Elliott Family Alan Payne December 2023
One of the four faces of the Elliott Memorial chest tomb (courtesy Varian Tye)
Several people have asked what we need to record the story of people buried in the historic Box Cemetery. All we need are some words about what your family meant in your life. The intention is to honour their memory whilst there is still an opportunity to do so before people’s memory fades and the story is lost. This is one example of a family now forgotten in Box village.
The Elliott Family of Box
If you ask who actually constructed many of the houses in the early 19th century Box village, the answer is probably the Elliott family. They are recorded in one of the most significant memorials in the cemetery, just below the chapel. The Elliott Memorial is much more than a burial plot for the family. It has a vault beneath the chest tomb, which records the story of some members of the family including those buried earlier in Box Churchyard.
John Elliott (1777-1850) was a carpenter, whose grave is in Box Churchyard, but whose name is remembered on the cemetery tomb. John and his wife Ann (nee Watts) (1787-1861) married in 1809 and had at least 11 children. They became wealthy and owned several houses. Ann was buried in the vault below the Cemetery tomb. Children of John and Ann include: Mary (1810-1832), Thirza (1810-), John Watts (1812-), Jane (1816-1897), Sarah Watts (1817-1886), Elizabeth (1818-), Harriett (1821-), Edward (1822-1830), George Tanner (1824-1881), Matilda (1826-) and Mercy (1826-).
George Tanner Elliott
The tomb was built by George Tanner Elliott (1824-1881), who described himself as a carpenter, wheelwright, and blacksmith in 1871 employing 11 men and 2 boys. We know that he was an active builder and master carpenter, whose business was developed out of the horse-drawn carriage trade servicing travellers going to Bath. In 1874 he could advertise for a good wheelwright, constant employment.[1] In 1881 he employed 8 men and 5 boys. George Tanner Elliott rose through the ranks of local society. He became High Constable for the Chippenham Hundred Court in 1869 and, on his death in 1881, his business was described as “established for upwards of a century” and comprised an extensive yard, workshop, and dwelling house. We can trace where the yard existed from the Tithe Apportionment details which record John Elliott owning reference 361, basically the whole of the east side of Bull Lane now included in the Vine Court site.
The Elliott Family of Box
If you ask who actually constructed many of the houses in the early 19th century Box village, the answer is probably the Elliott family. They are recorded in one of the most significant memorials in the cemetery, just below the chapel. The Elliott Memorial is much more than a burial plot for the family. It has a vault beneath the chest tomb, which records the story of some members of the family including those buried earlier in Box Churchyard.
John Elliott (1777-1850) was a carpenter, whose grave is in Box Churchyard, but whose name is remembered on the cemetery tomb. John and his wife Ann (nee Watts) (1787-1861) married in 1809 and had at least 11 children. They became wealthy and owned several houses. Ann was buried in the vault below the Cemetery tomb. Children of John and Ann include: Mary (1810-1832), Thirza (1810-), John Watts (1812-), Jane (1816-1897), Sarah Watts (1817-1886), Elizabeth (1818-), Harriett (1821-), Edward (1822-1830), George Tanner (1824-1881), Matilda (1826-) and Mercy (1826-).
George Tanner Elliott
The tomb was built by George Tanner Elliott (1824-1881), who described himself as a carpenter, wheelwright, and blacksmith in 1871 employing 11 men and 2 boys. We know that he was an active builder and master carpenter, whose business was developed out of the horse-drawn carriage trade servicing travellers going to Bath. In 1874 he could advertise for a good wheelwright, constant employment.[1] In 1881 he employed 8 men and 5 boys. George Tanner Elliott rose through the ranks of local society. He became High Constable for the Chippenham Hundred Court in 1869 and, on his death in 1881, his business was described as “established for upwards of a century” and comprised an extensive yard, workshop, and dwelling house. We can trace where the yard existed from the Tithe Apportionment details which record John Elliott owning reference 361, basically the whole of the east side of Bull Lane now included in the Vine Court site.
Plot 361 on the east side of Bull Lane was the Elliott workshop and yard in 1840 (courtesy Know Your Place)
In 1858 George Tanner Elliott married Sarah Ann Iddolls (1833-1859) from Hill House Farm, Ditteridge, and they had a son John Iddolls Elliott. But Sarah, his beloved wife, died tragically a year later on 15 December 1859, probably of complications from the birth.[2] She was 26 years of age. George was hit by another family bereavement when his own mother, Ann, died 18 months later, aged 74.[3] After some years, George married again in 1865 to Matilda Elethea White (1837-1902) from London. But misfortune followed the family with the death of an infant son in 1869, a 1-year-old in 1872 and a 13-month-old son in 1877.[4] George himself died rather tragically when he was thrown from his horse and trap after a road collision on the road to Bath in 1881.
|
They lived on Box High Street close to Bull Lane at Roseland Villa with their children. George’s family included: John Iddolls Elliott (1858-); George Alfred (1867-1938), draper; Charles Edwin (1869-1869); James White (1871-1872); Elizabeth Mary (1871-1917); and Robert Powell (1875-).
The lavish chest tomb in a prominent position close to the chapel appears to be a memorial to George Tanner Elliott’s first wife Sarah and was built following her death just a year after the opening of the cemetery. It was enhanced with plaques marking the deaths of George Tanner’s children and relatives, including:
The Elliott Memorial tomb seen fro the doorway of the Cemetery Chapel, a Grade II Historic Listed building (photo courtesy Varian Tye) |
|
The Elliott tomb is plot 676 in the Old Box Cemetery.
Please contact us via this website if you want to record the story of your family buried at Box Cemetery. It would be marvellous if you have a photograph of your family member plus a few words about their story.
References
[1] The Bath Chronicle, 22 January 1874
[2] Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, 22 December 1859
[3] The Devizes Advertiser, 19 September 1861
[4] The Bath Chronicle, 8 November 1877
[1] The Bath Chronicle, 22 January 1874
[2] Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, 22 December 1859
[3] The Devizes Advertiser, 19 September 1861
[4] The Bath Chronicle, 8 November 1877