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Twice Told Tales – Cemeteries and Gravestones in the News
February 2013
Compiled by Mike Bieling
Missing kings turning up under parking lots and in attics seemed to be a recurrent theme this month,
but there has been much else to report as well, from a pictorial about the process of handcrafting a diecast scale model of a 1930s American hearse, to a look at the Rookwood Necropolis in Sydney, Australia.
Over the past few years, I’ve indulged my
interest in the history of hearses by collecting
scale models of hearses and flower cars. It’s
relatively easy to keep this collecting bug under
control as they’re not widely appreciated,
except by aficionados of professional cars, and
have therefore been fairly hard to find.
Although somewhat intimidating in their Gothic
solemnity, the ornate “carved panel” hearses of
the 1930s represent a pinnacle of the North
American coachbuilder’s art, with elaborate
sheet metal modifications and intricate interior
Photo: Brooklin Models
wood and bright work. A number of model
builders have recognized this, among them Brooklin Models in the UK, who nevertheless specialize in
American cars and have been releasing a series of classic hearses. This interesting webpage documents
the stages of creating a 1:43 scale die-cast metal model vehicle, in this case Brooklin’s wonderfullydetailed Community Service Vehicles/Professional Cars series 1934 Miller-Buick “Art Model” Funeral
Coach, which was released on September 21, 2012, priced at £90.00:
http://www.brooklinmodels.co.uk/sphoto/5147
Brooklin’s next hearse model, a 1934 Miller-LaSalle “Art Carved” Funeral Coach (with no glass windows
and with elaborate carved “drapery” in the side panels), will be released shortly.
This story, from the UK’s Daily Mail website of January 27th, describes the unusual funeral arrangements
for 88-year-old Pennsylvanian David S. Kime, Jr., during which the fast-food-loving veteran’s hearse and
procession made a pass through the local Burger King drive-thru on the way to the cemetery, so that he
could be interred with one last Whopper, Jr. The Burger King franchise helped organize the observances
for one of their favourite frequent customers, and his daughter told reporters that this was no joke, but
a heart-felt way of honouring a man who had stubbornly lived by his own rules, including dietary ones:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2269074/Drive-funeral-Tearful-daughter-gets-father-BurgerKing-Whopper-Jr.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
The big news this month, of course, was the February 4th confirmation by researchers from Britain’s
University of Leicester that the human remains they uncovered in August beneath a city car park are
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indeed those of the last Plantagenet, the notorious King Richard III. Archeologists quickly determined
that the site had once been the Greyfriar’s chapel in which it was known the King had been buried after
his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, and a grave in a place of honour in front of the location
of the altar was soon located. In this grave was found the skeleton of a man suffering from a twisted
spine and severe head and other wounds, with his hands bound, evidently buried hastily, naked and
uncoffined, in a grave that was far too short for him. DNA testing against surviving members of
Richard’s matrilineal family, the closest of whom are Canadians, confirmed the documentary and
physical evidence of the skeleton’s identity, and the mystery of the king’s whereabouts, going back to at
least the early 17th century (when records show that a garden and monument to the king stood on the
site), was solved. Discussion has followed about arrangements for a re-interment of the king with the
formal Roman Catholic rites he never received,
and Westminster Abbey, York Minster (Richard
was of the House of York) and nearby Leicester
Cathedral were all suggested. The Abbey was
rejected as unsuitable, since Richard’s killer,
Henry VII, and his successors lie there. York
Minster soon deferred its claim to Leicester, as
it is close to where Richard has lain for over 500
years, and has been burning candles over a
proposed tomb site ever since the body was
discovered. It will be interesting to see if
Richard receives a full heraldic funeral, which
Re-enactors visit the site (AFP/Getty Images)
would be a spectacle not seen in long time.
This Associated Press item from the February 4th National Post website, with photos and a video clip
about the Leicester excavation and the king’s skeleton, sums up this story:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/02/04/beyond-reasonable-doubt-king-richard-iiis-remains-foundburied-beneath-england-parking-lot/
A strange aspect to the Richard III story, not always reported, is that the project originated with a
woman’s sudden hunch that he was buried under that parking lot. Screenwriter Philippa Langley,
secretary of the Scottish branch of the Richard III Society, who was in Leicester in 2009 doing research
for a play about him, was walking across the lot after checking out another possible gravesite when she
felt an intense chill and immediately “knew” that he was buried beneath her feet. She jokes that there
was a white “R” painted on the spot, too (for “Reserved”). Langley put her money where her mouth is,
raised the funds, and organized the 2012 archeological dig. This article, from the Daily Mail’s website on
February 3rd, tells this story and includes additional interesting photographs:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2272848/Richard-III-Woman-feels-chill-Leicester-car-parkhuman-remains-found.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#axzz2JsMS2H9c
In a related story, further DNA testing is said to have identified the remains of Richard III’s horse in the
meat department of a supermarket near the parking lot under which the king’s remains were found.
