Spring Competition - AND THE WINNER IS....

[Thomasin]

Here's one which should be read with a Lancashire accent to make it rhyme:

Joseph son of Joseph and Sarah
Lees of Middleton Mill who
departed this life September
2nd 1810 aged 5 months.

I was to my Parents as a Rose,
Tender sweet and good,
But soon you see Death call'd for me,
And nip'd me in the Bud.

[busyglen]

I found this one several years ago, and I think it is posted here somewhere.

A Grave Mistake

"After 8 years of searching the Parish Registers for a name to match the initials H.W.P on a stone slab in his church, the Rev. Phillip Randall of Eye near Petersborough, has solved the mystery.

The initials stand for `Hot Water Pipe' "

Glenys

[helachau]

The following epitaph appears on a gravestone in Hughenden churchyard -

"Here lies John Guy beneath the sod,
Who loved his friends and feared his God;
Also Mary, his wife"

[Colin Rowledge]

One from my travels in the Wild West

In Arizona was this one:

Here lies Abner B Goode
In his life he did no good.
With his death, there ain'it much loss
His wife can now carry on with his boss

R.I.P Abner.

[pennydog]

How about a topical one?

To the Memory of Everett Edward Elliott of the Heroic Crew SS "Titanic" Died on Duty April 15th 1912, Aged 24 years

Each Man Stood at his Post while all the Weaker Ones went By,
And Showed Once More to all the World how Englishmen should Die.

[Coromandel]

Here's an unusual memorial in the form of a puzzle:

http://www.
flickr.com/photos/33514866@N00/401204813

I can't take any credit for discovering this one (I read about it in a family history society journal some years ago) so don't think it should count as a competition entry!

P.S. I have deliberately given a link to a site that doesn't show the solution. If you want to cheat you can find the answer elsewhere.

[Elwyn Soutter]

John Dryden (1631-1700) on his wife:

Here lies my wife: here let her lie!
Now she's at rest, and so am I.

[AnnB]

My Mum told me this one many years ago, but I don't know where it came from - or even if it is 'real'

Where'er you be,
Let your wind go free.
For holding it in,
Was the death of me.

Best wishes
Ann

[Sue Mackay]

I can't claim credit for finding this one, as it was on the Internet, but there is apparently an MI at Dorchester Abbey in Oxfordshire which reads

Here lies one who for medicine would not give
A little gold; and so his life he lost;
I fancy that he'd wish again to live
Did he but know how much his funeral cost.

[Mutley]

Here lies my Wife, in Earthy Mold
Who when she Died did naught but Scold,
Good Friends go softly, in your walking,
Lest she should Wake and Rise up Talking