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A on Churchyard plan
Both the Prouts and the Nicols were famous local families in the 19th century. It is strange that young Malcolm Nicol (a) should be commemorated as Malcolm Prout. His mother Catherine Nicol, nee Prout, presented the church clock in 1869 to celebrate her coming of age. Surprisingly she was not buried here with her son, but at St. Andrew, Kingsbury.
ELDER SON OF
WILLIAM EDWARD NICOL
DIED 4TH APRIL 1891 AGED 12 YEARS
B on Churchyard plan
Perhaps the best known monument at St.Mary's is that to Charles Reade and his lady friend Laura Seymour (b). Reade, was novelist and playwright, but his fame rests mainly on his authorship of 'The Cloister and the Hearth'. He first met Laura when she acted in one of his plays. In 1856 he went to live at 6, Bolton Row, Mayfair, where the other residents included Mr and Mrs Seymour. As time passed, the others left or died, leaving only Reade and Laura Seymour, who kept house for him. Later, in 1868, they moved to 2, Albert Terrace, south of Hyde Park.
Laura became very ill during 1879, and wanted to see a clergyman of the C of E, but, like Reade, she had not been a churchgoer and did not know her local vicar. Reade, however, had met the Rev Joseph Crane Wharton, (Vicar of Willesden 1865-88) and it was he who gave Laura spiritual comfort in her last days. She had a particular wish to be buried in a parish churchyard and the Rev Crane Wharton, was able to offer a plot at St.Mary's. When Laura died, she was buried in a vault and Charles Reade himself composed the long inscription on the sloping roof. Laura left her entire estate to Charles Reade unconditionally, but he made over part of it to the Charity Commissioners so as to secure an investment income of £10 a year. This was to be distributed to fatherless children and widows in Willesden. After Laura's death, Reade wrote nothing of significance. He lived the remainder of his life quietly in a house on the Uxbridge Road. On his death in 1884, he was buried beside his beloved Laura in the churchyard.
----of----
LAURA SEYMOUR,
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A CHARITABLE WOMAN, A LOVING DAUGHTER, SISTER, AND FRIEND, WHO LIVED FOR OTHERS FROM HER CHILDHOOD. TENDERLY PITIFUL TO ALL GOD'S CREATURES, EVEN TO SOME THAT ARE FREQUENTLY DESTROYED OR NEGLECTED, SHE WIPED AWAY THE TEARS FROM MANY FACES, HELPING THE POOR WITH HER SAVINGS AND SOOTHING THE SORROWFUL WITH HER EARNEST PITY. WHEN THE EYE SAW HER IT BLESSED HER, FOR HER FACE WAS SUNSHINE, HER VOICE WAS MELODY
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SAY MORE AND SORROW PINES TO ENLARGE UPON HER VIRTUES, BUT THIS WOULD ILL ACCORD WITH HER HUMILITY, WHO JUSTLY DISCLAIMED THEM ALL AND RELIED ONLY ON THE MERIT OF HER REDEEMER. BORNE WITH GENTLE RESIGNATION, AND WITH SORROW FOR THOSE WHO WERE TO LOSE HER, NOT FOR HERSELF, SHE WAS RELEASED FROM HER BURDEN AND FELL ASLEEP IN JESUS, SEPTEMBER 27TH 1879 AGED 59 YEARS. |
BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL FOR THEY SHALL OBTAIN MERCY. MATT.5 7.
THIS GRAVE WAS MADE FOR HER AND HIMSELF BY CHARLES READE
WHOSE WISE COUNSELLOR, LOYAL ALLY, AND BOSOM FRIEND SHE WAS FOR TWENTY-FOUR YEARS,
AND WHO MOURNS HER ALL HIS DAYS.
***
HERE LIE BY THE SIDE
OF HIS BELOVED FRIEND, THE MORTAL REMAINS OF
CHARLES READE:
DRAMATIST, NOVELIST AND JOURNALIST.
BORN JUNE 8TH,1814, DIED APRIL 11TH, 1884.
HIS LAST WORDS TO MANKIND ARE ON THIS STONE.
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"I HOPE FOR A RESURRECTION, NOT FROM ANY POWER IN NATURE, BUT FROM THE WILL OF THE LORD GOD
OMNIPOTENT, WHO MADE NATURE AND ME. HE CREATED MAN OUT OF NOTHING, WHICH NATURE COULD NOT.
HE CAN RESTORE MAN FROM THE DUST, WHICH NATURE CANNOT.
AND I HOPE FOR HOLINESS AND HAPPINESS IN A FUTURE LIFE, NOT FROM ANYTHING I HAVE SAID OR DONE
IN THE BODY, BUT FROM THE MERITS AND MEDIATION OF JESUS CHRIST.
HE HAS PROMISED HIS INTERCESSION TO ALL WHO SEEK IT, AND HE WILL NOT BREAK HIS WORD, THAT
INTERCESSION
ONCE GRANTED CANNOT BE REJECTED, FOR HE IS GOD, AND HIS MERITS INFINITE, A MAN'S SINS ARE BUT HUMAN
AND FINITE"
"HIM THAT COMETH TO ME I WILL IN NO WAY CAST OUT".
"IF ANY MAN SIN WE HAVE AN ADVOCATE WITH THE FATHER, JESUS CHRIST THE RIGHTEOUS,
AND HE IS THE PROPITIATION FOR OUR SINS".
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