Emily Lovelock and her two husbands

One of the first guided cemetery walks I went on was at Arnos Vale in Bristol where the guide introduced us to a ‘husband sandwich’; a man buried with his two wives. As an inexperienced ‘apprentice’ I was slightly shocked (especially by the term), but since then I have come across numerous ‘sandwiches.’ People are ever pragmatic and burials were expensive, making for some unlikely grave companions. Death is a great conciliator.

Emily was born in 1869 in the parish of Lydiard Tregoze, the daughter of George and Martha Lovelock. George was an agricultural labourer and the family lived at Flaxlands Cottages. George most probably worked at Flaxlands Farm, then owned by Viscount Bolingbroke of Lydiard House.

Emily’s childhood was a rural one; Lydiard Tregoze was then out in the sticks, four miles from the industrial town centre of New Swindon. She married Albert James Fry on June 8, 1889 at the ancient parish church of St. Mary’s situated in the parkland next to Lydiard House.

But by 1891 Emily was living in busy Swindon at 22 Carfax Street with her husband James and baby daughter Florence. In 1901 James and Emily were living at 25 Turner Street. James worked as a rivetter in the GWR Works and the couple had five children ranging in age between 9 months and 11 years.

In 1911 the family were still at 25 Turner Street. On the 1911 census returns women were required to include details of their marriage and we can see that James and Emily had been married for 21 years and they had 7 children of whom two had sadly died. We also know more about the accommodation in which they lived – 5 rooms, not counting the scullery, landing, lobby, closet or bathroom.

As we can see from this headstone, Albert James Fry died in 1915, by which time the couple had been married 26 years.

Two years later Emily married her recently widowed near neighbour James William Covey and moved down the road to live with him at number 21 Turner Street. Emily had a long second marriage as well. When James Covey died in 1942 they had been married for 25 years.

Emily’s two husbands were buried together and when she died in 1951 aged 81 years she joined them in grave plot B3321, to spend eternity together, amicably.