All human life...

I took this in the graveyard at Saint Saviour Church. These two headstones are a window into the world of the 19th century showing that even the upper class were not spared infant mortality and poor maternal life expectancy. The right hand headstone commemorates Meriel Leicester, wife of the 6th Earl of Bathurst. She died at the age of 31 in July 1872, eleven days after the birth of her third son, Benjamin who lived until 1947. Benjamin's own son, Sir Benjamin Bathurst, attained the rank of Admiral of the Fleet on his retirement from naval service in 1995. The other headstone is that of Meriel's infant child who was born and died on New Year's Eve, 1870. The Earl himself lived until he was 59. His father was a veteran of the Battle of Waterloo. He was a Member of Parliament for Cirencester from 1857 until 1878 when he succeeded his uncle in the earldom and entered the House of Lords. He bought a house in Chobham in 1861, so it's good to know that Meriel was able to enjoy the pastoral life in our village for a number of years.