Minster Abbey: inscription on the headstone of a dockyard quartermaster, 1821

Introduction

The photograph on this page of Minster Abbey: inscription on the headstone of a dockyard quartermaster, 1821 by Stefan Czapski as part of the Geograph project.

The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk

Minster Abbey: inscription on the headstone of a dockyard quartermaster, 1821

Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 29 Jul 2017

The inscription is quite finely lettered, but the stone seems to have suffered from rough handling - as well as weathering on this hilltop close to the sea. My 21st-century keyboard won't allow me to transcribe all the flourishes of the Georgian inscription, but the stone commemorates: JAMES MART Late Quartermaster in H.M. Dock Yard Sheerness Who departed this Life Anno 1821 Feby. 14th. Aged 78 There are then three lines of verse, partly obscured by lichen. What's more, it looks as if the mason wasn't sure of his spelling and tried to re-work some of the letters. I won't guess at the third line, but the first two lines seem to read: To p(atient?) Faith the prize is shure And . . . . to the end endure Image shows a very similar stone - the material is the same and the inscription could well be the work of the same man.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0

Image Location

coordinates on a map icon
Latitude
51.421799
Longitude
0.812037