Occasionally I come across old headstone photos, this one has been in my collection for a while so I thought I would just do a little research on the lady whose memorial this is. Beautifully white isn’t it, very unlike the Victorian headstones we see in Churchyards now where they have all gone grey over time.

Childs and Stone brief Family History.

Jane Childs was born in July 1850 in Yeovil, Somerset, the fifth child of John and Selina (Hockey). Her father John had been born in Bradford Abbas in Dorset and her mother Selina was born close by in Yetminster, Dorset. John was a Cordwainer (Shoemaker). The family had moved from Bradford Abbas to Yeovil, now in Somerset, just before Jane was born. In the 1861 census, her mother and elder sister Mary who was 14 were both described as Glove Sewers. Jane herself at age 20 on the 1871 census was a Glover, as was her mother and younger brother George. Yeovil was very well known for its Glove-making trade. More here: Yeovil History

Jane married Phillip Holland Stone in October 1875 in Weymouth, Dorset. Phillip was born in 1855 in Portland, Dorset to parents John Comben Stone and Sarah Ann Toby (Hansford) John was a Mariner having chosen a different path from his father, Phillip’s Grandfather who had been a Quarryman in Portland, likely working at the famous Portland Stone Quarry. Phillip was a Labourer on the 1871 census aged 16. But at age 26 on the 1881 census and now married to Jane they had moved away to Southampton and were living at 4 Floating Bridge Cottages and Phillip’s occupation was a Floating Bridge Conductor.

Here’s more about the Floating Bridge in Southampton: Sotonopedia. History of floating-bridge

By the time of the 1891 census the couple had moved to London and were living at Tower Hamlet, Poplar and Phillip was working at the Docks as a Labourer. The couple had no children that I have found.

At some point before 1900, they must have moved back to Southampton, Hampshire because that is where Jane died on 25 January 1900 at the age of 49. After her death, Phillip moved back to Portland to live with his mother and her new family as after his own father’s death Sarah his mother had remarried and had more children, staying in Portland. On the 1911 census, his occupation was as the Steward at the Conservative Club. He was living at the home of his half-brother Joseph and his family. Phillip died in Portland, Dorset in October 1936, never remarrying.

The couple would have known the Portland Lighthouse very well. This is one of my own recent photos.

Till next time then…….