The British Cemetery Funchal Madeira presents:

The following comprise the scripts of a series of eight biographical monologues given in a public costumed performance on the evening Saturday 29th October 2016 by members of Holy Trinity Church to raise funds for church and cemetery restoration, and is printed here along with photographs of the relevant graves and historical portraits of the “residents”.

It is our privilege to present here that series of monologues, vignettes, windows on the past - but a past that is also very present for us who are honored by being the current custodians of this slice of Empire and European history… a slice that speaks of global commerce and military might (aspects so difficult to separate) … these are real tales of endeavours carried out by our forebears whose mortal remains were gifted to the British Cemetery for posterity. It is right and fitting we make you aware of their presence and remind you of their achievements as our obligation in return. “MEET THE RESIDENTS”

Grave 1: Old Cemetery Lady Sophia Bligh

Portrait of Anne Dashwood by Sir Joshua Reynolds Lady Sophia Bligh´s grave (foreground)

“Good Eve kind gentle folk, I am Lady Sophia Bligh. I was born Sophia Stewart, in 1780, the sixteenth child of John Stewart, 7 th Earl of Galloway and Anne, Countess of Galloway. My older sister Susan Spencer Churchill was the Duchess of Marlborough and Marchioness of Blandford. My brother George Stewart became the 8 th Earl of Galloway, and his younger brother was General Sir William Stewart GCB. My other brothers and sisters were Anne Harriet Chichester; Rt. Rev. Hon. Charles James Stewart, Bishop of Quebec; Lady Charlotte Stewart; Caroline Rushout; Hon Edward Richard Stewart; Montgomery Granville John Stewart; Lt.-Col. James Henry Keith Stewart; Elizabeth Euphemia Stewart and Alexander Stewart. My beautiful mother Anne was the daughter of Sir James Dashwood , 2nd Baronet and her pre-wedding portrait was painted by none other than Sir Joshua Reynolds and now hangs on public display in the museum in New York, I believe it’s a city in our former American Colonies. My father was a famous politician: member of Parliament for Morpeth (1761-1768); member of Parliament for Ludgershall (1768-1773); and, Lord of Police (1768-1782). He sat as a Tory peer for Scotland 1774-1790 in the House of Lords. Many people loved him not as I did, and especially he was the target of two hostile poems by Robert Burns, John Bushby's Lamentation and On the Earl of Galloway A frequent opera-goer, my father was caricatured by James Gillray in An Old Encore at the Opera! of 1803. In 1762 James Boswell wrote of him that he had "a petulant forwardness that cannot fail to disgust people of sense and delicacy". From 1783 until his death in 1806 he was a Lord of the Bedchamber to King George III. As you can see I was a very well connected lady and if I had a Facebook page today, my friends would be among the Great and the Good! Indeed I am an ancestor of both Sir Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales. “ Portrait of John Stewart, 7th Earl of Galloway by Anton-Raphael Mengs, 1758.

“I married the Honorable William Bligh, General to his Majesty George IV, and younger brother to John Bligh the 4th Earl Darnley, and who as colonel of his regiment in 1807, accompanied by his family, was stationed here in Madeira as part of the British garrison under General Beresford protecting the island from the forces of Napoleon Bonaparte.

I bore two children - a daughter Sophia, who later married Henry William Parnell, 3rd Baron Congleton; and then a son William Stoyte born on 28th May 1808 but who apparently died age only 13 in 1821. It was suspected that my own death was a result of complications following his difficult birth from which I never really recovered.

This lovely spot was firstly the British Military burial ground exclusively reserved for military personnel and their families until the late 1830s when, lack of space in the old Nation´s Burial Ground meant easing the regulations, but in 1809 I was the first person to be laid to rest here. My grave is very simple to comply with military rules. But I am sure my family erected a memorial back in England more in keeping with my dignity and station.”

Grave 2: Old Cemetery, George Pepple, the King of Bonny (1849 – 31st October 1888)

Grave of the King of Bonny Chiefs of Bonny 1896 George Oruigbiji Pepple - the King of Bonny

