CHRISTENINGS

The naming of a child mostly followed a set pattern; 1st son after the father or grandfather, 1st daughter after the mother or grandmother, etc. In some cases children were given a surname as a second christian name, possibly to keep all sides of the family happy. For example, in 1890 HENRY & HARRIETT CARTLEDGE named four of their children HARRY ALSOP, LOIS WOOD, KATHLEEN FROST, ALBERT BRYANT. Almost all children were baptised within a day or two of birth, but there were exceptions - in 1891 JOSEPH & EMMA DARRINGTON had six done together, each had the letter A by the name, denoting Adult. The eldest, MARTHA EDITH, was 25 years old and the youngest, JOSEPH, was 11 years old. In 1922 JAMES & DOROTHY BRYAN had eight children baptised on the same day and in this instance they gave full birth dates, DORIS May 13 1907 to NOEL EDWARD November 15 1917.

MARRIAGES

Newspapers gave the best accounts of both marriages and obituaries, each had more detail than today. Some even detail what the brides and grooms’mothers were wearing as well as a detailed list of all the presents.

1892 - On Wednesday at noon the main street of Somercotes presented quite an animated appearance owing to the marriage of Miss ELIZA GIBSON to Mr H. E. ALLTON of Derby. The wedding party was conveyed to and from the Church in three carriages, each being drawn by a pair of greys. The bride was attired in a handsome costume of gold corded silk trimmed with orange blossom. The bridesmaids were dressed in charming costumes of blue cashmere. The bridegroom presented the bridesmaids with silver brooches and he gave the bride a Mizpah ring. The bridge gave the groom a gold scarf ring and a beetle pin.

BURIALS

Between 1892 and the early 1960s over 1000 burials have taken place in St. Thomas Church. The youngest was an infant son of JOSEPH JOHNSON who was 2 minutes old, and the oldest was MARTHA CASTLEDINE aged 95.

Sudden Death 1915 March 26
After JOHN GENT, a miner, had been to the barbers for a shave on Saturday afternoon, he went home and expired. The deceased has left a young wife and family.

Death of a Pensioner 1918 November 15th
The death took place on Tuesday of MR GEORGE WEIGHTMAN of Sleetmoor Lane after a short illness. The deceased had had an interesting career, left school at nine year of age, went to work at Birchwood Colliery belonging to Sir CHARLES SEELEY, where he worked for 61 years. He was the TOWN CRIER for many years and gave up work this summer when he reached his 70birthday. He leaves a wife, son & daughter to mourn his loss.

Both the above were buried in Birchwood Chapel.