Yorkshire Chess History

Contents:

Cronhelm Grave

Home

Narrative

Organisations

Events

Games

People

Graves

Buildings

Competitions

Trophies

Made in Yorkshire

Miscellaneous

Sheffield Sub-Site

Cronhelm Burials

Ten members of the Cronhelm family, from three generations, were buried at the same site in the graveyard of Holy Trinity Church, Halifax.  This must have been a family vault of some sort.  That it was surrounded by iron railings is evidenced by the third verse of F.W. Cronhelm’s poem written on the death of his daughter, Catherine.  David H. Barron compiled a list of monumental inscriptions from the graveyard and church, with an introduction dated 24^th September 1969.  This is held in the West Yorkshire Archive at Halifax Library.  Barron’s list includes a single entry for ten Cronhelms interred at Holy Trinity.  Barron positions the Cronhelm vault, or whatever it was, a short distance to the south of the south-west corner of the church.

The church itself is now used as offices by a firm of financial advisers.  The rectangular stained-glass window is still visible at ground level in the west wall, presumably in its original position, but with a single-pane modern window installed to its outer side, so protecting it.  From memory it measures very roughly five feet wide by three to four feet high.  The inscription at the base faces inwards, and is barely readable from outside the building, though Frederick William Cronhelm’s name is discernable.  The dedication reads roughly “Frederick William Cronhelm died 2nd June 1871 aged 84 years, erected by his widow and children.”  It depicts a nativity scene.  As viewed from the inside, where the dedication wording appears the correct way round, the “Mother and Child” are on the left, facing a kneeling “King” on the right.  Traditionally the positions are more often the other way round.

The bulk of the churchyard extended to the west of the church but has since been redeveloped, being occupied now by an old people’s home.  The site of the Cronhelm grave is now part of a car park.  A single large stone bearing the names of ten interred Cronhelms is preserved, however, and has been propped up against the west wall, to the right of the stained-glass window.  The stone has received a number of knocks which have caused fragments of the surface to flake off, with loss of a few words of the engraving, words which nevertheless were recorded by Barron before the disruption took place.

Frederick William Cronhelm was the ninth member of the family to be interred in the family grave.  The tenth and final name on the stone is that of his second son William Cronhelm.  There was hardly any room left for the inscription which consequently is in two parts, either side of a curved cut-out at the bottom of the stone, which presumably reflects some feature of the design of the original structure of which that stone was but a part.  The complete inscription on the stone is shown on the following page.

The Cronhelm gravestone inscription is as follows:

HENRY ELDEST SON OF FREDERICK WILLAM & ELIZABETH CRONHELM DIED NOVEMBER 9 TH 1836 AGED 24. CATHERINE, THEIR ONLY DAUGHTER DIED OCTOBER 11TH 1840, AGED 12. FRANCIS ELIZABETH, THEIR GRANDCHILD DAUGHTER OF JOHN AND FRANCES CRONHELM DIED JULY 8 TH 1841, AGED 9 MONTHS. ELIZABETH CRONHELM, THE MOTHER OF THIS FAMILY, DIED OCTOBER 27 TH 1842, AGED 52 YEARS. THEIR GRANDDAUGHTER ELIZABETH, ELDEST DAUGHTER OF EDWARD AND HANNAH CRONHELM, DIED JANUARY 5 TH 1851, AGED 3 YEARS. FREDERICK ERNEST CRONHELM, SON OF F. W. CROHNHELM AND MARY JANE HIS SECOND WIFE DIED JANUARY 29TH 1852, AGED 6 MONTHS CHARLES THEODORE CRONHELM, HIS BROTHER, DIED 2ND DECEMBER 1852, AGED 1 YEAR AND 9 MONTHS FRANCES CATHARINE CRONHELM, SECOND DAUGHTER OF ABOVE EDWARD AND HANNAH CRONHELM, DIED 24TH JUNE 1859, AGED 10 YEARS. FREDERICK WILLIAM CRONHELM, THE FATHER OF THIS FAMILY, DIED JUNE 2ND 1871, AGED 84 YEARS. “I know that my Redeemer liveth.”

WILLIAM CRONHELM, FREDERICK WILLIAM AND DIED 6TH MAY 1885,

SECOND SON OF ELIZABETH CRONHELM, AGED 70 YEARS.

As was common in those days, death of children and young adults was common.  In 1840 Frederick William Cronhelm wrote a poem upon the death of 12-year-old daughter, Catherine, who was interred with her brother, Henry, who died four years earlier.  His wish expressed in the final verse was fulfilled.

A Wreath for Catherine's Grave

By the Church of the Holy Trinity,

  My Catherine has her rest

In the quiet and secluded grave,

  On her dear brother's breast.

They lie in a green and flowery nook,

  Fast by the holy wall

The whispering west wind knows the spot,

  And there soft star beams fall.

It is railed apart from the green churchyard,

  That no ungentle tread

May press upon the sacred turf,

  Where sleep the blessed dead.

On the Sabbath day, and at holy tide,

  Sweet anthems linger there;

And the Miserere's solemn chant

  Lies softer on the air.

A pew in the church is near that grave,

  Beneath the gallery screen,

The living there are by their dead

  With but the wall between.

On the Sabbath-day and at holy-tide,

  The severed links draw near;

Beside them their fond mother prays,

  And kneel their brothers dear.

Flowers of the prime, and fresh green leaves,

  On every Sabbath-day,

The tokens of undying love,

  On that dear grave they lay.

O let me there beside them rest

  Within the anthem's sound;

For the waft of unseen angel wings,

  Is o'er that holy ground.

Created 25/04/2012

Steve Mann

Last Updated 25/04/2012