“I am George Oruigbiji Pepple (b. 1849 – d. 31 Oct 1888) I ruled the Kingdom of Bonny, an independent trading state in the Niger Delta between 30 September 1866 and 14 December 1883, when I was deposed. After the British signed a treaty making the state a protectorate, I was restored on 22 January 1887, ruling until my death. The Kingdom of Bonny was a trading state founded before 1600, based on the port of Bonny in what is now Rivers State, Nigeria. It became a major trading center, first of slaves and later of palm oil products. I was born in 1849, son of King William Dappa Pepple of Bonny, who was deposed by the British and deported to Britain in 1854. As an infant I went into exile with my father, and was educated in England at the boys’ school at Hall Place, Bexley in southeast London. My studies included English, Greek, Mathematics, Scripture and History, the conventional syllabus of Victorian England. During my father's exile, Bonny was torn by struggles, at times violent, between two rival factions attached to the two ruling houses. The Manilla Pepple faction was led by Chief Oko Jumbo, but was racked by internal dissension. It was opposed by the Anna or Annie Pepple faction, led by Chief Jubo Jubogha, known as Ja-Ja to the British. In an attempt to restore peace, the British brought my father King William Dappa back and restored him to the throne in August 1861, reigning until his death in September 1866. (This theme will repeat itself as you will hear). The Bonny kingdom became important as early as the 15th century with the arrival of the Portuguese and the growth and development of friendship ties as well as trade and commerce between the Kingdom and the visiting Europeans. From the period of the Portuguese friendship, trade between Bonny and the Europeans commenced across the Atlantic. The Atlantic trade in slaves thus gradually commenced from the period of the influence of the Portuguese in the Kingdom. At its height of power, Bonny was one of the main entrepôts on the Slave Coast. Later the Dutch and then the British took control of the slave trade in Bonny and other ancient Kingdoms and trading States of the Niger Delta region, with the British renaming the port of Okoloama, "Bonny", and thereby popularized Okoloama as "Bonny" and in turn "Grand Bonny". When the British passed an Act to abolish the slave trade in 1807, the port of Grand Bonny Island became the export port of oil palm products, ivory and Guinea pepper.The majority of the inhabitants of the area converted to Christianity in the early 1800’s. Actually the Christian faith in Bonny was introduced by my father King William Dappa Pepple, who while in England elected to become a Christian King so that God will grant him power and wisdom to rule his people. King William Dappa Pepple was baptised by Reverend G. H. McGill and later confirmed by Dr. Tait, the Bishop of London. At the behest of my father the Church Missionary Society in London sent Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the first Black African Bishop, to Bonny in 1864 to establish the Gospel of our lord Jesus Christ in Bonny. In 1864, Crowther was ordained as the first African bishop of the Anglican Church; he was consecrated a bishop on St Peter's day 1864, by Charles Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury at Canterbury Cathedral. He later received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Oxford. Actually, from Bonny Christianity spread to the neighboring communities and the hinterlands of Eastern Nigeria. On January 24, 1889, Bonny Christians presented their beautiful church to Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther as his Cathedral. This he accepted and St. Stephen’s church in Bonny became the first Cathedral in Nigeria and the second Cathedral in West Africa. The Church was eventually dedicated by the Bishop on 27th February , 1889, but that was after my death… When I succeeded to my father´ throne on 30 September 1866, as I was a Christian also, I wrote to Bishop Crowther giving him support for the further introduction of our religion in Bonny. On 21 April 1867, supported by Oko Jumbo and other Manilla Pepple chiefs, I declared the iguana was no longer the sacred deity of the kingdom. Alas, my association with Christianity, at first welcomed by many people for the benefits it gave, gradually made me become identified with British interests and caused growing resentment. My supporters turned enemies.

By 1790 Bonny had become Africa's biggest slave market, exporting annually a minimum of 20,000 slaves of whom 16,000 were Igbo people. By 1830 Bonny was exporting as many slaves as all the rest of Africa put together. In 1839 and 1841 we signed treaties with the British guaranteeing to pay us 2,000 dollar and 10,000 dollars in return for the end of the slave trade. In order to avoid an economic catastrophe my father quickly developed with British traders a vast palm oil industry. By 1846, Bonny had become the centre of the palm oil trade in the Niger Delta area. Annual shipment reached 15,000 tons. The kingdom did such roaring business that my father's income from shipping dues and other sources was estimated, in 1853 £15,000-20,000 annually (ha ha and no income tax !! as King he held the TRUMP card). At the commencement of the oil season in 1854, it was said that £500,000 sterling represented the value of ships and cargo in the river Bonny.

It would be kind to think that the British took my side during the civil wars due to my Christian faith as opposed to the pagan worship of my enemies, but alas in retrospect I think it was money that decided them. For instance, between September 1869 and May 1870 ₤100,000 was lost in oil trade due to the war. There upon the British government placed three warships… HMS Dido, HMS Hart and HMS Bittern at the disposal of the acting consul to reinstate his “ mediatory influence…” The arrival of the flotilla had an effect and a five year peace treaty was signed by all parties on HMS Dido. The Niger delta supplied two-third of Britain´s palm oil imports with Bonny being the largest contributor. By 1840 these imports were worth ₤1 million at that time.

In 1879 I fell ill, and when I recovered I took my doctor's advice to take a holiday in England. I was received well, my actions were reported in the press, and I was introduced to the Lord Mayor of London and the Prince of Wales. I was also presented with a steam launch at the end of my visit. All this caused considerable alarm among the chiefs back home, concerned about my growing power, combined with the growing power of the British. I came close to being deposed on my return but was saved by the British consul. On 14 December 1883 I was finally dispossessed of my kingdom by the British who imposed a Protectorate… mainly to safeguard their considerable financial interests in the region. I was sent into exile for a while, but then they brought me back as a puppet after four years away. (I was cheaper than a full Imperial colony with all the civil service razzamatazz that involve.) But I didn’t stay for long, for after some months I was called, with God´s Grace, to a better place whilst on holiday here on Madeira as recommended by Bishop Crowther … umm the holiday that is, not the calling by the Lord !” Grave 3: within entrance to Middle Cemetery, the Reverend Richard Thomas Lowe (1802- 1874)

