In the early 1990s members of the Ilkeston and District Local History Society became aware of the deteriorating state of the Cemetery on Stanton Road, Ilkeston.  A number of Society members began clearance of the overgrown vegetation and this revealed more of the interesting memorials to past inhabitants of the town.  This led to some initial research into those who lay in the burial ground and also into the history of the cemetery itself.

This page is an attempt to put the findings of the Friends of Station Road Cemetery group before a wider audience and to encourage you to explore this fascinating example of a Victorian burial ground, which remained in use until the late 1940s and contains the mortal remains of many interesting and influential Ilkestonians.

History
In this country, providing burial space was never a problem until town and city populations outgrew existing churchyards.  Ilkeston’s population increased rapidly from the 1860s and there was insufficient burial space available in St Mary’s parish churchyard and in the smaller chapel yards, such as the Baptist Church on South Street.  Added to this, the growing body of non-conformist and Roman Catholic worshippers in the town were understandably unhappy about the lack of a non-denominational cemetery.

It was Matthew Hobson, miller, grocer and life long non-conformist owner of Field House (now the site of South East Derbyshire College) and much of the land adjoining it, who established the Ilkeston General Cemetery Company in 1863.  When his wife, Hannah, died in 1862, she was interred in the grounds of Field House, rather than St Mary’s churchyard.  It was some four years later, in 1866, when the Cemetery was fully and securely established that Mrs Hobson’s remains were exhumed one night and re-interred in the Cemetery on Stanton Road.  The burial record notes simply “night”.

Social class was never far away during the nineteenth century.  In Stanton Road cemetery, graves might be purchased in three categories – First, Second and Third class.  First class graves were on the higher ground at the entrance to the cemetery, where the ground might be bought outright.  Many of the larger monuments and family plots are found in this area.  Second class graves ranged across the middle section.  The cheapest, Third class graves were located at the back of the cemetery.  There might be as many as seven or eight interments in these graves before they were recycled, when the grave was cleared and the process begun again.

The Monuments
The cemetery is a fascinating reflection of the changes in taste in monumental architecture and design.  This is illustrated by the variety of style ranging from the simplicity of early slate headstones, to the Gothic revival, the Egyptian style and the weighty marble of the late Victorian period.  Granite, marble, slate and sandstone were all used for monuments and headstones, the name of the monumental mason often appearing at the base.

Commonly understood symbols were often incorporated into headstone designs.  The anchor, an early Christian symbol, signified hope and the obelisk, eternal life.  The hourglass, appearing on the headstone of the little Sugg children suggested tempus fugit, whilst the dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit.  Clasped hands are frequently found on the graves of married couples, signifying farewell and the open book represents faith.  Many monuments carry carved swags and bunches of flowers – amongst them grapes and vine leaves, ears of wheat signifying fruitfulness harvested, lily of the valley for purity, ivy symbolising immortality and friendship and the rose meaning free of sin.  The urn, with its classical associations, appears frequently on the largest monuments and, when draped, symbolises death.

Some monuments are, however, more individual.  James Tilson’s cricketing career is memorialised by glove, ball and stumps and John Manners’ trade as a stone mason and builder is shown in the trowel, pick and plumb line on his memorial.

Though many inscriptions appear formulaic, there are occasional flashes of sombre originality, as shown on William Hunt’s memorial:

• A guilty, weak and helpless worm,
• On they kind arms I fall,
• Be thou my strength and righteousness,
• My Jesus and my all

More touching is a verse reflecting the closeness of Ann and William Baker, a married couple who died within two weeks of each other.

Support and confidence – the elim and the vine,
They grew together, one their joys and pains.
Death would not sever such love entwine,
One life they led and here one grave contains

Emma White’s memorial was erected “on a mark of her ten children”.  The stone mason’s omission of “the beloved wife of” on Elizabeth Harriman’s grave was corrected, though the inscription does have a squashed appearance.  But who was responsible for the misspelling of “outrode” on James Wilkinson’s grave?

The People
Performers are well represented in the cemetery, though they are rarely in marked graves.  Major Mite alias Walter William Fox is buried in an unmarked third class grave, having died of heart failure aged 31 years on 11th September 1896, in his bed at the Harrow Inn (now the Roundhouse) where he and his wife had been working.  They were travelling professional midgets, hired by publicans as a novelty act to sing and attract drinkers.  On the night he died, Major Mite had eaten a supper of mutton, with a small Scotch whisky.  Perhaps his death was a result of unhealthy eating: though he was only 3 feet 7 inches high, he weighed 9 stone 3lbs.

Joseph Wardle was employed at Tathams factory on Belper Street at the time of his death, when he was only 44 years old.  He was a needle maker, like his father, and also a talented musician.  He played the violin, was first cornet and leader of the Ilkeston Brass Band and was involved in the Harmonic Society.  At his funeral (the Ilkeston Pioneer believed he died from exhaustion caused by his many commitments) the Ilkeston Brass Band played Handel’s Dead March on the procession to the Queen Street Baptist Church and the hymn Before Jehovah’s Awful Throne, with music composed by Wardle himself, was sung at the graveside.

Chris Benson, whose grave is also unmarked, was a rising music hall performer when he died, aged 39, in his lodgings at 38 Carr Street in August 1889.  With his wife, Bertha Athey (who was billed as “the Modern Jenny Lind”), he had come at the beginning of the week from Bristol looking for work in one of the music halls.  Benson was taken ill on Tuesday and died on Wednesday.  It was the doctor’s opinion that he had died from exhaustion due to diarrhoea and very little to eat.

At 7 feet 6 inches, Samuel Taylor’s great height is shown on his grave by a footstone marked “ST”.  The Ilkeston Giant was born at Little Hallam, entering the show business when he was sixteen and marrying a travelling glass blower.  In 1869 he visited Ilkeston Statutes (hiring fair) with his own show which included a Golden Boa Constrictor, a Crying Crocodile and Mrs Taylors Glass Blowing Exhibition.  He died in 1875, aged 59, in Manchester Infirmary, having fractured his hip.  His body was met at the railway station by the Ilkeston Brass Band, the bells of St Mary’s Church ringing a muffled peal.

For anyone looking for information regarding burials within the Stanton Road Cemetery, a search of the burial records can be made on request for a donation to the Friends of Stanton Road Cemetery.  For further information, please contact Mike Sanders (Secretary) on telephone number (0115) 9302530 or visit www.friendsofstantonroadcemetery.btik.com