Graves containing mosaic memorials have been around for centuries. However, despite their durability, they are are not commonly seen in cemeteries.

Some examples of the earliest mosaic memorials can be found at the Bardo museum in the Tunisian capital of Tunis, which contains Christian tombstones dating back to the 4th or 5th century AD. More recently, at the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris, there is memorial of a giant mosaic cat. This was made by artist Niki de Sant Phalle to mark the grave of her assistant Ricardo Menon, who died of AIDS in 1989.

Recently Sarsfield Memorials has been commissioned by a family to produce a bespoke memorial for a very special little boy. They wanted a mosaic in the design of a star and had found an artist to work with them and Sarsfield to produce a design of their choice.

The artist Tracey spent time with the family discussing their request. She invited them to her studio to make the design, cutting and shaping the glass then positioning it within the star template. They also made their own mosaic pieces to take away and keep to remember their day.

Tracey finished off the design in her studio then brought it to Sarsfield’s workshop and we inlaid the glass mosaic star into the slate headstone. The outer edge of the star and areas within its shape are made of iridescent glass. There is also glass with gold leaf in it, which beautifully reflects the sunlight allowing it to shine so brightly.

Tracey welcomes new commissions and would like to work with families and masons to produce individual designs for glass or ceramic mosaic memorials. These can be inlaid into headstones, leaving a personal design that can be symbolic to a family and add a permanent colour to memorials.

At Sarsfield Memorials we welcome any enquiries regarding bespoke or standard design memorials that include mosaic art, giving you the opportunity to produce something special for your own memorial. Please contact us and we will be happy to discuss your requirements.

Wednesday 14th June 2017 marked one hundred years to the day since William Ratcliffe carried out an act of bravery for which he received the Victoria Cross. To mark the centenary a commemorative stone was unveiled at the Church of Our Lady & St Nicholas in Liverpool.

Photo courtesy of Catherine Sing

William was born in Newhall Street in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle in 1884 and educated at the nearby St Vincent de Paul school. He worked briefly as a docker but joined the army at the age of seventeen and immediately saw action, serving in the Second Boer War in South Africa.

After twelve years in the army William went back to the docks but enlisted at the outbreak of World War One in 1914. He joined the South Lancashire Regiment, initially fighting in northern France where developed a reputation of somebody who was fearless.

In April 1917 William was awarded the Military Medal after taking out seven snipers who were firing on his company during the Battle of Messines in Belgium. Two months later in the same battle he carried out the action for which he received the Victoria Cross. After an enemy trench had been captured, William located an enemy machine-gun which was firing on his comrades from the rear, and single-handed, on his own initiative, immediately rushed the machine-gun position and bayoneted the crew. He then brought the gun back into action in the front line.

One of Williams’s comrades, who died shortly afterwards from his wounds, told the Catholic Herald: “We had a hot time of it. We fought our way through a torrent of shell fire, and found ourselves raked flank and rear by machine-guns posted in commanding positions. One of the deadliest of these troublesome guns was posted in the rear and was playing havoc with our troops.  He dashed straight at the position and tackled the crew of the gun on his own. After a fierce struggle he killed or drove them off then picked up the gun and started back with it. He was fired on at once by the enemy and it was a miracle how he got through for all the time the bullets were raining around him and we never expected him to get through it. Once he tripped and fell. We thought he was done for. He wasn’t. He rose again and with a rush covered the last stretch of ground between him and safety.”

In October 1917 William was presented with the Victoria Cross by King George V and then attended a dinner in Liverpool given in his honour by the National Union of Dock Labourers. When he returned to civilian life  William went back to the docks to work but had an industrial accident and had to retire.

William never married and lived with his sister and her husband in Dingle and then at St Oswald’s Gardens, Old Swan. In 1956, to celebrate its centennial, all living Victoria Cross recipients were invited to attend a review with Queen Elizabeth II in London’s Hyde Park. William initially declined his invitation as he couldn’t afford a suit, but when a local gents outfitters stepped in to provide one he agreed to go. He told reporters that he felt a right toff given he had a top hat as well.