Rev Richard Thomas Lowe and his memorial (damaged by a falling tree)

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce myself as the Reverend Richard Thomas Lowe. I was a British scientist, a botanist, ichthyologist, malacologist, and a clergyman – unfortunately I am seen by some as a somewhat controversial figure in the history of Holy Trinity church. I first journeyed to Madeira as a travelling bachelor in 1826 following my graduation and ordination as deacon (on Christmas Day 1825) in Christ College Cambridge. I arrived on the island’s shores in company with my ailing mother, Susanna Lowe (my father having died when I was an infant). The trip was to be cathartic, spiritual and educational – a heady mixture. For my mother the island offered comfort from the ravaging symptoms of consumption (tuberculosis). Madeira was then effectively an island sanatorium; its temperate climate offered respite and comfort from the debilitating disease. For myself, however, Madeira presented an opportunity. Although it had been explored by the likes of Sir Joseph Banks, I was convinced that fresh discoveries lay waiting to be made by an intrepid naturalist. Truthfully, my achievements as a naturalist have been obscured as a result of the controversies caused on Madeira in relation to my clerical practices during my time as chaplain. I was approached to fill in as locum chaplain initially, before being offered the post as resident Anglican chaplain to the Consular chapel, as it was then known. For this I was granted a license by the Right Reverend Bishop of London. It was said I fulfilled the role of locum with care and diligence. I preached to a receptive congregation and the established pattern of worship continued without aberration. The only difficulty for me was the limited time I was left with for my `botanising` over the course of the season (the sheer volume of the sick who resided on the island kept the chaplains of Madeira very busy, offering succour and comfort where they could), but I was a dedicated clergyman and continued to minister to the best of my ability. All seemed to be going well… I wrote excitedly to my great friend Sir William Hooker (who had been Professor of Botany at Glasgow University and then famously Director of Kew from 1841) to tell him of the “comfort of a permanent provision and employment in my profession”: I am sure you will be glad to hear I am likely to succeed at the end of the year to the Chaplaincy of this place, under circumstances peculiarly gratifying…the Brit[ish] Residents have unanimously & of their own accord entirely, come forward, drawn up and submitted a memorial in my favour to the Government (Directors’ Correspondence 58/179). For the time being the skies seemed clear and life resumed its tranquil rhythm, but storm clouds were brewing. In 1844 I was accused of reviving obsolete practices in services: turning my back on the congregation, preaching in a surplice, conducting a weekly offertory, introducing a credance table, and dismissing non-communicants without a blessing. All these adjustments I fully admit to without apology, but they were regarded by some as popery and “marching to Rome” … no mention here of me being responsible for the commissioning of a baptistry fount, the installation of a magnificent organ (paying a quarter of its costs myself) replacing those ugly outmoded box pews with regular seating as prescribed by Pugin in the best Gothic tradition, the only true architecture for God´s House, thus resetting the focus in that church on the altar of Our Lord instead of the vile paganism of the circle! I defended myself as I am wont, with my Bishop`s blessing. The church council led by Consul Veitch refused my annual salary, asking the Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston to replace me with a non-Tractarian. (Tratarian was the name given to such as I who became part of the Oxford Movement, named from the publications or tracts in which we argued for the inclusion of traditional aspects of liturgy from medieval religious practice, as we believed the church had become too "plain". The Oxford Movement argued for the reinstatement of some older Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy and theology. We thought of Anglicanism as one of three branches of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.) Our leader John Henry Newman argued that the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, as defined by the Council of Trent, were compatible with the Thirty-Nine Articles of the 16th-century Church of England. Newman's eventual reception into the Roman Catholic Church in 1845, followed by Henry Edward Manning in 1851, had a profound effect, and were followed by several of my own congregation here, including I believe by the daughter of Lady Pilkington.

The case became a cause celebre with the Bishop refusing to withdraw my license or to recognize my replacement – a Rev. Brown who was I suspect Brown by name and brown by nature! Palmerston in retaliation changed the law abolishing the necessity for overseas clergy to require a Bishop´s license, being a Crown appointment. Such a storm in a tea cup that was set to rock tea tables throughout the Realm - and all a result of this little chapel and its feuding members!

I, retaining my Bishop´s license, had no alternative but to relocate my congregation to another place of worship in my position as I saw it as the official Anglican clergyman for Madeira, and so I founded the Becco Chapel in a chamber within the delightful Gothic mansion behind what is today called the Loja de Citadão, taking with me the church registers and all the consecrated Church communion silver to continue my ministry as I thought fit by the Grace of God, and my Bishop. One third of the congregation followed me.

There I remained for several years until my work as a scientist required I return to England - my many publications and scientific studies given due acknowledgement of their worth within the scientific community, and even considered by Darwin as a huge contribution to his theories on evolution. My successor at Becco, alas, was refused episcopal recognition and so the chapel struggled on until 1875 before closing its sacred doors forever.

