Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/44

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. JULY n,

of no memorial stone at all in any burial- ground in the West Country made of York stone, and, secondly, all those in the Exeter Quaker cemetery stand perpendicular, with their bases deeply sunk in the ground. The oldest dated memorial here is a large stone, upon which may be read :

"Thomas Sanders of this City, merchant, de- parted this life the 2nd day of the 2nd month (called February), 1763. And, at his pressing Re- quest, the remains of his Wife, Sarah, the daughter of Michael Lee Dicker and of Alice his Wife, were removed from the Family Cave in this Burial - Ground and deposited here by the side of her Husband. Also the body of Sarah Maria Sanders, daughter of Thomas and Sarah Sanders, who de- parted this life the 17th of May, 1777."

Two other memorials simply possess initials, one " A. L. R.," the second (a very ancient Dartmoor granite headstone) " M. G." A few others possess the initial letters with a date beneath. These read respectively : " W. I. 1779," " I. W. 1781," "I. W. 1783," "I. C. 1785," and " J. A. 1871." Yet another is inscribed, " S m Wil- liams, 1799," whilst five other stones to as many different members of the Williams family but bearing rather fuller details stand close by.

The Quaker body, like the Jews, are not much in evidence in Exeter. The most modern stone that appears to have beetn erected in this sweetly pretty God's acre is lettered :

"Ann Priscilla, Wife of Robert Dymond, died 28th of 4th month, 1864, aged 62. Robert Dymond, died 4th of 9th month, 1866, aged 68. Emma Anne Dymond, daughter of the above, died 18th of 4th month, 1905, aged 65. Francis Williams Dymond. Born 19th of llth month, 1825, died 9th' of 9th month, 1907."

In immediate proximity to this upright stone are five others, all inscribed to the memory of various members of the same family.

It is worthy of record that Emma A. Dymond and Francis W. Dymond both beloved, as I can personally testify, by all who knew them passed away after the time when burials in this city's graveyards were prohibited. To overcome the difficulty of interment, therefore, they were, in succes- sion, cremated at Woking, and their ashes afterwards deposited in the grave in question.

HARRY HEMS. Fair Park, Exeter.

SURREY GARDENS (10 S. ix. 490). MR. JODE will find a good deal of valuable information relating to these gardens in Mr. Warwick Wroth's * Cremorne and the

Later London Gardens,' 1907, pp. 83-92. It may be noted that the exact date of the opening of the gardens, which is not given by Mr. Wroth, was 13 August, 1831. The old Zoological Gardens were sold in 1856, and were reopened in the July of that year, the adjective " Zoological " being dropped, and the property becoming known simply as " The Royal Surrey Gardens." A mag- nificent music hall was built in the grounds, which was called " The Royal Surrey Music Hall"; but this edifice was burnt down on Tuesday, 11 June, 1861. A portion of the roof was under repair, and it was sup- posed that the plumbers had left a portable firepan burning while they went to dinner. This misfortune proved the death-blow of the gardens. They were " opened again," to borrow the words of E. L. Blanchard in The Era Almanac for 1871, p. 4,

"in 1862 with a picture of the City and Bay of Naples, and a variety of miscellaneous amuse- ments, but the place had lost its popularity, and soon after its grounds were more advantageously occupied as the temporary hospital of St. Thomas."

When the hospital buildings were completed on their present site in 1871, the gardens reverted to their former uses ; but they merely dragged on a lingering existence, and the property was sold for building purposes in 1877. In March, 1878, a boxing entertainment was given in the theatre, and very shortly afterwards the house- breakers were set to work, and the grounds were covered over with streets built in the style which is familiar to the traveller who enters London by one of its southern portals. W. F. PRIDEATJX.

These Gardens were first opened as a pleasure resort, under the title of the Surrey Zoological Gardens, on 13 August, 1831, by Mr. Edward Cross, who brought a menagerie there from Exeter. On 15 July, 1856, the large Music Hall was opened in the grounds. It cost 18,000?. and held 13,000 persons. A grand concert was conducted by Jullien, who produced * The Messiah,' among the soloists being Clara Novello, Miss Dolby, Sims Reeves, and other eminent vocalists. On the 19th of the following October there was a false alarm of fire while Spurgeon was preaching at this hall, seven persons being killed and upwards of fifty injured. The Guards were feasted in this hall on 25 August, 1856, on their return from the Crimea. On 11 June, 1861, it was burnt down, but speedily rebuilt ; and in the following year it was utilized for the recep- tion of patients from St. Thomas's Hospital.