There have been further discoveries at Sidmouth Cemetery, with volunteers from the Cherishing Sidmouth Cemeteries working party endeavouring to, often literally, unearth hidden graves in the older areas.
In the section on the CSC website under Memorials there are several separate webpages for individual graves – including photography and research carried out by the CSC members.
The latest page is devoted to Florence Lucy Hurt Clarke, whose uncovered grave is pictured above – with photography by CSC member Amanda O’Carroll.
As this dedicated webpage says, the inscription on the grave reads as follows:
“Florence Lucy Hurt Clarke (nee Sitwell) wife of Colonel H. Wilberforce Clarke late Royal Engineers who died on the 18th June 1893 at Fort House Sidmouth aged 50 years. She was a gentle and devoted wife and loving mother. This granite slab is placed by her sorrowing husband and family. Lord have mercy upon me.”
It has not been straightforward to decipher the lettering:
Wikipedia has a considerable amount of information about her husband Henry Wilberforce Clarke, translator of Persian works by mystic poets and grandson of the head of the East India Company.
The website for Kennaway House, known as ‘Fort House’ at the time Florence was staying there, also has some interesting information under The History of Kennaway House in Sidmouth East Devon.
It is assumed that when Florence died in Sidmouth, her family were in fact living in Italy, after her husband retired to Liguria. In which case, her death must have happened when on a visit to England.
Members of the CSC team have managed to contact the family of Florence Clarke – and so we hope to be able to add further information to the website in due course.
…