In 1874 I was returning to Madeira for further research with my wife and children on a ship from Plymouth which was beset by a storm off the Isles of Scilly, when it and all aboard were lost and never seen again. This is our memorial erected by my followers at the Becco Chapel in1875 who I am told held out until 1890 before returning to the bosom of Holy Trinity, being received ( along with the church silver !) with true Christian warmth all past differences regretted and forgiven. “

Grave 4: Middle Cemetery, Captain Cecil William Buckley VC, RN (7th Oct. 1828 – 7th Dec. 1872) Captain Buckley and his grave in Middle Cemetery

“Ahoy there, my name´s Buckley, Captain Cecil William Buckley, late of Her Majesty´s Royal Navy. I was born in 1828, and entered the naval service of Her Majesty Queen Victoria as a boy. My father was Robert Buckley of Manchester and my mother Mary Bury of Rusholme. I was married in 1865 to Catherine Seahouse Cooke, daughter of William Cooke Esq. of Camerton Hall , Workington by whom I had three children of who only two survived infancy: a son Percy Falcon, and a daughter Cecil Isabell. But my family is really of little interest to people. Most want to hear of my exploits before I was married. Im guessing you are likewise… So lets get to the story…

I was 26 years old in 1855, Great Britain with her allies France and Turkey was at war with Russia. Most of the action centered around the Crimean Peninsular to which the Allies sent both an army and a fleet. I was a lieutenant on board the 14-gun wooden screw sloop HMS Miranda, launched in 1851 Here´s a small picture of the ship itself. Isnt she a charmer?

HMS Miranda, (date of watercolour unknown) And here´s a photograph of me at the time in my splendid uniform – the medals I´ll now explain

On 29th May 1855 in the Sea of Azov, Crimea, myself, Lieutenant “Hughie” Talbot Burgoyne from HMS Swallow and a gunner John Robarts from the HMS Ardent volunteered to land at a beach where the Russian army were in strength. We were out of covering gunshot range of the ships offshore, and met with considerable enemy opposition, but managed to set fire to corn stores and ammunition dumps and destroy enemy equipment. On 3rd June I carried out another similar raid with boatswain Henry Cooper from Miranda. We landed at the town of Taganrog, and were successful in destroying enemy equipment and stores whilst being under enemy fire. The destruction was valued at the time at ₤150,000, so you see they were quite some fires! As a result the fleet could land. For these actions I was awarded Commander of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British Empire forces. That mine was the first “gazetted” award – that is published in the press the London Illustrated Gazette - made it doubly exhilarating. This of course was a newly introduced military honour, and done so due to that ghastly war… what with umm Siege of Sevastopol itself, the Battles of Omdurman and Balaclava, that courageous Light cavalry action… oh yes and that extraordinary nurse… what was her name? umm oh yes Miss Nightingale, Florrie… though more sparrow than song thrush eh what! Plain as day but determined ! … and a heart as big as her lamp !

Where was I….oh yes the VC. The source of the metal from which the medals are struck was said to be Russian cannon captured at the Siege of Sevastopol – the remaining metal kept to this very day Im told. But don’t take my word for it. Go an ask General Pratt over there in the corner … (points to place) he was at the Siege himself and will testify. Some jakenape was in here the other day telling people that the cannon in question had been scientifically tested, recently, and by God proved to be actually Chinese guns captured from the Russians in 1855… well I never, should have “Made in China” on the damn things I suppose… what? Haha

Just so you know, I never caught even a scratch from those capers… uniform was a bit scorched of course! The VC came with the Crimea medal with 2 clasps – Azoff and Sevastpol , and the Turkish Crimea medal. Got the Legion of Honour from the Frenchies and the Order of the Medjidieh from the Turkies… from the Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I himself no less.

I stayed in the Service, made captain, married as I said, above my station possibly, but then, she fell for the jewelry (slaps hand to chest and medals), and I retired in 1871, but popped my clogs as it were only a year later whilst enjoying a well-deserved holiday here in Madeira…by Jove I got more of a rest than I was expecting!

The family tomb at St Peter´s Churchyard, Leckhampton, Gloucestershire bears witness to my deeds and fate. So there we are…. My story told I bid thee a very good night…. !”

Grave 5: Middle Cemetery, Professor Dr. Paul Wilhelm Langerhans (25th July 1847 – 22nd July 1888)

Prof. Dr. Paul Wilhelm Langerhans Langerhan s´grave and memorials

“Good evening to you all, welcome to the most visited grave in this charming cemetery…

Some people might say that I, Paul Langerhans Jr. was destined to make many contributions to medicine because I was born into a family of physicians and scientists. As Paul Wilhelm Heinrich Langerhans I was born in Berlin on July 25, 1847. I was the first son of Dr. Paul August Herrmann Langerhans, a well-respected physician in Berlin, and Anna Luise Caroline Langerhans, née Keibel. My mother was a cousin of the embryologist Franz Karl Julius Keibel. My parents had two daughters before my mother died of tuberculosis in 1853. My father remarried and had two more sons, my step-brothers, both of whom also became involved in medicine – Richard a GP in Berlin and Robert a professor of pathology. In 1865, just two weeks after graduation from high school, I went on to the University of Jena, where I studied medicine for three terms under Ernst Haeckel. I continued my medical studies at the University of Berlin, where I was a student of Julius Cohnheim and Rudolf Virchow. My early observations were on rabbits, then salamanders, guinea pigs, dogs, cats, pigeons, frogs, snakes and chickens as well as humans.

