Cayton Graveyard gravestones etc.

Cayton:

Cayton Churchyard Photographs Introduction and List

Introduction

These photographs were taken in June and July of 2017. The pictures of the churchyard were originally taken in overcast weather but it was fine on my return visit to photograph graves which had been missed on my first visit or those which had come out poorly, or from which I brushed and cut away dead or overgrown grass on my second visit. I worked in conjunction with the East Yorkshire Family History Society's booklet 'Cayton Monumental Inscriptions' using it as a checklist and referring to it when trying to establish the identities of the people commemorated by stones which have fallen face down. Where I have attributed identities named on gravestones by their position in relation to others it is on the basis of this book - these are indicated by an asterisk (*) against the surname in the link list below. This booklet contains full transcriptions of all the monuments. There is a particularly rich variety of monuments in Cayton churchyard, many of them beautifully sculpted which, alone, make it well worth visiting. Of these the following are particularly well worth looking at:

• The Anderson family
• The Beal family
• The Brown family
• The Dickinson/Woodcock family
• The Fenwick family
• Nancy Glaves
• The Keld family
• Margaret Leighton
• The wife of George Jackson
• Ann Owston
• Mary Robinson
• Sarah and Tom Walker
• Frances White

There is also the grave of Christopher Boyles, which has Masonic symbols carved on it. However, there are many more beautiful stones in the churchyard, richly engraved with swathed urns, swags of flowers and other symbols so my list could have been much longer. Several of the people commemorated at Cayton are not actually buried there. These are:

• George Tindall, drowned at Pointe de Galle, Ceylon, March 5th 1876 aged 34
• Isabella Jane Hutchinson, died at Melbourne, Australia on the 17th of March 1894, aged 28
• Richard Holliday, drowned at Memmel (now Klaipeda, Lithuania) at the age of 17 ca 1825
• Captain Thomas Brown of the ship 'Promise', died at Vera Cruz, June 17th 1819 aged 30
• Anne Rennison, died at Sohngaardsholm, Denmark, 4th December 1859 aged 42 - however her body is actually buried at Cayton where she was interred on 31st December 1859

There is also a First World War war grave, that of the Canadian, corporal George Armstrong of the Canadian Pay Corps, who died in 1917 at the age of 42.

One gravestone is leaning at such an angle that its top is only about a foot off the ground. Therefore the only safe way to photograph it was to hold my camera under it and trust to luck. Because of this the image is fragmented into 14 pictures. It is in memory of four married daughters of Thomas and Esther Shaw: Mary Hale (who died in London), Ann Lawson, Elizabeth Brown and Susanna Priestman.

One gravestone is broken and the only clue to who is buried there is a reference on the stone to a man who died in Meerut, India on January 29th 1914 aged 42 years and was the son of the person in the grave. Close inspection also shows the lowest part of an E and letters R and T.

This so intrigued me that I decided to do some research into it. By referring to various websites, particularly Free BMD, Find My Past and FamilySearch.org I discovered that this is the grave of Theresa Day, wife of John Day, and that the inscription refers to their son, Albert Edward Day who is the only person recorded as having been buried in Meerut in 1914 who was born in 1871 and who would have thus been the right age. Albert Edward Day's birth is recorded as having been registered in Scarborough in the June quarter of 1871. John Day, his father, was born in Witham Essex ca 1844 and in the 1871 census is recorded as earning his living as a domestic butler in Scarborough. At that time he was married to Theresa, born in Dublin ca 1841, and as the father of Edmund, aged 2, and Albert Edward, aged 0. John Day died in 1926 at the age of 85. Theresa's maiden name was probably Waters. A child, Martin, is recorded as being born in Durrow, Ireland to a John and Teressa (sic) Day in 1867 but if this was their son he does not appear in the 1871 census. The 1881 census still shows John Day to be working as a domestic butler and states that the family was living on Filey Road, Cayton. Theresa is described as a laundress. The children are listed as being Edmund, aged 12 born in Leeds, Albert, 10, born Scarborough, Louis, 8, born in Wheatcroft, Yorkshire, Florence, 5 and Catherine, 2, the last two also being born in Wheatcroft. There is also an aunt, Agnes Byrne, a former laundress, living with them, aged 84 and born in Ireland. Theresa died at the age of 45 in 1886 and Aunt Agnes in the December quarter of 1884 at the age of 89. There is a lot more information online regarding the family but I have only recorded the details necessary to identify the occupant of the grave in Cayton churchyard. As John died after Albert Edward (and had married an Ann Reeves two years after Theresa's death), and Albert Edward is commemorated at the bottom of the stone, the grave must be that of Theresa Day (and possibly Aunt Agnes).

The church of St John the Baptist is usually kept locked, but access can be gained by applying to the churchwarden, Mr Alan Green. I am grateful to Mr Green for his help and for allowing me access to parts of the church not normally open to the public. I have also been told that the churchyard is haunted, although Mr Green, denies this.

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The links given below take you to the first photo of the grave of the relevant name.

The number for the photograph is given in the caption below the photograph.

There are three sizes of photos: the thumbnail images which link to a page containing a larger image (640 by 480 pixels), and then a full size image which is linked from the previously mentioned larger image. The full size image can of course be saved for your own personal use.

The listing of names on the Churchyard photographs
Where I have taken more than one picture of a monument this is indicated in the caption. Where there are monuments to more than one person of the same name I have given the year of death to differentiate them.
NOTE: Where Lisa took more than one photo of a grave however in the grave photos below, I have only used one of these. If you feel that having the other photos of any particular grave would help, please drop me a line via the link at the bottom left of this page giving the number(s) of the required photo(s).

Please see also Photos of Graves in the Cemetery

!General		Anderson		Armstrong		Atkinson		Beal		Bennison
Bielby		Botham		Bowman		Boyes		Bradford		Braithwaite
Bromley		Brown		Burney		Calam		Carter		Chew
Clark		Clarke		Coates		Cockerill		Cook		Cooper
Cranswick		Cummins		Daggett		Danton		Darling		Day
Denton		Dickinson		Dobson		Dowsland		Duffing		Dunn
Elliott		Emmerson		Featherstone		Fenwick		Fewster		Fox
Glaves		Grime		Hale		Hall		Harrison		Headley
Hepworth		Hill		Hodgson		Holliday		Hopper		Hunter
Hustler		Hutchinson		Jackson		Jefferson		Jeffery		Johnson
Keld		Kirk		Knaggs		Lawson		Leighton		Lennard
Lightfoot*		Livingston		Lowther		Lyon		Miers		Newham
Newlove		Newton		Nicholson		North		Nunns		Owston
Paylor		Pearson		Pickard		Pinkney		Priestman		Railey
Raley		Ramsdale		Rennison		Reveley		Richie*		Robinson*
Robinson		Rodda		Rudsdel		Seller		Sherlock		Simpson
Slater		Smith		Snowdon		Stainthorpe		Stapleton		Stephenson
Stockill*		Stubbs		Taylor		Temple		Tenant		Thompson
Tindall		Turner		Unknown		Unknown*		Varey		Walker
Ward		Warrener		Wason		Watson		Welborn		Welburn
White*		White		Williams		Woodcock		Wyvill
* Please note that the "Unknown*" section contains those with unreadable full surnames.

Happy hunting!

Lisa Blosfelds