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What's New at Arcadia

Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast By Glenn A. Knoblock

Arcadia Publishing has releases a new title in the Images of America series, the historic account of the cemeteries along the New Hampshire Seacoast. This collection is a must for anyone interested in local history, genealogy, or colonial-era art. Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast and browse other cemetery books!

Green-Wood Cemetery By Alexandra Mosca

Arcadia Publishing announces the release of the historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery.

Announcements

Quoting Death in Early Modern England: The Poetics of Epitaphs Beyond the Tomb By Scott L. Newstok

An innovative study of the Renaissance practice of making epitaphic gestures within other English genres. A poetics of quotation uncovers the ways in which writers including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Holinshed, Sidney, Jonson, Donne, and Elizabeth I have recited these texts within new contexts. Visit Palgrave Macmillan and purchase your copy today!

Living by the Dead By Ellen Ashdown with illustrations by Mary Liz Moody.

A memoir about living beside a cemetery--and about the members of my family who came to rest at Roselawn Cemetery in Tallahassee, Florida. Please visit Kitsune Books for more information.

Graveyards of Chicago: The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski.

Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!

Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers

For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.

Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman

Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture is now available. Please visit Studio Indiana for more information.

West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark

Features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.

Zulu war veteran's heroic tale uncovered by relative PDF Print E-mail
Written by DeadGirl   
Saturday, 12 August 2006
21 July 2006
London
THE heroic background of a soldier buried in an unmarked grave in Highgate Cemetery has been unearthed by his granddaughter's husband. John Roker has painstakingly researched the life of Thomas Lewis and found that he was one of the few to survive the siege of Rorke's Drift in 1879. Bombardier Thomas Lewis of the N Battery 5th Brigade Royal Artillery escaped death at the battle immortalised in the 1964 film Zulu starring Sir Michael Caine.

Mr Roker, who lives in Gloucestershire, said: "My research started nearly two years ago. My late mother-in-law Gladys Blackwell always maintained her father fought at the defence of Rorke's Drift.

"To my shame, I did not pursue this while she was alive. My knowledge then was confined to watching the film Zulu which I now know to be historically inaccurate.

"I believed, again to my shame, that the research would take only a few hours, I would prove it was a load of rubbish and still be in time for a pint and a pipe in the village pub."

But Mr Roker found there was certainly more than a grain of truth in his mother-in-law's stories and that his wife's grandfather was a "brave and gallant soldier, who while an ordinary man, led a most eventful life".

Born in Brecon, Wales, Thomas Lewis joined the Royal Artillery in 1874 and was dispatched to South Africa in 1878. After being injured when a wagon fell on him, he was taken to Rorke's Drift, a supply station and makeshift field hospital. On the morning of January 22, 1879, Rorke's Drift became the stuff of legend when 150 soldiers successfully defended it against some 4,000 Zulus.

In 1882, Bombardier Lewis met Queen Victoria and was also awarded the South Africa Medal with Zulu Wars Clasp.

He left the army around 1885 and later came to London, where he worked as a horse tram driver. He and Annie Price had six children and the family lived in several places, including Despard Road and Highgate Hill. In August 1910, Thomas developed appendicitis and was taken to The London Hospital in Whitechapel.

After studying his post mortem notes, Mr Roker said: "They left a swab inside him after one of his three operations.

"Thus after surviving the horrors of Rorke's Drift and Victorian working class society, Thomas's demise was at least hastened by the negligence of his surgeon."

With the help of staff at Highgate Cemetery, Mr Roker located his relative's grave.

Simon Moore-Martin, manager of Highgate Cemetery said: "He's buried in a common grave so there's likely to be more than one person buried there. It's not visible from the path so we cannot include it in the tour but it could be mentioned."

He added: "Mr Roker has spent a long time researching the truth and we are very pleased for him.


http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/content/camden/hamhigh/news/story.aspx?brand=NorthLondon24&category=Newshamhigh&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newshamhigh&itemid=WeED21%20Jul%202006%2016%3A05%3A54%3A097
 
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Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries

Taphophiles Speak

Final Destination After Cremation?
 
Roadside Memorials...
 
What is your favorite type of cemetery?
 
Will you be embalmed?
 
Are you considering a Green Burial?
 

Quote Repository

“For thee, who mindful of th' unhonour'd Dead Dost in these lines their artless tale relate; If chance, by lonely contemplation led, Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,”

Thomas Gray 1750 from Elegy Wr

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