In 1867 I made my first critical discovery while I was still a medical student and working at Virchow’s laboratory at the Berlin Pathological Institute. I used Cohnheim’s gold chloride staining technique to describe non-pigmentary dendritic cells found in the epidermis. For those non-medical my discovery was described in a paper published in 1868 in Virchow’s Archiv. ,the title of which was “On the Nerves of the Human Skin.” Initially, I thought these cells were receptors for signals of the nervous system. However, in a paper published later in 1882, I recognized that the cells were not necessary for nerve endings… students grow, and in that growth doth the world´s veil diminish…

I heard that more than a century later in 1973, Inga Silberberg discovered that these cells are derived in the bone marrow, representing the most peripheral outpost of the human immune system and play a role in delayed hypersensitivity. They are now named Langerhans cells – how that delights me !

I began experimental work for my thesis in 1867 but abandoned the project to compete for the University of Faculty medicine prize. I won the prize for a study of tactile corpuscles in diseases of the skin and central nervous system. I then returned to work on my thesis, which would lead to my second and perhaps best known discovery…

Prior to this, histologic knowledge of the pancreas was limited, its physiology widely appreciated but its anatomy ignored. For my thesis, I described nine different cells in the pancreas. Two sets of cells were a revelation, but I found no name or function for them. But about twenty five years later, Edouard Laguesse, a French histo-physiologist, identified them, naming them as the Islets of Langerhans in recognition of my earlier pioneering work and hypothesized that these cells were the site of internal secretion. In 1909, the term insulin was introduced.

Time and history weave patterns with seemingly unrelated facts, as the weaver of a Persian rug blends varied threads through his loom to produce a design of ageless beauty. So it is with the facts of medical knowledge. Gathered and contributed by many workers, they may seem inconclusive or even insignificant at the time, but when properly assembled and wisely interpreted they too make patterns – of knowledge, if not beauty. Such are the material of scientific achievement in medical history.

Where was I in my story?... ah yes… After completing my thesis, I stayed in Virchow’s laboratory for another year. In collaboration with Friedrich Hoffman, I demonstrated that cinnabar was taken up by the white blood corpuscles but not the red. This study led to future concepts of the immune system as you know it today.

(Spoken in an aside: Cinnabar is a mercury sulfide mineral. It is the only important ore of mercury. It has a bright red colour that has caused it to use it as a pigment and carved into jewelry and ornaments for thousands of years in many parts of the world. Alas if any ladies present have such a stone in their jewellery I suggest very strongly you cease from wearing it and have it replaced by a finer harmless stone…Because as I showed, we now know it to be toxic ! )

I then travelled with my friend, the cartographer Richard Kiepert, to Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Jordan, where I devoted myself to the examination of lepers. Three publications on lepra and anthropology followed but I returned to Europe at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and served as a medic in an ambulance unit in France. The same year after the war ended Rudolf Virchow arranged a position for me as prosector in pathological anatomy at the University of Freiburg, and within two years I became a full professor. It was there in 1874 that I contracted tuberculosis, very likely because of my work in the dissecting room. In search of a cure, I travelled to Naples, Palermo, the island of Capri, and underwent treatments at Davos and Silvaplana in Switzerland, but all in vain: I was forced to apply for release from my university duties. And so it was, in October 1875 I embarked for delightful, inspiring Madeira, where after a year`s recuperation I made a partial recovery, resigned from the University of Freiburg and launched myself into a new career with undiminished energy. . It was here that I discovered a new research interest: fauna of Atlantic islands, including Madeira and Tenerife. My research on marine worms received 2,000 gold marks from the Berlin Academy. I made regular trips down to the harbour to pick over the fishermens’ nets, which the locals found very amusing. My publications describing and classifying marine invertebrates became my third contribution to science. In 1887, I gave a lecture on these topics to the Royal Academy in Berlin resulting in several worms carrying my name – poor things ! Incredibly my health improved to the point where I could change from being patient to doctor, and I practiced as a physician in Funchal, treating mostly fellow tuberculosis-suffers, and published scientific papers about the condition in Virchow’s archive. Not content with this, I also wrote a handbook for travellers to the island, and pursued studies in meteorology… my, how I DID like to keep busy… Until that is in 1885, I married Margarethe Ebart, the widow of one of my patients. We travelled to Berlin for the wedding, and met my father, sisters and two brothers for the last time. As newly-weds we rented Quinta Lambert, known as the most beautiful villa in Funchal and now I am told it is the President of the Regional Government official residence. In the words of my new bride “three indescribably happy contented years” followed and to whom was born a daughter. In autumn of 1887, progressive renal failure brought my medical activities to an end. I had developed leg oedema, crippling headaches and transient memory loss. Sometimes I was known to stop in the middle of a sentence and unable to continue. I died of uraemia on 20 July 1888, five days before my 41st birthday. I am buried here in a place I had chosen myself, describing it as a “true graveyard, isolated and quiet, a good place to rest,” and a plot from which I could see the sanatorium in Monte where my last medical duties had been carried out…”

Postscript To honor his contributions to science, the German Dermatological Association tends to his grave and since 1978, the German Diabetes Association awards the Paul Langerhans Medal to great achievements in Diabetes research.