William Ratcliffe died in 1963, falling ill whilst on his way to a public house in Old Swan. He was 79 years old. A requiem mass was held at St Oswald’s Church and he was buried in Allerton cemetery alongside his niece.

William’s VC medal is on display at the Imperial War Museum in London. His name is commemorated on a Roll of Honour in Liverpool Town Hall that contains the names of all fourteen recipients of the Victoria Cross born in the city. A tablet and portrait of him that used to be on display in the TGWU building in St James Place was lost when it was demolished. He is now remembered again though thanks to the memorial that has been unveiled at the Church of Our Lady and St Nicholas.

Billy Scott, who kept goal for Everton when they won the FA Cup for the first time in 1906, has recently had his grave rededicated in Anfield Cemetery.

Born in Belfast in 1882, Billy won the Irish League and Irish Cup with Linfield before joining Everton in 1904. An Irish international, he competed with Welshman Leigh Roose during his first season when Everton finished second in the league. However in 1905-06 established himself as the club’s first choice keeper.

In the semi-final of the FA Cup, Everton beat rivals Liverpool 2-0 to set up a clash with Newcastle United at the Crystal Palace.  Newcastle were the favourites, but struggled to cope with the windy conditions and Billy had very little to do.  Alex Young, who had already had one goal ruled out for offside, scored after an hour and it was enough to win the game for Everton.

Billy helped Everton to the cup final again the following year but they were beaten in the final by Sheffield Wednesday. He was also part of the Everton side that finished second in the league in 1909 and 1912. In total he played 289 times for the club.

Photo by Kieran Smith

In the summer of 1912 Billy made a controversial move to Leeds City. They were in the second division and paid him a full year’s salary at a time when players were meant to receive less wages  during summer. He was eventually forced by the football authorities to pay the excess money back and during his two years in Yorkshire he failed to win promotion.

Billy returned to Merseyside in 1914 and joined Liverpool as reserve keeper, but he never played a competitive fixture for the first team in the 1914-15. The Football League was suspended during World War I but he did play 27 times for Liverpool in regional games before retiring from playing in 1919.

Billy was capped by Ireland 25 times and in 1913 he was a member of the first Irish side to beat England, 2-1 at Windsor Park. After his playing career finished he remained in Liverpool, working alongside his wife in the licensed trade.

After dying of pneumonia in 1936 Billy Scott was buried in Anfield Cemetery in a grave that was left unmarked. The Everton Heritage Society, with the help of the club and relatives, have now arranged for the grave to be rededicated and a new memorial was unveiled on 17th May 2017.

Over the years there are believed to have been nine Jewish cemeteries in Liverpool. Currently only two are open to new burials and of the others, some are in a poor state and others no longer there at all.

The Liverpool Jewish Archives are held by the Liverpool Record Office and date back to 1780. The first Jewish cemetery of the Old Hebrew Congregation was in the garden of a house in Upper Frederick Street, with the first recorded interment taking place in 1789. The congregation also had a cemetery in Oakes Street, off London Road, which had its first burial in 1802.

Oakes Street closed in 1837 but burials continued at Upper Frederick Street for the rest of the 19th Century. However the more prominent Jewish cemetery during this period was at Deane Road, which was consecrated the year Oakes Street stopped taking burials. Deane Road contains the graves of many eminent Jewish Victorians, including David Lewis who founded the Lewis’s chain of department stores and Charles Mozley, Liverpool’s first Jewish Mayor.

Deane Road cemetery stopped being used regularly when Broadgreen Cemetery opened in 1904. The last interment was in 1929 but it is still there today and has undergone an extensive restoration thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. This has seen the renovation of the archway entrance, cleaning and re-fixing of headstones and the opening of a small visitor centre.

After the opening of Broadgreen Cemetery, all those buried at Oakes Street and Upper Frederick Street were exhumed and re-interred. No trace of those cemeteries exist anymore. Broadgreen remains the cemetery of the Old Hebrew Congregation, who continue to worship at the Princes Road Synagogue, a magnificent structure consecrated in 1874 and the only Grade I listed building in Toxteth.

The Liverpool New Hebrew Congregation was founded after breaking away from the Old Hebrew Congregation in the middle of the 19th Century. For eighty years they worshipped in a synagogue at Hope Place on a site that is now occupied by the Unity Theatre. Their first cemetery was at Green Lane in Tuebrook.

