Elizabeth Cookworthy Re-Interred after 185 years

Friends gathered at Efford Cemetery for the funeral of 70-year-old Elizabeth Cookworthy who died 185 years ago.

Crowds gathered at Efford Cemetery this morning for the funeral of a 70-year-old widow who died in the early 19th century.

The lead-lined coffin of Elizabeth Cookworthy, who died 185 years ago, was discovered during the demolition of Bretonside bus station last year.

During the service it was announced that another set of remains had been found nearby last December.

The hearse arriving ahead of the funeral at the Quaker burial ground in Efford Cemetery (Image: Penny Cross)

Sadly, experts were unable to identify who they belonged to ahead of the service.

John Ware, assistant managing director at Walter C. Parson funeral directors, explained: “The archaeologist believes that the second person had been buried in the grave next to Elizabeth, but we’ve not been able to identify who that person was unfortunately.”

He added: “Sadly they weren’t able to identify if they were male or female.”

The hearse carrying Elizabeth Cookworthy and an unidentified person arriving for the funeral (Image: Penny Cross)

Researchers also found it difficult to identify Elizabeth Cookworthy and they initially believed she was somebody else.

Elizabeth was initially thought to be to the daughter of Quaker and porcelain magnate William Cookworthy.

But it was later revealed that she was the widow of his grandson, who had the same name.

The coffin being carried out of the hearse for the graveside service (Image: Penny Cross)

William did have a daughter named Elizabeth with his wife Sarah in 1743, but she sadly died when she was just six.

Both sets of remains were originally buried in a Quaker cemetery in Bretonside, which was cleared during building works in the 1950s.

A number of Quakers, also known as ‘Friends’, attended today’s service to pay their respects.

Quakers, friends and members of the public gathered to pay their respects (Image: Penny Cross)

The Cookworthy’s were well-known in the Quaker community and were very well respected across the region.

Quaker Manfred Kemmner led today’s poignant service at Efford Cemetary.

He paid tribute to Elizabeth and the unidentified person during the traditional Quaker funeral.

The second smaller coffin is lowered into the ground (Image: Penny Cross)

He said: “Today we have the honourable task of reburying Elizabeth Cookworthy and one more coffin containing the remains of an unidentified person.

“In 1953 Bretonside bus station was built and the graves in the Quaker burial ground were removed and re-interred here in this special plot at Efford Cemetery.

“I am sure that they will now be happy here on top of a beautiful hill among relatives and friends.”

The coffin of Elizabeth Cookworthy was reburied alongside an unidentified person (Image: Penny Cross)

A bereavement notice for the funeral appeared in The Herald last week (Wednesday, January 31).

The notice read: “COOKWORTHY, ELIZABETH. Born 1763. Died 1833.

“Previously interred at Treville Street Burial Ground, Plymouth.

A bereavement notice that appeared in today’s (January 31) paper (Image: Millicent Cooke)

“A graveside service will take place at the Quaker Burial Ground, Efford cemetery on Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at 10.30am.

“All Friends are welcome to attend.”

Local researchers had been trying to track down Elizabeth’s relatives before the burial, but as no one could be found, it was decided that her re-internment would be organised in association with the Plymouth Quaker society.

When Elizabeth died, Mr Kemmner explained that her estate was passed to another member of the family, who used the money to establish a charity.

The two coffins ahead of the burial (Image: Penny Cross)

Fox and Crewdson’s Charity is still running in Plymouth today and representatives from the charity, which provides accommodation and housing to disadvantaged elderly women, were in attendance at today’s service to pay their respects to the family.

Sadly no one could identify the remains which were re-interred alongside Elizabeth.

The remains of the second person were re-interred in a much smaller coffin.

John Ware, from Walter C. Parson funeral directors, helped to organise the service

John Ware, from Walter C. Parson, explained that this was because they were not intact.

He said: “Elizabeth was in a lead-lined coffin so we could identify her and the whole skeleton was intact.

“The second grave, which was next to her, wasn’t lead-lined, so the bones weren’t kept together in a coffin as a complete skeleton.”

How the secret was unearthed

Archaeologists, who had been working with the developer, plotted the position of the coffin.

The location was identified in the former Quaker burial ground associated with the Treville Street Meeting House.

The entire area had been cleared and levelled in 1956 before building the bus station and all burials had been removed to Efford Cemetery at that time.

Elizabeth Cookworthy’s remains were discovered during the demolition of Bretonside bus station(Image: Penny Cross)

However, it now appears that Elizabeth Cookworthy was given special treatment.

Not only was she provided with a lead coffin rather than the usual wood coffin, but she was clearly buried at a much greater depth than those around her.

This accounts for her burial having been missed during the clearance works of the 1950s, says the city council.

Elizabeth’s coffin was then taken to the Walter C. Parson chapel of rest while the authorities attempted to trace her relatives.

On February 7, 2018 she was re-interred at Efford cemetery.

The Cookworthy’s and their connections to Plymouth

Elizabeth Cookworthy has now been revealed as the widow of porcelain manufacturer and Quaker William Cookworthy’s grandson.

Devon-born William, born in 1705, was a chemist who had an apothecary on Notte Street on the Barbican.

In 1768, he created the Plymouth Porcelain Works creating hard paste porcelain wares from his factory alongside Sutton Harbour.

The building is now a popular pub and restaurant named The China House.

The Quaker meeting house used to be on what was Treville Street

Mr Cookworthy dined in the landmark building occupied by Arribas Mexican Restaurant in Notte Street with Captain Cook before his first voyage in 1768.

He was also an associate of John Smeaton, who lodged at his house when he was engaged in building the third Eddystone Lighthouse between 1756 and 1759.

Mr Cookworthy helped Mr Smeaton with the development of hydraulic lime, which was essential to the project.

There’s also a street in North Prospect called Cookworthy Road and a pub was named after the Cookworthy family in St Austell before the venue closed in 2012.

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/second-body-discovered-under-plymouths-1180669

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