In 2009 there was founded the Paul Langerhans Institute in Dresden to advance discovery and therapeutics in the field of diabetes.

His headstone carries a line in Classical Greek which we have tracked down. It ´s based on verse 540 of Homer´s Odyssey…”Too well the turns of mortal chance I know… to be still alive and see the sunlight.”

Grave 6: Plot 206, Middle Cemetery, Mrs Sarah Davies (1843 – August 15 1880)

Princess Sarah Bonetta Forbes Davies Plot 206

“I am Lady Sara Forbes Bonetta Davies (b.1842 – d. August 15, 1880). This is my story.

I was born a West African Egbado Omoba, daughter of the king. I was orphaned in inter-tribal warfare between my people and those of Dahomey. My father lost the war and his life, my mother was also beheaded. I was a child of eight when I was thus taken into slavery as a war trophy, as a state prisoner, either to be presented to an important visitor or to be sacrificed at the death of a minister of official, to become his attendant in the next world. Queen Victoria was aware of the situation in Dalhomey and was determined that slavery should be stamped out, but there was little that she could do to achieve this. In June 1850 Captain Forbes, on board the ship HMS Sally Bonetta arrived at Dalhomey on a mission to negotiate the suppression of the slave trade. I was rescued by Captain Fredrick Forbes who convinced the Dahoman King Ghezo to give me as a present to Queen Victoria. “She would be a present from the King of the Blacks to the Queen of the Whites” Forbes wrote later. The request was granted and I was brought to Great Britain, being given the name of Sally Bonetta Forbes – Bonetta after the ship, and Forbes after the captain. There was an announcement in the Times newspaper 23rd September 1850 to this effect. I was presented to the Royal Family as a child who was “a prisoner of high rank kept closely confined for two years” in November 1850 (The Times 18th November 1850). Forbes´ own journal recorded that I was a chief´s daughter from Okeadon captured by the Dahomans. I regret I never found out my original Egbado family name.

Queen Victoria was impressed by what was called my exceptional intelligence, and had me raised as her goddaughter in the British upper middle class. It was said I had a great talent for music. Victoria as my godmother paid for my education and saw me regularly both at great Windsor Castle and at her wonderful holiday home Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.

I lived at first with the family of Captain Forbes, then on 9 th November I was taken to Windsor castle and received by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The Queen described me as” sharp & intelligent” and mentioned I already spoke English. Between 9th November and 11th January 1851 the Queen saw me four times; on the last occasion she wrote “she showed me some of her work”. The Queen paid for me to be educated, and saw me next on 9th December 1855, when she was described me as being “immensely grown & has a nice slim figure. Kind Captain Forbes had described me already in 1850 as being “far in advance of any white child of her age, in aptness for learning an strength of mind and affection.”

I lived for some years in lodgings in Kent, where I was very happy, until I was old enough to marry. The Queen chose for my husband Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies, a Nigerian business man recently widowed and quite a bit older (33). I am afraid to say I refused this arranged marriage and the Queen was very angry, and moved me from my lodgings in Kent to stay with very pious sisters far away from the sea in the middle of England until I changed my mind! She must have thought me very ungrateful.

Thus I married Captain Davies at St Nicholas´ church Brighton in August 1862. The wedding was hugely publicized in the famous “Illustrated London News” and Times newspaper.The witnesses were C W Faulkner, Martha Davies and Christiana Rabbin, and the celebrant was E H Beckles, Bishop of Sierra Leone, assisted by, soon to be very eminent, Bishop S A Crowther who became the first black bishop of Nigeria. “There was a grand field-day in the fashionable world of Brighton“ ran one press report. (Illustrated London News 23 Aug 1862 and The Times 15th August 1862.)

Captain Davies, after seeing some service himself in the Royal Navy, was a Yoruba businessman of considerable wealth and we moved back to our native Africa after the wedding where I gave birth in great joy to three children: Victoria Davies (1863), Arthur Davies (1871), and Stella (1873). . I continued to enjoy a close relationship with Queen Victoria. My eldest daughter, who I named after the queen became her godmother, and later had the distinction of attending Cheltenham Ladies College. The Queen described her as “far blacker than her mother, a lively intelligent child with big melancholy eyes”.

A great many of both my and my daughter's descendants now live in England and Sierra Leone while a separate group of them, the aristocratic Randle family of Lagos, remains prominent in contemporary Nigeria.