Green Lane Cemetery is still there today with the earliest headstone dating from 1842. However the site is sadly sealed off and overgrown. It has been out of use since 1921, when Long Lane Cemetery was opened, next to the city council run Everton Cemetery in Fazakerley. Amongst the interments at Long Lane is Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles who died in 1967 at the age of just 32. The cemetery has not been used since 2008 when the congregation became defunct.

There are two independent Jewish burial grounds in Liverpool. Rice Lane Jewish Cemetery is situated off Hazeldale Road in Walton and closed in 1983. There is also a dedicated Jewish section at West Derby Cemetery in Lowerhouse Lane which remains open for burials in reserved plots.

Finally in South Liverpool, Springwood Jewish Cemetery is on the other side of Springwood Avenue from Allerton Cemetery. This is used by the Childwall and Allerton congregations, which worship at synagogues in Dunbabin Road and Mather Avenue respectively.

Sarsfield Memorials is proud to provide memorials to all denominations. We can supply headstone and slab covers with inscriptions in both English and Hebrew. Examples of some of the Jewish memorials can be seen here and if you wold like to discuss further please contact us, we will be happy to provide a free no obligation quote.

The Grand National steeplechase was first run at Aintree in 1839 and except for the war years and the void race of 1993, has taken place there ever since.

The first winner of the Grand National was Lottery, ridden by Jem Mason. He was unable to repeat the success the following year when the horse refused a jump. Mason, who attended Harrow school and was the son of a horse dealer, was fifty years old when he died of throat cancer at his London home in 1866.  He was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery.

Photo by Richard Knowles

Mason’s death came two years after that of Captain Martin Becher, after whom the race’s most famous fence, got its name. Becher’s Brook. A veteran of the Napoleonic Wars he was already considering retirement when he took part in the 1839 race. He fell at the first brook and sheltered in the water whilst the other horses jumped over, hence the name given to it. On climbing to safety he was said to comment that the water had tasted filthy without the benefit of whisky. He never raced again and after his death in 1864 he was buried at Willesden Cemetery in North London. This cemetery closed in 1891 and is now in a sadly overgrown state.

The Earls of Sefton owned the land on which Aintree racecourse was developed. The second earl, William Molyneux, laid the foundation stone for the grandstand in 1829. He died at his London home in November 1838, before the first Grand National was run and his grave is in St Mary’s churchyard in Hanwell.

In 1949 Aintree racecourse was bought from the Earl of Sefton. The management was taken over by former Gaiety girl Mirabel Topham. She constructed a motor racing track within the course which hosted the British Grand Prix five times, the last one being in 1962. The Topham family eventually sold the course to developer Bill Davies in 1973 and Mirabel, who died in 1980, is buried in  the family vault at Pantasaph Friary in Flintshire.

Mirabel sold the racecourse in the same year that Red Rum won the first of his three Grand National races. Rummy, as he was affectionately known, also won the race in 1974 and 1977 but was retired the following year after an injury. He was a regular visitor to Aintree in subsequent years and died in 1995 at the age of thirty. He was subsequently buried there and his grave is now visited by thousands of visitors to Aintree year as the race continues to grow in popularity.

Everton are the older of Merseyside’s two professional football clubs, so it is not surprising there are a number of graves of former players and managers in local cemeteries. However there are also plenty of others buried in cemeteries and churchyards both in Britain and abroad.

Although Everton were formed in 1878, initially as St Domingos FC, it was not until ten years later that they appointed a manager. William E. Barclay was also the headmaster of an industrial school and he took charge of team affairs for one year. When the club moved from Anfield to Goodison Park in 1892 Barclay stayed loyal to the ground’s owner John Houlding and managed the newly formed Liverpool FC until 1896. He remains the only manager to take charge of both clubs but died in poverty in 1891 and his grave in Anfield cemetery remained unmarked for decades until a simple memorial stone was placed there in 2013.

George Mahon was an Everton board member who was instrumental in securing the club’s move to Goodison Park. A solicitor, he arranged the purchase of the land and became the club’s chairman for the first three years in the new ground. He lived at 86 Anfield Road and was buried in Anfield Cemetery when he died in 1908.

