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Weep Not For My Passing

Eustace Martyn 1867 - 1940

This simple wooden cross marks the last resting place of Eustace Martyn. He was not born here but chose Burbage for his home after retiring. The grave lies at the top of the southern graveyard, near the south door. Time has taken its toll and since the photo was taken the grass cutting machines have finally toppled the cross. No doubt it will soon be consigned to the skip so before the last remnant of his physical presence disappears I thought it apt that he should be remembered in these pages.

Who was Eustace Martyn? I doubt if anyone remembers him as he died on June 6th 1940, long before many of us were born. However he was worthy enough to have an obituary in the Daily Mail. It reads -

"Mr. Eustace Martyn, ex-police inspector and member of Weymouth Town Council, who died last night, aged 73, left these instructions in his will:
'When I am dead, let my burial be as simple as possible. I wish to be taken to my last resting place in a light spring wagon, or farmer's cart, drawn by a grey or brown horse.

'No flowers or wreaths, and no black. If anyone has money to buy flowers or black, give it to a hospital, or buy something for those who are in pain and suffering, or for poor people or little children who have very little clothing, boots, or food.

'I want no city fathers to follow me in robes of pomp, no long faces or tears.

'A kind word to a living man is worth a thousand times more than much weeping and sob-stuff after his death. Weep not for my passing for I shall be gone from a world of sorrow, free from pain and care, free from a world of deception.

'If anyone wants to do me a good turn, be kind to those I have left behind. If anyone goes against these wishes of mine, may God punish him.

'Signed Eustace Martyn'
"Mr. Martyn is to be buried tomorrow in the little village of Burbage in Wiltshire. He served 28 years in Dorset, retiring as inspector. He was a member of Weymouth Town Council for 18 years."

Carved on the lower part of the cross is "Peace Perfect Peace".

Records show that for many years after his death, his simple grave was looked after by Mrs. "Friday" Wheeler.

Research shows that Eustace was almost a Burbage lad. His maternal grandfather was Kennedy O'Brien, an Irish soldier who, upon retiring in about 1840, chose to settle his family in Burbage. The professional soldier's life was a transient affair and along the way he met and married a geordie lass called Isabel and had several children by her at various garrison towns.

Annie, born 1833, was probably their first daughter and in later years seems to have left for London to seek her fortune (by possibly going into service). She did well for herself as in 1853, aged 20 she married George Henry Martyn who hailed from Mortlake in Surrey. George was a bit of a gentleman who, by 1881, was Collector of Rates. Theirs seems to have been a fruitful marriage bearing at least 5 children with the last two being twins, Herbert William and Eustace, born in 1867.

Sadly Annie died in 1870 at the tender age of 37 and, no doubt, the families gathered around to help. A year later Eustace, then aged 3, and his older brother Kennedy, aged 4, where living in Burbage with their grandmother Isabel O'Brien (grandfather Kennedy had died in 1860), aunt Harriet Carter and Harriet's 2 children. It is unclear why Eustace's twin Herbert was not with him. By 1881 Eustace was still living in Burbage with his aunt Harriet (Isabel died in 1878) and her son Frederick while the rest of the Martyns, including older brother Kennedy and twin Herbert, were living in Hammmersmith with father George. His daughter Isabel seems to have acted as surrogate mother while eldest son Frederick was adding to the family coffers by being employed as a clerk.

By mid 1891 Eustace had left Burbage and moved to Weymouth where he married Lilian Elizabeth Siddone and within 10 years had produced 4 children. By 1901 he was employed as a police constable and, as the report above states, rose through the ranks to retire as an inspector. His son, William John, married and moved to Corfe Castle from which he joined up and served during WW1 in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He died of wounds in Flanders, France, on July 30th 1918, aged 27.

When and why Eustace returned to the place of youth is unclear. Did he still have family in the village? Did he come here with some of his own family? His boyhood home had been at either 14 or 18 High Street and during the late 1940s an elderly lady called R.J. Martin lived along the Marlborough Road but her initials do not seem to correlate with any member of Eustace's family I have been able to trace.

As for Mrs "Friday" Wheeler, it seems she may have lived at either Stibb Green or Seymour (or maybe both at one time). It is thought she may in later years have run the sweet shop at the bottom of Salisbury Road in Marlborough (it is the shop on the mini-roundabout which now makes signs). Why she was known as "Friday" and why she tended Eustace's grave is still a mystery.

If anyone does remember Eustace, or knows anything more about him or Mrs "Friday" Wheeler, please let me know.

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