I died on August 15 in 1880 of tuberculosis in Madeira where we were living after my husband´s business failed. The cough I had known since childhood. But I was sorely troubled by the court case hanging over all our heads which aggravated my condition. The news of my death was given to my eldest daughter Victoria who was travelling by coach from London to Osborne House to stay with the Royal family by Queen Victoria upon her arrival there. It must have been a great comfort to have been in her royal presence at such a time of sorrow.

Im told my husband Captain Davies later erected an eight foot high granite obelisk-shaped monument in memory of me, Sarah Forbes Bonetta, at Ijon in Western Lagos where he had newly started a cocoa farm and lived on with my children, having been exonerated by the court, re-marrying and having a further family. He became a famous and well respected person in Nigerian history.

But my human remains lie here below… in plot 206…

I feel very humble in the knowledge that my many photographic portraits feature in a number of art and social history publications today– one portrait, an especial favourite, is at the National Portrait Gallery in London. “

Post Script

According to a sermon preached after her death by Archdeacon Henry Johnson at Lagos on 19th September 1880, she had become “in every respect a thoroughly finished and accomplished lady “who was always active, lively, buoyant with animal spirits, full of energy and purpose, there was no one who could help being some way influenced by her.”

Sarah´s last resting place is here in the British Cemetery in an unmarked grave. We hope that by highlighting this remarkable lady´s story someone may come forward to help fund a long overdue headstone/memorial.

The famous British actor Ben Okri has just completed writing a film script hoping to tell Sarah´s life story. ***********

.

Sarah Bonetta Forbes Davies Mr & Mrs Davies Captain james Davies Captain James Pilson Labulo Davies Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowthe

EXTRA NOTE: Samuel Ajayi Crowther (1809-91) was the first black bishop in the Anglican church. He was consecrated at Canterbury in June 1864 for which this albumen carte-de-visite portrait was made by Ernest Edwards 1837-1903. Born of Yoruba parents in what is now south-western Nigeria, the young Ajayi was captured for sale into slavery but freed by British naval personnel and taken to Sierra Leone where he was baptised Samuel Crowther. The Anglican missionary Society sent him to school in London and then he enrolled at the newly founded Fourah Bay College, Freetown where he became a teacher, developing scholarly research into African languages. In 1841 he was appointed interpreter to the ill- fated Niger expedition, after which he was ordained and joined the mission at Abeokutu where by happy chance he was reunited with his mother.

(Extracts and illustrations are all taken from “ Black Victorians; Black People in British Art 1800-1900”, edited by Jan Marsh, published by Manchester Art Gallery to accompany their exhibition October 2005- January 2006 ISBN 0 85331)

Grave 7: New Cemetery, Miss Evelyn Everett-Green “Cecil Adair” ( 17th Nov. 1856 - 23rd April 1932)

“Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,

My name is Evelyn Everett-Green, although during my long life time I went under several other names in my professional life as one of Gt. Britain´s most popular novelists, for example, H. F. E., Cecil Adair, E. Ward, and even Evelyn Dare. But as any good story-teller would say, we need to begin at the beginning…

I was born in London on 17th November 1856. My mother was the well-known historian Mary Anne Everett Green and my father was the artist George Pycock Green. Here is a photograph of a portrait of my mother in chalk, done by my father in 1850, which is today in the National Portrait Gallery, London G Grave of “Cecil Adair” Evelyn Everett-Green

Mary Anne Everett Green née Ward

My father George Pycock Green was a painter and a draughtsman, and exhibited in London at the Royal Academy, the Suffolk Street Gallery and the British Institution from 1841 to 1873. I don’t know much about his family and life as he didnt like talking about this and spent much time away travelling.

My mother Mary Anne Everett (née Ward) was as English historian and archivist, born in Sheffield in 1818 to Robert Wood a Wesleyan minister. As a family we were staunch Methodist, until I moved to Madeira with my life-long companion Catherine Mainwaring Sladen when we became active members of the Anglican community at the English church here. My grandparents and mother had moved to Islington in 1841 when my grandfather took the position as minister at the Methodist chapel there. Mother pursued her own course of study at the British Museum, Lambeth Palace library, and the Towers records Office. After my parents married in 1846 they decamped to Europe, he to study art, my mother to continue research into antiquarian collections. Her “Lives of the Princesses of England” was published in 6 volumes between 1850 to 1856. Settling into a house in Gower Street upon her return in 1848, my mother, known already for her exceptionally meticulous research, worked for 40 years as the Editor of State Papers producing 41 of the 800-page volumes of state papers covering the reigns of Edward VI, Mary Tudor, Elisabeth Tudor, James 1, the Interregnum and Charles II. No wonder I became a writer of historical novels ! I was educated at home by my parents to the age of 12 and at Mrs. Bolton's Gower Street Preparatory School. I won a scholarship to attend Bedford College of the University of London during the year 1872- 1873, during which time I wrote my first novel, “Tom Tempest's Victory”. I thus started my writing career with improving and pious stories for children, and later wrote historical fiction for older girls, and then adult romantic fiction. In all I wrote about 350 novels, more than 200 under my own name, and others using pen-names such as Cecil Adair.