Also buried in Anfield Cemetery is William Sawyer, Everton’s secretary towards the end of the First World War. During the 1920s he chaired the club’s finance committee and played a part in the purchase of the legendary Dixie Dean from Tranmere Rovers. He went on to score an incredible sixty league goals for Everton in the 1927-28 season. He died of a heart attack whilst watching a derby match at home to Liverpool in 1980 and after being cremated his ashes were scattered on the Goodison Park pitch.

Another Everton legend who died of a heart attack at Goodison was Harry Catterick, during an FA Cup tie with Ipswich in 1985. The former Sheffield Wednesday manager had led the club to two league titles, in 1963 and 1970, as well as the FA Cup in 1966. His gravestone at the Parish Church of St Annes in Lancashire is inscribed with the club’s motto ‘Nil Satis Nisi Optimum’.

An Everton player killed whilst serving his country was Lance Corporal Wilf Toman, who was killed in 1917 in the Battle of the Somme. He had played for Everton between 1899 and 1901 and is buried in the village of Erquinghem-Lys. When the club played a Europa League match ten miles away in Lille in 2014, a delegation from the club attended a special ceremony at his grave.

The Everton Heritage Society, which was set up in 2008 by Dr David France OBE, is a group of authors, researchers and memorabilia collectors who are passionate about the club. They are working on a number of projects, one of which is to locate as many graves of former Everton players as possible, helping to restore them wherever appropriate.

Graves that were re-dedicated with new headstones thanks to the work of the Everton Heritage Society in 2016 were those of 1915 title winner George Harrison, who is buried in York Road Cemetery in Gresley, and Alec Brady, a member of the team that won the league in 1891 when the club played at Anfield. A Scot who also played for Celtic, his grave was located in Millburn Cemetery in Renton.

Providing family members can be traced, there will hopefully be be more re-dedications of former Everton players’ graves in the coming months and years.

Liverpool City Council announced on 15th March 2017 that within a year there will be no more room for Muslim burials in the city’s cemeteries. As such, a new section in Allerton Cemetery is to be developed specifically for those of the Islamic faith.

Once the work is complete, there will be 500 more grave spaces for Muslim burials in the city where the United Kingdom’s first mosque which opened in Brougham Terrace in 1889. It means that Liverpool will have enough cemetery capacity to accommodate Muslim burials for the next twenty years.

Sharia Law calls for the deceased to be buried as soon as possible so when a Muslim dies the preparations begin almost immediately. The body is washed three times and if possible the hands are placed in a position of prayer. It is then wrapped in a shroud, as no viewings are allowed to take place. The funeral service takes place at the mosque, with mourners facing Mecca as they pray. The closest male relatives are at the front, then other men, children and finally women.

After prayers the body is taken to the cemetery where usually the only mourners to witness the interment are men. The body is on its right side as it is lowered into the grave facing Mecca. There is then a reciting of of “Bismilllah wa ala millati rasulilllah” which translates as “In the name of Allah and in the faith of the Messenger of Allah”.

The body is first covered with wood or stones so that it doesn’t come into direct contact with the soil. Then all mourners present each deposit three handfuls of earth into the grave. Muslim graves traditionally do not have large elaborate headstones and are much more likely to be have simple markers which are sometimes made of wood. That is not always the case however, and modest granite and stone memorials are not uncommon.

In Allerton Cemetery, there is an area of Muslim woodland where eco-friendly burials take place and where no headstones are allowed. However, at Allerton and other Liverpool cemeteries there are also graves where traditional memorials are present. Sarsfield Memorials prides itself on providing memorials for all denominations and if you are considering a memorial for a Muslim grave, please contact us and we will be happy to discuss your requirements.

Over the past year, the Liverpool FC Graves Society has been formed and is trying to locate as many graves of former Liverpool FC players and managers as possible. The whereabouts of many was already known but a number of others have been uncovered. Many of those are in Anfield Cemetery, in the shadow of the club’s famous stadium.

