Death & burial
Died at "Bordigan Firs", Bordigan Road, Bournemouth, Hampshire, on the 25th of May 1888, from "Disease of the heart", aged 58 years.
Death registered
John William C Hartopp, aged 58, June Quarter 1888, Christchurch.
From The Observer and Chronicle, 2nd of June 1888:
"We regret to announce the death of Sir John Cradock-Hartopp, Bart., which took place at Bournemouth on Friday. His illness, that of heart disease, had caused much anxiety to his near relatives for the past few weeks.
He was born in 1829, and was therefore in his 59th year. He entered the Army in 1851 and served with the 17th Lancers in the Crimea, but retired from the Army in 1885 [sic]. He had succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father in 1864.
Sir John married, in 1855, Charlotte Frances, the eldest daughter of Mr. Edward Gyles Howard, a nephew of the 12th Earl of Norfolk, and he leaves a widow, four sons and five daughters. He was also formerly Lieutenant-Colonel of the Warwickshire Rifle Volunteers. He is succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son, Charles Edward, a Lieutenant in the Ist Bn. of the Scots Guards, who served in the Egyptian campaign of 1882.
The funeral of the deceased will take place at Leicester on Tuesday, the body being removed from Bournemouth on Monday evening."
Aston Flamville Church
[Photograph: Wikipedia, 2018.]
(Click on image to enlarge)
Extract from the Hinkley News, 2nd of June 1888:
"The late Sir John Hartopp
The remains of the late Sir John Hartopp were interred in the family vault at Aston Flamville Church on Tuesday afternoon. The mourners, with the corpse, reached Hinkley Station by the 3.6 p.m. train and six mourning coaches and a funeral car were awaiting them. When the coffin was placed upon the car it was absolutely covered by beautiful wreaths and flower crosses.
The cortege passed through Hinkley on its way to Aston Flamville, a distance of three miles, and it was met at the boundary of the parish of Aston by the tenants of the Hartopp estates of Newbold and Aston. In the church, which was quite filled with sympathetic friends and villagers, there was also a display of flowers and here more wreaths and crosses were placed upon the coffin, which was of oak, with brass fittings.
The Reverend J.P.A. Fletcher, the Rector, read the Burial Service. Several funeral hymns were sung and the Dead March in "Saul" was played upon the organ. [Then follows a long list of family friends and mourners, tenants, and wreath-senders."
His parents are buried under a large granite slab in the church yard of Christ's Church at Aston Flamville, Leicestershire, at the east end of the church.
Originally surrounded by a kerb and iron posts and chains, the latter has long since rusted away. At one end is a stone cross some eight feet high.
The slab is inscribed: "Sir William Edward Cradock Hartopp, Bart. Born 2nd of December 1784 - Died October 16th 1864" and "Jane Mary, Lady Cradock Hartopp. Born 16th of May 1807 - Died 1st of November 1891."
On the cross:
"This stone was erected by their children in loving remembrance."On the end of the slab:
"Forget Me Not."
A search of the graveyard shows no sign of a marked grave for John Cradock Hartopp, although the church register records that he was buried there on the 29th of May 1888, aged 58 years. He may possibly have been buried with his parents and the fact not recorded on the stone.
[Later entry]
From further information provided by a long-time resident of the village it is now learnt that he was buried in a vault under the church floor, but when a new organ was installed it was larger than expected and the vault is now completely under the organ, only a very small slab of white stone marking the entrance to the steps going down into the vault.
His wife, Charlotte Francis, who died in the following year (1889), was also buried there. She was brought from Eastbourne, Sussex.
Death registered
Charlotte Frances Hartopp, 55, December Quarter 1889 Eastbourne.