Curious Epitaphs, Collected from the Graveyards of Great Britain and Ireland.Andrews, William
General
Curious Epitaphs, Collected from the Graveyards of Great Britain and Ireland.
Andrews, William
Epitaphs -- Great Britain
Respecting the next example, our friend, Mr. Edward Walford, M.A., wrote
to the _Times_ as follows: "Close to the south-western corner of the
parish churchyard of Hampstead there has long stood a square tomb, with a
scarcely decipherable inscription, to the memory of a man of science of
the last century, whose name is connected with the history of practical
navigation. The tomb, having stood there for more than a century, had
become somewhat dilapidated, and has lately undergone a careful
restoration at the cost and under the supervision of the Company of
Clockmakers, and the fact is recorded in large characters on the upper
face. The tops of the upright iron railings which surround the tomb have
been gilt, and the restored inscription runs as follows: 'In memory of Mr.
John Harrison, late of Red Lion-square, London, inventor of the
time-keeper for ascertaining the longitude at sea. He was born at Foulby,
in the county of York, and was the son of a builder of that place, who
brought him up to the same profession. Before he attained the age of 21,
he, without any instruction, employed himself in cleaning and repairing
clocks and watches, and made a few of the former, chiefly of wood. At the
age of 25 he employed his whole time in chronometrical improvements. He
was the inventor of the gridiron pendulum, and the method of preventing
the effects of heat and cold upon time-keepers by two bars fixed together;
he introduced the secondary spring, to keep them going while winding up,
and was the inventor of most (or all) the improvements in clocks and
watches during his time. In the year 1735 his first time-keeper was sent
to Lisbon, and in 1764 his then much improved fourth time-keeper having
been sent to Barbadoes, the Commissioners of Longitude certified that he
had determined the longitude within one-third of half a degree of a great
circle, having not erred more than forty seconds in time. After sixty
years' close application to the above pursuits, he departed this life on
the 24th day of March, 1776, aged 83.
In an epitaph in High Wycombe churchyard, life is compared to the working
of a clock. It runs thus:--
Of no distemper,
Of no blast he died,
But fell,
Like Autumn's fruit,
That mellows long,
Even wondered at
Because he dropt not sooner.
Providence seemed to wind him up
For fourscore years,
Yet ran he nine winters more;
Till, like a clock,
Worn out with repeating time,
The wheels of weary life
At last stood still.
In memory of JOHN ABDIDGE, Alderman.
Died 1785.
We have some curious specimens of engineers' epitaphs. A good example is
copied from the churchyard of Bridgeford-on-the-Hill, Notts:--
Sacred to the Memory of JOHN WALKER, the only son of
Benjamin and Ann Walker, Engineer and Pallisade Maker,
died September 22nd, 1832, aged 36 years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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