Plumtree
St Mary

Monuments and Memorials

Wall Monuments

John Gee Memorial

To the left of the altar steps a small brass plate:

Hic jacet Corpus Revndi Viri Johannes Gee, AM huiusce Ecclesiae nuper Rectoris et Southwellensis Prebendari Qui obijt 26 Die Decmbri AD 1713 et Aetatis Suae 68

Harcourt Memorial

A memorial on the south sanctuary wall near the altar, with a grim looking skull, is the monument of Vere Harcourt. Dr Harcourt was “a very Godly, able preaching minister” and served both Cromwell and Charles II. It reads:

Near this place was interred the body of the Reverend and Right worth. Vere Harcourt D.D. Rector of this Parish and Archdeacon of Notts. Son to Robert Harcourt Esq. of Stanton Harcourt in the county of Oxon who departed this life July the 4th 1683 in the 77 yeare of his age having not long before much lamented the losse of his deare wife Lucy daughter to Roger Thornton of Snalewell in the county of Cambridge Knight her likewise interred having left this world on the 9 day of October 1682 in the 62 year of her age.

In the coat of arms which surmounts this monument, the chief of the shield bears gules, two bars or a crescent, which are the Harcourt arms, and it impales a chevron sable between three hawthorn trees for Thornton.

Vere Harcourt, DD, was the third son of Robert Harcourt (eldest son of Sir Walter Harcourt, who was knighted at Rouen in 1591), who was a considerable adventurer with Sir Walter Raleigh, having obtained a patent from King James the First for planting Guyana in America, by his second wife Frances, daughter of Geoffrey Vere, Esquire, youngest son of John, Earl of Oxford. He was a prebendary of Lincoln and Archdeacon of Nottingham. As stated on the monument, he married Lucy, daughter of Sir Roger Thornton, Knight, of Snailswell, Cambridgeshire, by whom he had two sons and two daughters. His eldest son, Simon Harcourt, clerk of the crown, died in 1724, leaving issue.

Franklin Memorial

A brass to the east of the chancel screen, near the priest’s stall, is inscribed:

In loving memory of Emily born 13th June 1820 died 17th Sept 1822 - Of Willingham born 19th Nov 1821 died 2nd Oct 1822 who rest in the Chancel of this church. Children of Sir Willingham and Dame Catherine Elizabeth Franklin. This memorial is erected by their sole surviving sister Catherine Anne Rawnsley 1891.

Willingham Franklin was named as a legatee in the will of John Elliott of Nottingham made in May 1820, but a codicil was added in 1823 when Willingham Franklin was knighted and appointed one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Madras in the West Indies, and thus not resident in England. John Elliott, who died on 10th June 1823, was the uncle of William Stanford Burnside, of Gedling House, who was the patron of the living at the time William Burnside was appointed Rector.

Memorial to John Burnside

A large brass plate on the south wall of the sanctuary inscribed:

In memory of John Burnside forty nine years Rector of this Parish died Dec. 23rd A.D. 1864 aged 72 and of Henrietta Anne Julia his wife died Dec. 17th A.D. 1849 aged 53. Also of Katherine their daughter died May 9th A.D. 1845 aged 19. Their remains are interred in the Chancel. This brass was erected in 1875 by their surviving children.

Memorial to the Reverend James Williamson

A tablet on the south wall of the chancel, above the priest’s stall:

Sacred to the Memory of the Reverend James Williamson BD late of Hertford College Oxford and Rector of Plumptree Nottinghamshire; who spent a long life in the pursuit of literature and science at home, and in other parts of Europe: embracing every opportunity to enrich his mind with various knowledge; but deriving his chief eminence from rare attainments in the higher branches of Mathematicks. He was born in the county of Murray in Scotland in the year of 1740 and died at the Rectory of Plumptree on the third of January 1813.

