I am back. I did not intend to have such a big break in posting on my blog. Today I found Maude Egerton King, she was lying at peace under the trees in St Barts cemetery. Her headstone, a simple wooden banner, badly weathered with age but still beautiful. She was propped up against her brother, William Egerton Hine. Of Godfrey Blount, and Ethel (his wife and Maude's sister), I could find no sign but I will go back again to look some more.
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| Maude Egerton King's grave, St Barts cemetery, Haslemere |
The lettering is very weather worn, but you can still just about read "Maude Egerton King 1867 - 1927".
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| Maude Egerton King's grave detail, St Barts cemetery, Haslemere |
The grave marker is very simple and unadorned. It would be easy to overlook the decoration on the back.
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| The back of Maude Egerton King's grave banner, St Barts cemetery, Haslemere |
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| Design from the spine of The Vineyard (bound version) April- September 1912 |
The heart, vine leaves and grape design is very familiar from The Vineyard journals. I would expect that the wood carving was by Godfrey Blount himself, as something so special as his sister-in-law's grave would not be delegated to someone else. The carving on the back is in much better condition than the front, probably a mixture of the angle of the banner, and the proximity to trees and shrubs behind. As the two supports for the banner have rotted out of the ground, it is concerning to think that this piece of history is deteriorating before our eyes. However I do not think that Maude would approve of the use of the likes of Ronseal to preserve her memory.
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| Maude Egerton King's grave, St Barts cemetery |
Thank you to Dunc for his ceaseless Ancestry research, and who located Maude for me at St Barts.
