This week our volunteers uncovered a collapsed and partially buried headstone and in so doing revealed a whole family history.
The newly discovered inscription reads:
Thomas Pickett
Who entered into rest
March 19, 1903
Aged 65 years
Also of Lucy
The beloved wife of the above
Who died August 27th 1913
Aged 74 years
Also in memory of Elizabeth
Wife of Arthur Thompson
Their daughter
Who died March 20th 1948
Aged 77 years
Also Edith their daughter
Who died March 22nd 1955
Also two sons and two daughters
Interred in St Mark’s Churchyard
Thomas’s record of railway employment reveals he was employed as a fireman on February 4, 1864 on a daily rate of 3 shillings. By 1871 he was working as an Engine Turner and in 1873 as a Goods Engineman. He resigned on February 12, 1898 when he received a cheque for £70 ‘on account of old age.’ His service record includes a handful of disciplinary cautions and fines during a career spanning more than 30 years.
On the domestic front Thomas married Lucy Telling in 1858. By 1871 they were living at 42 Fleet Street with their three children Thomas 11, Emily 2 and Elizabeth 5 months. By 1881 they were at 15 Sanford Street with Elizabeth 10, Emily 7 (the earlier child by this name had died) and Edith 4 years old.
At the time of the 1911 census Lucy was still living at 15 Sanford Street. She states that she is a widow and that she has had 10 children of whom 4 are still living and 6 had died. She lives with her daughter Edith who states her profession as that of Head Teacher.
Lucy died at her home in Sanford Street on August 27, 1913. Her effects were valued at £208 15s with administration awarded to her son Thomas Pickett, also a schoolmaster.
Before and after photographs – an amazing discovery by our volunteers, enabling the story of the Pickett family to be told and remembered.
Radnor Street Cemetery 