              Copyright
Helen Forder
2004
|
THE DEATH OF
LADY LLANOFER
(From the
South Wales Daily News, Friday, January 24th,
1896) |
LADY LLANOVER,
LARGE AND REPRESENTATIVE CONCOURSE.
SYMPATHY FROM THE ROYAL FAMILY.
EI CHLADDU YN GYMRAEG.
[Her Burial in Welsh]
(By our Special
Correspondent) |
Lady
Llanover's ruling passion was her ardent love for
the ancient language of the Cymry. For the best
part of the 95 years of her pilgrimage on earth
she spoke that tongue and devoted time and money
to foster and encourage it, and, at her expressed
wish, the solemn rites observed yesterday at
Llanover, when all that remained of her Ladyship
were reverently deposited in the tomb besides her
late Lord, were conducted entirely from first to
last in the language of the people of Wales. The
Welshmen and Welshwomen present realised to the
full the gaping void which her death had created;
they mourned the loss of a considerate landowner,
but a more bitter pang was the thought that Wales
was deprived of a long and steadfast friend,
whose love of country had been something far more
precious and real than an empty and vapid
sentiment. The thought that was uppermost in
every mind, and it came with telling-force, was
crystallised in the phrase, "We shall never
look upon her like again."
It was a heavy and oppressive. The morning
dawned with every indication of a storm, but the
rain-clouds rolled away only to be succeeded by a
thick overhanging mist that enwrapped the country
as in a shroud. The midday trains were heavily
laden with tenants who were assembling from far
and near to pay their last tribute of respect to
an indulgent and beloved meistress tir. [landowner]
For many hours the roads leading from
Abergavenny, Penpergwm, Nantyderi, and Pontypool
towards Llanover Park were traversed by a
continuous stream of mourners, on foot, on
horseback, and in vehicles, all without exception
attired in the deepest of black. Although the
funeral was in a sense a private one, the family
had extended a ready permission to tenants who
desired to attend, and many hundreds availed
themselves of that permission accordingly.
|
| THE COFFIN |
| Shortly
after 1 o'clock the remains were brought from the
bedroom and placed on a bier in the large central
hall to the left of the principal
entrance. The body lay in a coffin of oak,
protected by a shell of lead, the whole being
enclosed in Llanover oak, with heavy brass
trimmings, the breastplate bearing the
inscription:- |
LADY LLANOVER,
Born 21st March, 1802,
Died 17th January, 1896,
Aged 95 years.
"Y gorphwysant oddiwrth eu llafur gan
ddisgwyl trugaredd ein Harglwydd Iesu Grist a
fywyd tragywyddol."
[They rested
from their labour expecting the mercy of our Lord
Jesus Christ and everlasting life.] |
The timber
of which the coffin was constructed, it is
interesting to note, was grown on the Llanover
estate, and was part of the same old material
from which the coffin of Lord Llanover was made
nearly thirty years ago. The timber had been
carefully stored in the carpenter's workshops at
Llanover since his Lordship's death. His
Lordship's coffin was made by the estate workmen
at the Hall; so was that of her Ladyship's, the
makers being Elias Francis, Owen Lewis (Madog
Mon), and Jones, of Haymead Farm, Abergavenny.
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