Liverpool were founded in 1892 by John Houlding, following Everton FC’s decision to move out of Anfield to Goodison Park over a rent dispute. He is buried at Everton Cemetery, his resting place marked by a striking monument. Houlding appointed John McKenna as secretary-manager, responsible for organising fixtures and player recruitment amongst others. His grave is in Toxteth Cemetery, but has sadly been damaged.

McKenna ran the Liverpool team alongside William E Barclay, the headmaster of an industrial school in Everton. He had previously managed Everton FC and remains the only man to manage both Merseyside clubs. He died in poverty in 1917 and was buried at Anfield Cemetery in an unmarked grave, which has now had a memorial plaque stone paced on it.

In 1896 Tom Watson took over team affairs at Liverpool, guiding the club to two league titles. He died in 1915 and is also buried in Anfield Cemetery. For many years there was no headstone but after his great grandson was located and funds were donated by both Liverpool and his former club Sunderland, a new one was erected in 2015.

Watson’s captain when he won the 1st Division title in 1901 and 1906 was Alex Raisbeck, a Scot who was also employed as a bill inspector by the club to get around maximum wage rules. Raisbeck died in 1949 and when his gravestone was located in Anfield Cemetery by the Liverpool FC Graves Society it was in a sorry state. The letters were hardly legible and the material was crumbling. After locating his grandson however, a new headstone has been placed there which also refers to his footballing achievements.

Another of Watson’s players was Scottish keeper Ned Doig, who was at Liverpool from 1904 to 1908 and remains the club’s oldest debutant at 37 years and 307 days. he died from Spanish flu in 1919 and was buried in an unmarked grave which has now been located and a memorial stone added.

The Liverpool FC Graves Society is continuing to work with researchers around the world and has found graves of players from the inaugural 1892-93 season as far apart as Scotland and Australia. So far six have been located, including that of the club’s first captain, Andrew Hannah.

Given the proximity to the stadium, it is natural that efforts have focused on Anfield Cemetery when it comes to other players graves. Further discoveries over the last few months are the graves of  George Patterson, manager from 1928 to 1936 and Bobby Robinson, a member of the 1906 title winning side. Both graves have now been marked with a simple plaque and it is hoped a more permanent memorial can be added at a later date of relatives can be traced. There are sure to be many more discoveries in the months and years ahead.

At the beginning of February 2017 it was confirmed that a Singapore based hotel developer was purchasing Municipal Buildings, Liverpool City Council’s administrative headquarters since the 1860s.

The buildings were the last major works of Borough Surveyor John Weightman, who retired whilst they were being constructed. Weightman was born in London in 1798 and took up his post in Liverpool in 1848, having been working on the Grand Junction Railway, which connected the town with Birmingham. His appointment caused considerable debate as his salary of £1,000 a year was £300 more than the man he succeeded, Joseph Franklin.

Weightman’s first major project in the 1850s saw him design a new bridewell, fire station and magistrates court. All these buildings still stand today although they are no longer used for their original purpose. At the end of the decade he designed the buildings that we now know as Central Library and World Museum in William Brown Street. When what was then the free library opened in 1860 Weightman was one of the main guests, attending the event in the mayor’s chariot.

When work started at the beginning of the 1860s on Municipal Buildings, Liverpool Corporation’s staff numbers were increasing rapidly. The three storey building has a lead roof and clock tower with five bells, where sixteen sandstone figures represent the arts, science and industry of Liverpool. Weightman retired in 1865, leaving his successor Mr   E. R. Robson to oversee the completion and make some tweaks to the design of a building described by the Liverpool Mercury as ‘second only to St George’s Hall in the town in terms of architectural merit.’

The buildings were almost destroyed before they were completed. In 1867 two workmen were seriously injured during a gas explosion as they put the finishing touches to the offices of the Inspector of Public Nuisances. Then soon after they opened, teenager William Adams was caught scratching a wall with a knife in March 1868. He was charged with Wantonly Defacing a Public Building and fined ten shillings.

Although he had retired from his position, Weightman remained in local government as an alderman and he also served as a justice of the peace. He remained living at his home in 39 Hope Street where he passed away in August 1883, three months after his wife had died. Weightman was buried in Toxteth Park Cemetery. However his gravestone is today laid down for health and safety reasons.