Gravestone Inscription

[KILTY]

Hello,

I recently received a photograph of my great uncle's headstone. On closer inspection of the lower part I noticed the following inscription.

PEACE PERFECT PEACE

WITH LOVED ONES FAR AWAY

SAFE IN JESU'S KEEPING

Was this used on all the headstones or would a relative have asked it to be added.

Regards, John.

[Alan_J]

The next of kin were able to select an inscription they felt was appropriate in each case. I believe that a number of "set phrases" were supplied for relatives to enable them to select one if they wished, but they could ask for their own words or quotation (within a certain number of letters to reflect the available space on each headstone). For example, Wilfred Owen's mother Susan selected a quotation from one of her son's poems for his headstone in Ors.

Terry Denham would have chapter and verse on this ............

Alan

[Terry Denham]

Alan's description of the process is correct.

The nok were sent a form which asked for corrections to the details held and requested any Personal Inscription required.

Initially this facility had to be paid for by the nok (3 1/2d old money with max £1) but non-payers usually were not chased and, later, the payment was made voluntary. However, by then many who could not afford the cost had refused an inscription meaning that there are far fewer WW1 inscriptions than on WW2 headstones (where payment was voluntary from the start).

The fact that some people could not pay prompted the Canadian government to pay for all the inscriptions required on their stones and the NZ government to ban them completely on theirs - in the interests of total equality for all.

[Tony Lund]

(3 1/2d old money with max £1)

Can I ask, is that 3 1/2d per letter? I have been thinking of asking you how much Mrs Roberts paid for the words "Ever Remembered" on her husbands headstone. He was buried at Holmfirth in 1915, presumably the headstone came later.

Thanks Tony.

[Terry Denham]

Three and one halfpenny was the cost of each letter.

This is in the UK's old monetary system where twelve pence equalled one shilling and twenty shillings equalled one pound.

This charge would be the equivalent of £0.01458 per letter in our modern money (inflation excluded).

So the cost of your inscription would have been about 23p - worth much more in the 1920s than today!

[Tony Lund]

Thank You, 14 letters at 3½d per letter is 49d or 4/1d or four shillings and one penny. Expensive for a widow with 5 children but certainly not the full weeks money I was once told it would cost.

Tony.

[Terry Denham]

You have forgotten to count the inverted commas (if they are on the original)! They count as two letters.

Your example, though, is short. Many people would have wanted a longer inscription - running over several lines. Up to 66 letters were allowed with spaces counting as one letter (though not charged as such).

[truthergw]

Thank You, 14 letters at 3½d per letter is 49d or 4/1d or four shillings and one penny.  Expensive for a widow with 5 children but certainly not the full weeks money I was once told it would cost.

Tony.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think it may have been a sizeable chunk of a widow's pension.

[KILTY]

Thank you for the informative replies.

John Ion