual and readers of Jane Eyre will be familiar with the fact that a similar situation is described in the early chapters of the book.
So who is this family? A check in the burial records of the parish reveals that the child had a name - Joseph Carlton and had been buried on November 19th, 1863. The birth notice of a son, born to Mrs. Joseph Janion had appeared in the Chester Chronicle and the Liverpool Mail on the 31 October 1863, as no local paper existed at the time, this is not surprising, especially as the father, Joseph Janion, was born in Rocksavage, where the grandfather still lived, as his wedding certificate from Feb 9th, 1858 showed.
Joseph Janion was a well established Manchester solicitor at the time (more about him at a later point, when we deal with his grave) and this was his second marriage. His first wife and their son Herbert had originally lived in Cliff Point in Broughton (Salford), and where Charlotte's first child, a daughter called Florence was born (who was not reported in the newspapers). Shortly after, the house was sold (notices of the sale in the Manchester Courier of 17 Sept 1859) and he and his wife Charlotte Elizabeth Glover bought Westwood, one of the large new villas in Alderley Edge (in later years part of St. Hilary's Senior school and now replaced by a block of flats). In 19th September 1860 the Cheshire Observer recorded the birth of Charlotte's first son (the second for Joseph) and another son followed 14 February 1862 (Cheshire Observer and Chester Chronicle). Joseph Carlton was their fourth child in quick succession and given the conditions at the time, it speaks of their wealth and possibly and excellent doctor that they had so far not lost a single child to childhood diseases. The large slab with space for many more inscriptions may have reflected that they were not expecting Joseph Carlton to be the only child to be lost. Luckily despite another 2 boy and 2 girls that were born to them between 1865 and 1871, Joseph remained the only one to be buried in St.Bart's.
His father Joseph Janion died in 1876 and is buried in a separate grave much closer to the path and we will deal with him in a later article.
Infant graves are, unfortunately, nothing unusual in Wilmslow. It is a bit unusual as it gives the birth dates as well as the death date, it is much more common to give the exact number of days and perhaps weeks, the child lived instead, suggesting that the family was not familiar with Wilmslow's commemoration patterns. Very unusual is the fact that the name of the child is not given.
The slab suggests that the Janion's had some money to spend and were able to breach the old tradition that only the officers of the church (from the vicar to the churchwarden and verger) and the largest contributors to the tithes in the parish traditionally had family grave markers. Before the extension, everybody else was interred for a number of years in graves without permanent markers and then transferred into the ossuary under the high altar.
While the grave is very early, it lies in an area, where in the following decades there are many graves of well-to-do members of Wilmslow and Alderley Edge were buried, interestingly, not many of these graves belong to the old families of Wilmslow, but represent the "new elite" that arrived after the coming of the railway, such as the residents of the large houses in Alderley Edge and along the Knutsford Road and in Fulshaw Park. The fact that the family describes itself as from "Alderley Edge" not "Chorley", underlines this. Older residents in that part of the parish, such as the Booths would continue to refer to the area as Chorley.
So who is this family? A check in the burial records of the parish reveals that the child had a name - Joseph Carlton and had been buried on November 19th, 1863. The birth notice of a son, born to Mrs. Joseph Janion had appeared in the Chester Chronicle and the Liverpool Mail on the 31 October 1863, as no local paper existed at the time, this is not surprising, especially as the father, Joseph Janion, was born in Rocksavage, where the grandfather still lived, as his wedding certificate from Feb 9th, 1858 showed.
Joseph Janion was a well established Manchester solicitor at the time (more about him at a later point, when we deal with his grave) and this was his second marriage. His first wife and their son Herbert had originally lived in Cliff Point in Broughton (Salford), and where Charlotte's first child, a daughter called Florence was born (who was not reported in the newspapers). Shortly after, the house was sold (notices of the sale in the Manchester Courier of 17 Sept 1859) and he and his wife Charlotte Elizabeth Glover bought Westwood, one of the large new villas in Alderley Edge (in later years part of St. Hilary's Senior school and now replaced by a block of flats). In 19th September 1860 the Cheshire Observer recorded the birth of Charlotte's first son (the second for Joseph) and another son followed 14 February 1862 (Cheshire Observer and Chester Chronicle). Joseph Carlton was their fourth child in quick succession and given the conditions at the time, it speaks of their wealth and possibly and excellent doctor that they had so far not lost a single child to childhood diseases. The large slab with space for many more inscriptions may have reflected that they were not expecting Joseph Carlton to be the only child to be lost. Luckily despite another 2 boy and 2 girls that were born to them between 1865 and 1871, Joseph remained the only one to be buried in St.Bart's.
His father Joseph Janion died in 1876 and is buried in a separate grave much closer to the path and we will deal with him in a later article.
written and researched by Dr. Birgitta Hoffmann
Note
The graves in St.Bartholomew's cemetery have been recorded and researched by Wilmslow Community Archaeology since 2007. This grave (6602=Plot B g4) was first recorded on 8th June 2013, when it was only partially accessible and rerecorded on 8 April 2017. The numbers refer to the recording system and the older plot system originally laid out in the 1960s.
If you have a particular interest in any of the graves in St. Bartholomew's cemetery we would like to hear from you, please get in touch at mrs.minton@btinternet.com
Note
The graves in St.Bartholomew's cemetery have been recorded and researched by Wilmslow Community Archaeology since 2007. This grave (6602=Plot B g4) was first recorded on 8th June 2013, when it was only partially accessible and rerecorded on 8 April 2017. The numbers refer to the recording system and the older plot system originally laid out in the 1960s.
If you have a particular interest in any of the graves in St. Bartholomew's cemetery we would like to hear from you, please get in touch at mrs.minton@btinternet.com
