| Erected In remembrance of Philip Roe who died 12th September, 1815 Aged 52 years. |
| The vocal Powers here let us mark Of Philip our late Parish Clerk In Church none ever heard a Layman With a clearer Voice say “Amen!” Who now with Hallelujahs Sound Like him can make the roofs rebound? The Choir lament his Choral Tones The Town—so soon Here lie his Bones. “Sleep undisturb’d within thy peaceful shrine Till Angels wake thee with such notes as thine.” |
| Also of Sarah his wife who departed this life on the 24th of January 1817 aged 51 years. |
Cuthbert Bede, B.A., says, “As a boy I often attended the service at Belbroughton Church, Worcestershire, where the parish clerk was Mr. Osborne, tailor. His family had there been parish clerks and tailors since the time of Henry the Eighth, and were lineally descended from William FitzOsborne, who, in the twelfth century, had been deprived by Ralph FitzHerbert of his right to the manor of Bellem, in the parish of Belbroughton. Often have I stood in the picturesque churchyard of Wolverley, Worcestershire, by the grave of its old parish clerk, whom I well remember, old Thomas Worrall, the inscription on whose monument is as follows:—
| Sacred to the Memory of Thomas Worrall, Parish Clerk of Wolverley for a period of forty-seven years. Died A.D. 1854, February 23rd. Aged 76 years. |
| He served with faithfulness in humble sphere, As one who could his talent well employ. Hope that when Christ his Lord shall re-appear, He may be bidden to His Master’s joy. |
This tombstone was erected to the memory of the deceased by a few of the parishioners in testimony of his worth.
April, 1855. Charles R. Somers Cocks, vicar.
It may be noted of this worthy parish clerk that, with the exception of a week or two before his death, he was never once absent from his Sunday and week-day duties in the forty-seven years during which he held office. He succeeded his father, James Worrall, who died in 1806, aged seventy-nine, after being parish clerk of Wolverley for thirty years. His tombstone, near to that of his son, was erected ‘to record his worth both in his public and private character, and as a mark of personal esteem—h.l.F.H.& W.C.p.c.’ I am told that these initials stand for F. Hurtle and the Rev. William Callow, and that the latter was the author of the following lines inscribed on the monument, which are well worth quoting:—
| If courtly bards adorn each statesman’s bust, And strew their laurels o’er each warrior’s dust Alike immortalise, as good and great, Him who enslaved as him who saved the state, Surely the muse (a rustic minstrel) may Drop one wild flower upon a poor man’s clay; This artless tribute to his mem’ry give Whose life was such as heroes seldom live. In worldly knowledge, poor indeed his store— He knew the village and he scarce knew more. The worth of heavenly truth he justly knew— In faith a Christian, and in practice too. Yes, here lies one, excel him ye who can; Go! imitate the virtues of that man!” |
A memorial record on the church of Holy Trinity, Hull, is as follows:—
In memory of John Stone
Parish Clerk 41 years
Excellent in his way
Buried here 26 May 1727
Aged 78.
First amongst notable sextons is the name of Old Scarlett, who died July 2, 1591, at the good old age of ninety-eight, and occupied for a long time the position of sexton of Peterborough Cathedral. He buried two generations of his fellow-creatures. A portrait of him, placed at the west end of that noble church, has perpetuated his fame, and caused him to be introduced in effigy in various publications. Says a writer in the “Book of Days”: “And what a lively effigy—short, stout, hardy, and self-complacent, perfectly satisfied, and perhaps even proud, of his profession, and content to be exhibited with all its insignia about him! Two queens had passed through his hands into that bed which gives a lasting rest to queens and to peasants alike. An officer of Death, who had so long defied his principal, could not but have made some impression on the minds of bishop, dean, prebends, and other magnates of the Cathedral, and hence, as we may suppose, the erection of this lively portraiture of the old man, which is believed to have been only once renewed since it was first put up. Dr. Dibdin, who last copied it, tells us that ‘Old Scarlett’s jacket and trunkhose are of a brownish red, his stockings blue, his shoes black, tied with blue ribbons, and the soles of his feet red. The cap upon his head is red, and so also is the ground of the coat armour.’”