A thread. #Microhistories.

I was browsing @AncestryUK for vintage photos of cemeteries: I love finding old photography and then seeing what the exact same spot looks like now.

Henry Thomas Lambert, sailmaker from Wapping, and his grave in the 1890’s - 1910’s cf. to yesterday.

Lambert was well-off enough to be a tradesmen in the East-End who could afford a portrait of himself. This is such a tantalising glimpse into a domestic setting in the 19th Century. Bermondsey can be seen out of his window. The painting is now in @MuseumofLondon.

Found out some other bits and pieces -the chapel behind his grave in Beckenham Cemetery is long gone (the one on the right in the picture), a son of his is buried in @AbneyParkN16. And so on.

But then I found this. Now I’m taking no credit for ‘unearthing’ his history - but what a cutie though. James Christopher Slade. What is his connection to the cemetery?

Well, he so visibly buried there. He died at the tender age of 21. It always pains me when you see those younger than you who’ve died. Full credit to his descendants who researched and found out about him on @AncestryUK.

But I wanted to see his grave. Where did his story end?

He was a long way from he home. He was born in 1897 in Brougham in Lancashire; his dad appears to have been involved in an engineering company. He died, aged 48 in 1909. Fatherless, his family relocated to Hale by the time of the 1911 census.

His profile page has lots of images of him as a kid: a chorister, a violinist, he seems like a happy boy. As he grew up he earns an apprenticeship with W. H. Kearns & Co, an engineering firm - obviously following non the footsteps of his dad.

Bombed. Now a big pile of earth.