Page 7 - Hindsight Issue 26 April 2020

KetteRIng
much in the field of public health,
campaigning for better water, waste
disposal and hygiene. At gg80, find
the grave of Arthur sattin ‘an able
master and capital disciplinarian’,
who supervised Kettering Workhouse
for 21 years. Retracing your path
back towards the chapels on the UC
side, you will see, amongst others the
memorials to J t stockburn, co-founder
of Kettering general Hospital and owen
Robinson, inventor of the Robinson
motor car. In row A, timson, whose
engineering company still produces
printing machines, and timpson whose
shoe repair shops are to be found throughout the land, the legacy of his once large shoe business. note also on this row, the names of famous printers, Waddington and Letts who married into the Kettering shoe trade.
grave number 19 is the resting place of John Plant, a stonemason who built chapels. He worked on the chapel in this cemetery. When he had completed the work on the chapel, he died and was the first person to be buried in the new graveyard. of his work was written, ‘The spire of the chapel, raising its elegant and slender form, is a beautiful object in the landscape for miles around’ and ‘Affords a sweet view of Warkton’.
there were many other famous sons and daughters of Kettering. Authors like J L Carr, artists like george Harrison, Frank Bellamy and tC gotch, and philanthropists such as William Knibb who deserve mention but who are buried elsewhere at home or abroad. In addition there are those who died in the service of their country and whose graves lie in some corner of a foreign field and are remembered on the memorial on the wall outside the Alfred east Art gallery.
In this article I have chosen to include a small selection of the residents of the plots. some were famous, talented and worthy. some were notable for their philanthropy and civic deeds; others were successful in business and are still household names. some are extraordinary ‘ordinary’ people who have interesting or tragic stories to tell.
You must do a little searching of your own to locate them, and as you do so, stop and contemplate the ordinary folk: people who struggled with hardship in Victorian Britain, saw children die young, fought in wars now long forgotten and suffered illnesses that are not seen today. or killed themselves in disgrace and despair.
The Chapel was built by stonemason John Plant who was the first person to be buried in the new cemetery
5