Meanwhile, not to be outdone by les maudits Anglais, controversy re-emerged in France over the
conclusion in a new book, “Henri IV: The Mystery of the Headless King”, by Stéphane Gabet and Philippe
Charlier, that the mummified head of Henri IV, who was assassinated in 1610, was recently discovered in
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the attic of a retired tax collector in the city of Angers. A story from the UK’s Daily Mail website of
February 17th, explains how the king’s head went missing during the ugly desecration of the French royal
tombs in the Basilica St-Denis in Paris during the Revolution, describes its likely whereabouts over the
years since, and summarizes the evidence and the various tests that confirmed the king’s identity. In
2010, the head’s finder returned it to the king’s senior descendant, Prince Louis de Bourbon, Duc
d’Anjou, who had it reburied in the Basilica, with the other re-interred family remains, after a national
Mass and funeral ceremony. Others, however, remain unconvinced:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2280176/Henri-IV-France-divided-skull-attic-said-king.html
On February 15th, the Smithsonian Museum’s blog “Around the Mall: Scenes and Sightings from
Smithsonian Museums and Beyond” featured this item, “From Virginia to Missouri to the Smithsonian:
Jefferson’s Tombstone Has a Long Story”, which describes the history of Thomas Jefferson’s original
grave marker from his burial place at Monticello, designed, as usual, by the President himself. Erected
in 1833, seven years after Jefferson’s death, the six-foot granite obelisk on a granite base, bearing a
marble inscription plaque, immediately began to suffer from vandalism due to visitors chipping off
souvenir bits of stone. By 1882, it had deteriorated so badly that Congress voted to fund the
replacement, all-granite monument that stands at Monticello today. Jefferson’s descendants donated
the original obelisk and plaque to the University of Missouri, where the plaque ended up stored in an
attic, while the obelisk continued to weather outdoors. In early February, the original inscription plaque
was shipped to the Smithsonian Institution for stabilization and conservation, so that it can be displayed
in the University’s Jesse Hall:
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2013/02/from-virginia-to-missouri-to-thesmithsonian-jeffersons-tombstone-has-a-long-story/
Late last year, a local historian in Sydney, Australia, set up an unofficial Facebook page devoted to the
great Rookwood Necropolis, which has served that city since 1868. At 300 hectares/741 acres and with
roughly a million interments to date, it's the largest necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere
and the largest Victorian cemetery still in operation anywhere. I believe it’s Fiona that has been posting
great photographs of magnificent monuments
in a beautifully maintained setting, and they
recently came to my attention. I remarked on
the profusion of Victorian ornamental iron that
one sees there,which I suppose in Britain was
scrapped for the war effort and has rusted away
here in rainy British Columbia, and she posted
an album of fascinating pictures. One wonders
if the late Barbara Rotundo, who so much
appreciated decorative iron and “white bronze”
cemetery features, was aware of the wealth of
ironwork that appears to have survived there:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Necropolis-Cemetery-The-Sleeping-Suburb/286731758105400
I’m not sure what happens if you’re not a Facebook user and click on the above link; I presume they’ll try
to sign you up. The official website for the Rookwood Necropolis can be viewed at:
http://www.rookwoodcemetery.com.au/
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The following page from Sydney, Australia’s, official city website tells the history of the old burial
grounds around the city prior to the establishment of Rookwood:
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/history/people-and-places/old-sydney-burial-ground
I generally feel that stories about cemetery vandalism and theft are too frequent and familiar to report,
but this article from the UK Daily Mail’s website on February 19th describes a metal theft of
heartbreaking proportions at St. Raymond Cemetery in Throg’s Neck in the Bronx. Evidently $160,000
worth of bronze plaques, door handles, and other fittings has recently been stolen from 65 mausoleums
in this historic cemetery, despite the presence of security. This item includes a short FOX News clip
about the theft:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2281014/Bronx-grave-robbers-loot-160-000-worth-preciousmetal-historic-cemetery.html
This story from the Hampstead & Highgate Express’ Ham & High website on February 18th reports that
the Friends of Highgate Cemetery in London, England, have established the “Pateman Memorial Fund”
in honour of the late John and Jean Pateman, the couple credited with saving the historic cemetery,
largely by organizing the Friends of the Cemetery into what became the model for voluntary cemetery
restoration groups around the world, and doing 30 years of heavy lifting. The fund will support the work
of the society’s cemetery archives, which was John’s great passion, and pay for improved access paths
and low plantings, which were Jean’s:
http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/memorial_fund_set_up_in_memory_of_saviours_of_highgate_cemet
ery_1_1938408
An Agence-France-Presse report posted on the Globalpost news website on February 21st describes the
discovery of a lost war graves cemetery of French soldiers who died at Sebastopol, now in Ukraine,
during the 1854-1856 Crimean War. Uncovered during construction excavation last December, I was
pleased to read that volunteers from the historic research group “Dolg” (Duty) immediately intervened
to stop the work until an archeological dig can be completed, and all veterans’ remains relocated to a
nearby French military necropolis restored during the 2000s:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130221/ghosts-crimean-war-return-french-cemeteryuncovered
Mike Bieling lives in Duncan, B.C., and can be reached at oldcemeterian@shaw.ca