After Bedford College, London (1872–1873), and my first novel, I continued to write while studying at the London Academy of Music. My plans to keep house for my engineer brother in India were forestalled by his sudden death in 1876, and instead I turned to social service, nursing, and Sunday School teaching. In 1880 my first published work, Tom Tempest's Victory, appeared. Though it was soon followed by more, including in 1882 “Fast Fiends, or David and Jonathan” set on the mean streets of London town. I found writing at home difficult for many reasons, and town winters did not suit my health. In 1883 I left home and went to live outside London with Catherine Mainwaring Sladen, and in the 1890s and early 1900s we had homes in Albury, Surrey. In 1911 we moved abroad and eventually settled here in Madeira. We became active members of the Anglican community here and thus I was laid to rest here in the British Cemetery in April 1932. There is a lovely brass memorial plaque to me on the interior south wall of the church. Many have seen me as a precursor of Mary Renault. During my time in Albury I wrote numerous historical novels, and fewer moral tales for the Religious Tract Society. My novel about Joan of Arc, Called of Her Country (1903), later re-published as A Heroine of France, presents Joan as a feminine "Angelic Maid" in white armour whose inspiring adventures were undertaken in a dutiful spirit. Much of my fiction was aimed at girls, but I also wrote boys' adventure stories, like A Gordon Highlander (1901). It was after moving abroad to this wonderful island I wrote romantic novels for adults using the pseudonym Cecil Adair

My life-long companion Catherine Mainwaring Sladen survived me by many years, but eventually came back to join me in this our resting place together for evermore.

Alas none of my books are now in print – but there are many second hand copies in some shop called Ebay, and the Gutenberg project website (no idea what that really is!) has dozens of my books available to read free of charge !

Happy reading and good night”

Grave 8 Sir Thomas Percy Nunn DSc 28th December1870 – 12th December 1944)

Sir Thomas Percy Nunn DSc

Headstone for Sir Thomas Percy Nunn

“Good evening everyone,

My name is Thomas Percy Nunn. I was born in Bristol on 28 th December 1870 and passed away on the 12th December in 1944, and so at 74 years of age I am the oldest resident to speak with you this evening. That’s part of the one-upmanship games we the residents here like to play on dull evenings, along with who´s the most famous, who´s got the most medals, and who was the richest etc. Think of it as our Bridge club… its our form of bidding !! Where was I? Oh yes, Bristol… I suppose you could say I was born with a stick of chalk in my hand ! My father and grandfather ran a school in Bristol but it was transferred, in 1873, to Weston-super-Mare. I was not only a pupil there but, by the time I was sixteen, I was helping with the teaching. My hobbies were making mathematical instruments such as sextants, and writing school plays. I continued to teach at the school even after becoming a student at Bristol University College, where I was awarded a (London) BSc in 1890, and later took a BA in 1895. Upon my father's death in the same year I took charge of the school for a while but then resigned, taking up teaching posts in Halifax and London. Thus I began my career as a secondary school teacher in 1891, and during the next ten year developed methods of teaching that many regarded as revolutionizing the teaching of mathematics in Great Britain. In 1903 I joined the staff of the London Day Training College, progressing from part-time lecturer to eventually having the honour of being Professor of Education at the University of London, an then in 1922 appointed Principal. Over the course of my life I wrote and published a number of books which some say became of fundamental importance on a variety of educational subjects, including an elementary treatise on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. My most successful book was “Education: its Data and First principles” in 1920. A bit of a tome Im afraid but in it I coined the phrase “to produce a sound mind in a sound body” which seems memorable to many.

As one of the original members of the British Psychological Society, and its first Chairman of Education section, I introduced concepts of psychology into national teaching methods for the first time. My fundamental approach was that of a realist philosopher, whose main concern was to reconcile psychological with scientific judgements, examining as carefully as possible the data of experience in order to find the principles which held the data together… (cough splutters.. clears throat…)

So sorry ladies and gentlemen, … got carried away… as you can see, education is a subject that I remain passionate about.

I was also President of the Aristotelian Society from 1923-24, it’s a society for the Systematic Study of Philosophy founded in 1880, and I had the honour of being awarded a knighthood in 1930 by His Majesty King George V for services to education.

Do you like my headstone? Hints of Art Deco yes? It is decorated with a relief carving of an oak tree, and is a reference, as I am sure you are all aware, to the phrase “ from little acorns doth the mighty oak grow” - thus from small beginnings great things can come - and comes from Geoffrey Chaucer´s poem Troilus and Cressida. Rather poignant for the grave of an educationalist, don’t you think?

The phrase below you may not know as well, now difficult to read, but says “ Better Use than Fame” is a line I love from Alfred Lord Tennyson´s poem “Idylls of the King” and taken up by several schools as their motto, including William Ellis school in London where I used to teach Maths and Physics…. All very gratifying…. But its sentiments I think nowadays ignored by the masses who seem to clamour for celebrity above all else….(mind, no names mentioned, we have a few of those types in here as well !!)

… if there are any questions? … a few moments left before the bell goes, and thus endeth this lesson… and a very Good night to you all. “

APPENDIX Plan of the British Cemetery with numbered “residents” graves