A Wheel with Angel Wings....

I has gone to this graveyard yesterday with the express purpose of finding the inscription to this grave when I got waylaid. I am still thinking about that experience...

But here it is in today's entry. This magnificent wheel with the wings coming out of it. I posted a photo before but I hadn't thought to take photo of the inscription for some strange reason which is why I returned yesterday....

Anyway, the inscription reads...

In loving memory
of
Beatrice Blore Browne ( Bee )
Born September 26th 1887
Died November 23rd 1921
"She feared naught but God"

The below is taken from this.
"Beatrice ~ Bee ~ was born in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire and died in
Delamere, Penmaenmawr at the age of 34 years old.
Beatrice became a maverick of her time, when she drove a Singer 10hp car up the Old Road on the Great Orme circa 1911. It drew the attention of the press and onlookers, who wondered whether she would make it.

In 1920, Beatrice Blore changed her name by deed poll and added the surname of Browne. Her death in November 1921 at the early age of 34, was due to cancer of the liver and breast, which she had been been suffering from for the previous two years.
Her unique gravestone has kept her memory alive, a reminder of a woman keen to push the boundaries of what it was considered acceptable for women to do."


There is a lot of speculation about her on the internet in the absence of facts. Some saying she married the George Browne in this article above, probably on the basis that she changed her surname by deed poll to Browne. Who know why someone does something. Maybe she admired the guy. All these stories we shall never know, but if you were a writer short of ideas and plots, you only need to go round and read gravestone inscriptions for inspiration.

Anyway it turns out the marriage to George Browne never was as the following post shows here.
The below is taken from that article

"1887-1921 Winged Wheel - (Times Winged chariot ?) Beatrice Blore Browne (Bee) "She feared naught but God" - who was she ? What is certain- she describing herself as a spinster, added the name Browne by deed poll in 1920. Explanations given by the church warden are she was a pioneer of motoring in North Wales, she was one of the first to drive up Great Orme, she was a racing driver, she was killed in a racing/driving accident, sadly she died of cancer which perhaps explains her epitaph - this information found by "Steeljam" SEE ATTACHED"

And then he seems to have obtained her death certificate...

"jmc4 - Church Explorer 59 months ago | reply
steeljam said:
The death certificate arrived today. Unfortunately her death was not romantic.
Beatrice Blore Browne, female, aged 34 years
Died: 23rd November 1921 at Delamere, Penmaenmawr.
Spinster, daughter of Herbert Blore
Cause of death: Carcinoma - left breast and liver.
Informant: Harvey Leach, Step-Brother"

I think she has the most striking grave in that graveyard. It commands a prominent position over the sea and the road round the Great Orme. It must have been some feat in those days with that underpowered car she was driving and an amazing adventure!