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Early Female Socialist Campaigner's Cheshire Grave

escargot

escargot

Disciple of Marduk
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Aug 24, 2001
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HM The Tower of London
Does anyone remember this? I remember planning to visit but something a bit major came up and it slipped my mind! :oops:

There was a Guardian article about it. You can't 'clip' Guardian stories any more so I can't find it now.

I'm free next week so will be able to finally fulfil my rash promise. ;)
 
Oh, thank you! :D

I tried that thread but didn't go back far enough.

Two red roses, then? 'From your friends at the FTMB'.
 
My pleasure! :D

Had a lovely little morning's outing. The church is in the middle of nowhere, really remote, very pretty. I'll certainly go again.
 
:D My pleasure!

We visited the Snugburys Dalek on the way back. 8)
 
Bumping this because I was in the area again yesterday and popped in to see how the churchyard looks in winter. As you'll guess, it was rather bleak and chilly.


Still can't find the original post! The link above now takes you to the main messageboard page.
 
Helen Mcfarlane was a radical journalist, admired by Karl Marx, who was the first translator of the Communist Manifesto into English. But why did she vanish from history?

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a period drama must be in want of a feisty heroine who finds love at last.

But our heroine, Helen Macfarlane was no fictional character and her life would have shocked Jane Austen's smocks off.

Helen was the very first translator of the Communist Manifesto. Not the one we know today, but a version that carries her own unique voice.

Her version begins: "A frightful hobgoblin stalks throughout Europe. We are haunted by a ghost, the ghost of Communism..."

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-20475989
 
I've seen that page and the Guardian one. It's the FTMB page that I can't find, grr!
 
It might be time to pop along and leave another little bouquet.
 
Frideswide said:
would you like a contribution for flowers?
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No need, I'll just amble over some time & collect some nice red roses on the way. Same as before.

You can just send your love. ;)

I'll drag Techy along for a bike ride. As I recall it's quite a way out and would make a lovely outing, not far off one of our regular routes.
 
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This reminds me of someone I knew on another (now defunct) forum, who tracked down the grave of Pixie Colman Smith, the artist who did the designs for the famous Rider-Waite tarot deck. Although she died penniless, she did, apparently, have a modest gravestone that was overgrown, but there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Colman_Smith
 
Saw this on the Chartist Ancestors Blog -

Visiting the grave of Helen Macfarlane, Chartist journalist

Heading up to Chester for this year's Chartism Day (more of which later) I stopped off at the tiny Cheshire village of Baddiley.

Here, in the rather beautiful and peaceful surroundings of St Michael's church, is buried Helen Macfarlane - or, as it says on her gravestone, "Helen, wife of the Revd John W Edwards."
etc.
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There's a photo of the grave, showing a couple of old, rather battered tributes. Looks like ours was still there!
 
Helen Mc Farlane is indeed a fascinating character. Thanks to this I have found out who she is, and I must say I like her turn of phrase. Those hard won fights for workers' rights in the UK and Europe are something that the USA in general bitterly opposed, to its national detriment imo. Am I to gather from this, in a Fortean context, that rather than haunting Europe, she has been haunting a gravesite in Cheshire? I would rather hope that such a fine lady deserves a better rest.
 
AlchoPwn said:
Am I to gather from this, in a Fortean context, that rather than haunting Europe, she has been haunting a gravesite in Cheshire? I would rather hope that such a fine lady deserves a better rest.
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There's nothing wrong with Cheshire! A fine place to rest.
 
Frideswide said:
will you bring one back> :)
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Yes. In fact you can see her grave for yourself on Google Street view.

St Michael's Church, Baddiley

There's a tree right in the middle of the graveyard, and in front of/underneath it there are three gravestones in a line. The middle stone, with the indented top corners, is the one. Here's a snap from Google which Techy has kindly nicked for me -

grave.jpg
 
escargot said:
There's nothing wrong with Cheshire! A fine place to rest.
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My concern be solely that she was not at rest, but abroad by night on vaporous sojourns, rather than rolled round on earths diurnal course, so to speak. I meant no disrespect to Cheshire and environs.
 
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