Cold Cold Ground

Flogged to Death

Passante — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 01:00:52 +0000

Private Frederick John White, 7th Queen’s Own Hussars, is buried in the churchyard of St. Leonard’s Church in Heston, Middlesex. He was sentenced, at the age of 27, to 50 lashes for some unrecorded misdemeanor. The flogging over, he was unwise enough to mouth off and was sentenced to a further 50 lashes by the colonel (a relative of Private White). The second 50 lashes were too much, and Private White died on July 11, 1864.

There was close to a mutiny in the barracks, so great was the anger of Private White’s comrades. Col. White fled to avoid retribution. Parliament took up the issue, and eventually the maximum possible punishment was reduced from 150 lashes to 50 and then abolished altogether. Col. White was sent to India in disgrace.

The first stone was erected “by his comrades as a testimony of their sympathy for his fate and their respect for his memory.” The stone was re-erected by the officers of the 7th Hussars in 1886.

Photograph by Passante.

Buried Twice

Passante — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 16:06:16 +0000

When the wooden floor in front of the altar in St. Leonard’s Church in Heston, Middlesex, was taken up for repair, a stone floor and several graves, of which this is one, were discovered underneath.

Photograph by Passante.

City of the Dead II

Passante — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 08:15:56 +0000

When Vesuvius erupted on August 24, 79 CE, the prosperous Roman city of Pompeii was engulfed in volcanic ash, becoming a graveyard to those of its fleeing inhabitants who choked to death before they could escape and were buried where they fell. The city and its dead inhabitants remained undisturbed for 1,600 years.

Photographs by Passante.

Keeping Watch

Passante — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:01:31 +0000

This rather battered little angel keeps watch in St. Louis No. 1 Cemetery in New Orleans.

Photograph by Passante.

Rio nell’Elba

Passante — Fri, 25 May 2007 12:01:29 +0000

This desolate cemetery is outside Rio nell’Elba, on the island where Napoleon lived out his exile. I remember Rio from many, many years ago as very poor and somewhat bleak and unfriendly—very different in atmosphere from Portoferraio, the lively little capital city of the island. Things have looked up for Rio in the years since my visit. The village now has its own Web site and apparently has a good tourist business judging from the hotels and restaurants listed.

Photograph by Passante.

City of the Dead I

Passante — Fri, 18 May 2007 12:01:48 +0000

The rows of large above-ground vaults in New Orleans cemeteries look like streets of houses, so the cemeteries are referred to as “Cities of the Dead.” This city of the dead is St. Louis No. 1 Cemetery.

Photograph by Passante.

Tomb of an Exile

Passante — Fri, 11 May 2007 12:01:59 +0000

Dante Alighieri spent the last years of his life in Ravenna, exiled from Florence. I synopsized the circumstances of his exile and showed his monument in Florence’s Santa Croce church on February 5.

Dante rests in this tomb in Ravenna. The oil for the eternal flame that burns at his grave is supplied by the city of Florence.

Photograph by Passante.

Au Revoir, Mon Cher

mariemcc — Fri, 04 May 2007 00:47:44 +0000

Somewhere between Rouen and Giverny, a small French countryside cemetery beckoned. Regrettably, there wasn’t time to take many photos. The one thing that impressed me was that all the flowers on the graves were ceramic. Not a plastic flower in the place.

Aruba

Passante — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 00:58:22 +0000

This cemetery is on Aruba, a small island in the Caribbean discovered by Amerigo Vespucci in 1499 and now part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It’s dry and arid, as is obvious from this cemetery photographed in late December.

Photograph by Passante.

Coffin Maker

Passante — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 02:02:06 +0000

A man is faced with his inevitable end as he walks by the shop of a coffin maker in Hong Kong.

Photograph by Passante.