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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Berkshire Lookup Requests => Berkshire => England => Berkshire Completed Look ups => Topic started by: dee-jay on Friday 01 December 17 16:58 GMT (UK)
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Is there SKS in a position to look up an obituary for the William WESTALL buried 14 Feb 1880 at Newtown Road Cemetery, please? I believe he was the character who undertook the physical demands of the 1869 'Beating of the Bounds' ceremony and the likely father of the young WESTALL lad fished out alive from the canal after the ice broke in Dec 1870.
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He is listed on the Friends of Newtown Road Cemetery site-died aged 53 years.
regards.
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There is only one mention of a William Westall in the Newbury Weekly News and General Advertiser - Thursday 31 August 1871 Newbury Flower Show
William Westall- 3rd prize kidney potatoes, 4th round ditto., 1st cabbage, 3rd long carrots, 1st short ditto.
Stan
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Thank you Paco and Stan for your input but I was hoping that someone local to Newbury might be in a position to check the NWN at the library around the date of burial.
I subscribe to both the FNRC [Friends of Newtown Road Cemetery] and the BL Newspaper Archive but digitization of the NWN post-1872 is unlikely to be available in my lifetime, and I'm no longer physically able to make the trip to undertake the search myself.
In addition to scaling rooftops, William WESTALL swam under the bridge at Wash-water in 1869; the lad who fell through the ice in 1870 was able to calmly tread water for ten minutes until rescued. William's occupation in 1871 was Painter Journeyman, likely employed by Samuel BIDDIS, and according to another son's statement recorded in the Reading Mercury in 1876, William was also a member of the Fire Brigade.
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It would be worth contacting the Friends of Newtown Road Cemetery to ask if they have checked the 1880 obituaries. They are working through them year by year. If they have then I fear your chap may not have merited an obituary (most didn't) because they do put them on their website when they have them.
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Thanks so much for the tip, newburychap. I've become a bit rusty from brain fog. ;)
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Everything comes to those who patiently wait! Delighted to say that NWN’s reports in BMD columns recent releases include my great-grandparents William’s death in 1880 and his widow Mary Ann’s in 1883. There is even an announcement of my mother’s birth at Kingsclere in 1905. ;D