A mystery

[username3678]

I found a grave and wondered if anyone could give me a clue as to how to find out more about it
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/236752563/somebodies-darling

There's no name, it's just called Somebodies Darling, date of death is 28 August 1878, Maldon Essex

This obviously peaked my interest. I'm assuming that a body was found and a rich person took it upon themselves to bury them or the council did.

That’s intriguing. You should be able to find out who purchased the plot but I don’t know where I’m sorry.

Isn't it. The council would know who bought the plot I imagine. That's a good idea.

Old local newspaper archives?

I had a look, but could find nothing specific online. Bodies that have not been identified are usually registered with the surname Unknown. I searched the GRO index (www.gro.gov.uk) for the year 1878, and 166 unknown women and more than 250 (the max number returned) unknown men were registered in England and Wales.

For the JAS quarter alone, 52 unknown women and 176 unknown men were registered. (Of these, 29 and 114 were registered as aged 0, so sadly more than half these deaths were babies.)

For the Maldon registration district (which includes Maldon itself), no deaths of unknown men or women were recorded in the whole of 1878.

I looked at the Essex Record Office catalogue, and couldn't see the burial register for the cemetery listed, but I may have missed it. There was the burial register for the Anglican church that seems to have used the cemetery from 1855, but I hadn't got a sub to see it. There may have been other denominations buried there, but I haven't checked.

Would it be on the parish records if buried in a churchyard??? Would love to know the background

Maldon is by a river/estuary, so it could be a drowned body that washed up?

Old newspaper records from that area at the time are full of an appalling accident that happened on the Thames about a week later so this mystery death might not have been mentioned in the papers. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_SS_Princess_Alice

Thank you to everyone. I've been searching using all the advice: newspaper archives, parish records etc but can't find anything. That would no doubt be because I am no good at this.

I'm going to contact the council tomorrow and ask them.

Have you tried Facebook? Locally to me the large town cemetery has it’s ’Friends of” page, and there are a couple of town “memories/localmhistory/local heritage” pages, maybe Maldon has similar, who might know the story behind the grave.
(If you find the story, please let us know.)

That's a good idea!

I'd never heard of that awful Thames tragedy. I've attached a cutting talking about the dead bodies, from the Essex Herald on 17 Sep 1878. It's really sad, but I thought it was interesting about the practicalities faced by the authorities.

Re the gravestone, I really want to know now!

@PreFabBroadBean - wow! They didn’t believe in sparing the feelings of their readers (or any bereaved relatives) reading that article, did they? Definitely TMI.

Yes, it must have really affected all those involved in the aftermath, as well as the bereaved. The newspaper also went into great detail about the funerals, donations etc. It's amazing how quickly such terrible events are forgotten.

Is it not the surname Darling? We have people surnamed Darling here in south Wales.

I looked up Darling, but there didn't seem to be any in Maldon then. There was a John Darling, bootmaker, who was born there around 1847, but this isn't an exhaustive search. 😁

It seems to be referencing a famous song from the American civil war.

No the grave says 'Somebodies Darling '

Actually, if you look at the photo, it looks like it was first written the correct way, "somebody's", then it's been changed to "somebodies". Even more strange!

Could it be an unmarked grave, that someone has added a gravestone too later (a paupers burial)... so they knew the date, but not who?

Could be. Following on from the advice on here, I've applied to join the Friends of Maldon Cemetery Facebook group. I'll ask them.

I can't wait to find out the answer now 😁Thank you for starting such an interesting thread!

Googling leads me to a Somebodies Darling grave in New Zealand which was a young man who drowned but nobody knew him - maybe it's a thing?

Yes I found that as well. Perhaps it is a thing.

I've just noticed my typo, it should obviously be piqued my interest.

As @PreFabBroadBean said,

"I looked at the Essex Record Office catalogue, and couldn't see the burial register for the cemetery listed, but I may have missed it. There was the burial register for the Anglican church that seems to have used the cemetery from 1855, but I hadn't got a sub to see it."

The cemetery covers the two adjacent parishes that used the cemetery after 1855; All Saints and St Mary the Virgin.

On the website for the Essex Records Office they have the Burial Register for All Saints 1855-1902 (D/P 201/1/15) and the Burial Register for St Mary 1813-1879 (D/P 132/1/12)

You need a subscription to view them online (£20 for one day) or you would need to visit the records office in person in Chelmsford.

However, there are transcripts available on Ancestry and FindMyPast covering this period.

Looking at the transcripts, there were 61 people buried in Maldon cemetery in 1878. They all have a name.
.
.

Although, just maybe, I do have an idea. It may possibly be the grave of Alice Williams, who died aged 14 months and was buried on 29th August 1878.

There is no recorded headstone for her on the Findagrave site. I wonder if this was an unmarked grave or perhaps just had a simple wooden memorial?

Or the dates may well just be a coincidence, we will never know.

There is a record of an Alice Williams being born in Maldon to Edward and Harriett on 19 June 1877 and then being baptised on 29 July.

It is likely that it was this Alice Williams that died in August 1878. Although, could it also be her in this grave?

@Another2Cats

That's amazing detective work!!

I'm waiting for a call back from the Maldon Council Burials department. I messaged the Maldon Cemetery Facebook page but there's been no response. I'm wondering if the history society would help.

I've spoken to the cemeteries officer who is on the case. She's going there tomorrow and will find the grave to get the plot number to find out more about it.

She said that it's in the old Victorian part of the cemetery and gravestones were very expensive so she agreed that a rich person will have paid for it.

She's also going to contact a local historian to see if he can help find out more.