Memorial to William Elliott Burnside

On the north wall of the sanctuary, an alabaster tablet:

TO THE GLORY OF GOD
AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF
WILLIAM ELLIOTT BURNSIDE
LORD OF THE MANORS OF PLUMTREE
AND TOLLERTON,
WHO DIED FEBRUARY 7 1911.
THIS TABLET IS ERECTED
BY HIS WIDOW.

Hill Memorial

A marble tablet on the south aisle wall:

To the Glory of God and in ever Loving Memory of Thomas Arthur Hill, M.A. of Normanton House, Plumtree. Younger son of Thomas Hill, J.P. Notts. For 35 years churchwarden of St Mary’s Plumtree and Guardian of the Poor of this Parish. A Justice of The Peace for Notts, and late Major of the South Notts Hussars. Died Sunday May 3rd 1931 Aged 76. His unfailing courtesy and kindness endeared him to all who knew him.

Memorial to Sarah Cole

On the north aisle wall between the windows, a marble tablet inscribed:

SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF
SARAH
WIFE OF RICHARD COLE ESQ:
OF NORMANTON
AND
DAUGHTER OF SIR THOMAS PARKYNS BART:
OF BUNNY PARK
SHE DIED MARCH 8TH 1821
AGED 43 YEARS.

Sir Thomas Parkyns was the famous “wrestling baronet”.

Simes Memorial

On the north aisle wall to the west of the window, a marble tablet

TO
the Memory
of
the Revd.
FRANCIS SIMES
Vicar of Ruddington
and Curate of this Place
who died
December 17th 1798
Aged 68
Years

Brass Plates

On the organ case:

To the Glory of God and in pious memory of Frances Emily Burnside this organ was placed in the Church of S. Mary, Plumtree by William Elliott Burnside in the year of our Lord 1880
To mark 51st year of service of Henry Walker as organist 1935. He played on every Christmas Day from his appointment in November 1884

Near the main door, south aisle wall, two brasses, inscribed:

To the glory of God. This church clock was given by William Elliott Burnside Esq. July 31st 1889. In loving memory of his dear mother Julia Georgiana Burnside who died March 21st 1887
To the glory of God this Church tower was restored by William Elliott Burnside Esq. 1906 in memory of his father, John Elliott Burnside Esq. of Gedling House, Notts who died March 3rd 1904

Brass tablets below the north west window:

To the memory of Montague Bernard Browne 2nd Lieut. Sherwood Foresters who died in hospital April 28th 1916 from wounds received in action in Dublin on April 26th during the Irish Rebellion. Aged 39. Elder son of the late Reverend S. B. Browne. “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”
In memory of Percival Leathley Browne Captain 2nd Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment who fell in action in Gallipoli August 9th 1915 aged 32. Younger son of the late Reverend S. B. Browne. “Faithful unto death.”

Floorstones

There are five floorstones in the tower (not now visible):

Mrs Eleanor Haywood, wife of Joseph Haywood, of Nottingham, died August 1st 1758, in her 73rd year
Joseph Haywood, citizen and refiner, Foster Lane, London, son of Joseph Haywood of Nottingham and Eleanor his wife, died April 29th, 1758, in his 48th year
William Winfield, of Nottingham, died September 28th, 1786, in his 50th year
James and Dorothy, son and daughter of John and Dorothy Bell, died in infancy; John Bell, died October 29th, 1810, aged 40 years, and Dorothy, his wife, died July 17th, 1848, aged 83
Anne, wife of James Bell and daughter of Robert Kirkby, of Nottingham, died March 12th 1787, aged 57 years, and two children died in infancy. Also above James Bell, who died Jan. ?, 1788, aged 51, Elizabeth Bell, his niece, died February 17th, 1795, aged 24 years, and Mary, mother of said Elizabeth, and relict of John Bell, died October 30th, 1805

Thoroton gave the following inscription, formerly on an alabaster slab in the chancel floor:

Hic jacet Dominus Thomas Wigfall, quondam &c . . obit 16 Junii 1534. Cujus animae, &c.

Thomas Wigfall was instituted as Rector of Plumtree on 7 February 1507.