Frederick Leonard Hayes – the reveal

I’ve often stopped at this beautiful little memorial discovered by Bex last November.

On our recent seed scattering exercise, Bex and I paused here and wondered if there might be an inscription we were both missing. Using a cloth she carefully rubbed a handful of loose earth across the stone and as if by magic an inscription began to appear. We could soon see the name of Frederick Leonard Hayes who died in 1890 aged 15 months, eldest son of Joseph and Teresa – enough information for me to begin researching when I got home.

In 1891, the year after Frederick’s death, I found his parents living at 63 Prospect where Joseph worked as a Master Stone Mason. Joseph and Teresa left Swindon soon after this and ten years later, at the time of the 1901 census they were living in Shrewsbury with their younger son Bernard, where they remained for the rest of their lives.

But there is something special about little Frederick’s memorial. The grave is a public one that Frederick shares with two other children; four year old Maud Mary Young who died around the same time as Frederick in 1890 and Dorothy Ann Cowley, a 5 month old baby girl who died in 1905 – 15 years after Frederick.

It is most unusual to discover a memorial on a public grave. I wonder when Frederick’s family were given permission to install it and whether Joseph, the master stone mason, made it himself.