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Location
On Afton Down, Freshwater, Isle of Wight Description An obelisk, erected as a memorial to E.L.M. a youth who fell to his death from the cliffs at this spot. |
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Memorial
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Inscription
--------------------------E.L.M. AGED 15 HE COMETH FORTH LIKE A FLOWER AND IS CUT DOWN. HE FLEETH ALSO AS A SHADOW AND CONTINUETH NOT. JESUS SAID I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE ERECTED IN REMEMBRANCE OF A MOST DEAR AND ONLY CHILD WHO WAS SUDDENLY REMOVED INTO ETERNITY BY A FALL FROM THE ADJACENT CLIFF TO THE ROCKS BENEATH 28TH AUGUST 1846 ---- READER PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD, FOR THOU KNOWEST NOT WHAT A DAY MAY BRING FORTH IN THE MIDST OF LIFE WE ARE IN DEATH Further Information E.L.M. refers to Edward Lewis Miller from Goudhurst in Kent. He is buried at Goudhurst Churchyard and there is a plaque in his memory in the church. The following website gives details of the inscriptions : see entries 309 and 510. Kent Archaeological Society - Goudhurst Monumental Inscriptons
Isle of Wight Mercury
VENTNOR, JUNE 4, 1890. To the editor of the I.W. Mercury. Sir,- The recollections of old John Green, for many years the Parish Clerk at St Lawrence,
may possibly prove interesting to some of your readers, or perhaps to the residents of the
Undercliffe in the present day. The reminiscences were written in 1847, and are interesting,
from recalling some incidents in the local life of the period when they were recorded. "Tailor"
Green, as he was sometimes called, was endowed with a wonderful memory, readily recalling even
the Christian names. This faculty he retained almost to the end of his life.
Perhaps some of your readers may be able to supplement the facts with other details they may have heard, and thus fill the gap in the earlier history of the district, I remain, yours truly, M.D. [1] .... VENTNOR, JULY 30, 1890. 'A young gentleman with a very large party were assembled on Freshwater Down for pleasure, and I believe
sitting down taking refreshments, and the young gentleman left them and strolled (perhaps for curiosity),
and when they finished they packed up and started, not thinking of the young man, nor did they miss him
till they got to Yarmouth. They sent back in search of him and he was found dead at the bottom of the high cliff.
It was supposed that his curiosity had led him to go down part of the way and then he slipped to the bottom.
I believe that a stone is erected on the cliff near the spot, giving the sad account of his death.'
[1] Dr George Anne Martin, of Belgrave House was one of the first doctors to practice in Ventnor, coming here in 1836. The recollections were told or written to Dr Martin in 1847, Dr Martin died in 1867, and these were published in 1890. Page last updated : 9 June 2015 (added newspaper article; thanks to Caroline Dudley of Freshwater & Totland Archive Group) |