Transcript

of

Florence Blanche Mary Arthur [Obituary]

Trans. Devon. Assoc. vol. 46, (1914), pp. 40-41.

by

Maxwell Adams (Ed.)

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s July 1914 Tavistock meeting. The Church of St Mary, Atherington, contains a remarkable collection of monuments to members of its congregation, including a wall monument to Mrs Arthur, wife of William Willis Arthur, Rector. A window in the church is dedicated to three members of the Arthur family, in particular to James Arthur (1797-1878), Rector of St Mary's from 1829 until his death.  James Burnard Arthur, son of James Arthur and Mary Judd Brent Burnard (1796-1884), was baptised at North Huish, Devon on 21 Jun 1827, and buried at Atherington on 30 Oct 1834. His brother, John Brent Arthur, was baptised at Atherington on 8 Nov 1837, and was buried there on 13 Aug 1840. Mary Arthur, sister of James Arthur, was born in Pilton, Devon in 1794, died at Barnstaple on 25 Apr 1863, and was buried at Atherington on 30 Apr 1863. The window displays the Arthur shield and crest. The shield is blazoned gules, a chevron between three rails, or, while the crest is blazoned a pelican in her piety sable, the nest or, her young also sable, vulning herself gules. (Information extracted from the Atherington OPC's website.) The obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

Mrs. Arthur, who was the wife of the Rev. W. W. Arthur, Rector of Atherington, joined the Association in 1901 and was a regular attendant at its meetings. She was very popular in the parish where she resided and entered heartily into its social life. She acted as Superintendent of the Sunday- school and as organist, and conducted with conspicuous success a Mothers' Union. Her chief hobby was floriculture, in which she was very successful, as testified by the many delightful floral exhibitions held in the Atherington Rectory grounds. She died 28 November, 1913, aged fifty-three.