A Stone Palm in Barnack

In the churchyard of Barnack, a large stone monument in the form of a semi-recumbent palm tree marks the grave of George Ayscough Booth, Gentleman Cadet, Royal Military College Sandhurst, who died in 1868, aged 20.

George Ayscough Booth was born in Wiesbaden, capital of the Duchy of Nassau, in Germany on 27^th December 1847. He was the only son of the Reverend George Ayscough Booth and Anna Maria Godolphin, the eldest daughter of Admiral John Ayscough. His parents had married in Southampton on 21^st October 1843. George was brought back to England to be baptised on 5^th February 1847 at Hatfield, Hertfordshire but the family returned to Wiesbaden where twin sisters were born on 12^th December 1848.

The cadet's father, the Reverend George Ayscough Booth, a graduate of Exeter College, Oxford, was curate of Barnack, 1856-61, and then held the living of Clandown near Radstock in Somerset, 1861-72. The parents brought their only son’s body back to St John the Baptist, Barnack for burial close to the grave of his infant sister; Nina Jane Carnegie Booth had died, aged five months, in 1858.

Gentleman Cadet George Ayscough Booth had died on 17^th April 1868 at Paris, on his way to England from Hyères (on the French Riviera). The cause of death is not reported.

The semi-recumbent palm tree on his memorial can be seen as a symbol of the resurrection; a palm tree bends in a storm so that the top could touch the ground but still spring back upright. The choice of a palm tree might allude to the place he had gone to for the sake of his health. Hyères’ position facing the Mediterranean is ideal for the cultivation of palm trees so the town is referred to as Hyères-les-Palmiers (palmier meaning palm tree). Hyères was popular with English visitors in the winter and Edwin Lee had published in 1857 a book on the virtues of the climate of Hyères for recovery from pulmonary consumption (tuberculosis) which might suggest a possible cause of his death.

A memorial window to George Ayscough Booth was erected in the east end of the Royal Military College Chapel, Sandhurst in 1869. “The stonework of the fifteenth century, by Mr Buckeridge of London, is a richly-cusped four-light window, with elaborate tracery. The two side lights, bearing a series of subjects in stained glass, commemoratively display, under the form of allegory, the virtues of bravery, piety, brotherly love, and resignation, while the Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, and Judgment, are embraced by the centre compartments. Faith, hope, charity, humility, forgiving spirit, and repentance are also allegorically displayed in the tracery and with two angels bearing texts, complete the figurative arrangement, the entire work being perfected by canopy work surmounting each group. It is a very successful work of art, and a great improvement to the chapel. R. B. Edmundson and Son of Manchester, are the artists of the glass work.” (The Bath Chronicle 21^st October 1869). The architect, Buckeridge of London, is presumably Charles Buckeridge ARIBA who died 1^st September 1873. The glass business, Messrs Edmondson and Son, Angel Street, Manchester was established in 1854 by Ralph Bolton Edmundson who had earlier headed the stained glass section at Pilkingtons.

The stained glass window still exists in what is now the Indian Army Memorial Room at Sandhurst. The chapel of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, was consecrated in 1813 but it was not large enough when the number of gentlemen cadets rose following the abolition in 1871 of the purchase system for commissions, and it became, successively, a model room, a museum, a cadet dining room, the Indian Army Museum and, in 1970, the Indian Army Memorial Room.

Sandhurst confirms that Cadet George Ayscough Booth joined the college on 1^st February 1867 aged 19. The Royal Military Academy holds copies of correspondence between his father, the college and the War Office regarding the intended design of the window, which apparently required the approval of the Commander in Chief, the Duke of Cambridge, who took a personal interest in the project.

The cadet’s mother, Anna Maria Godolphin Booth, died on 25^th March 1876 in Bath, aged 59. The widower married Frances Elizabeth, second daughter of Maj-Gen Pickering RA, on 4^th August 1881. The Rev. George Ayscough Booth died “very suddenly”, at 54, Pulteney Street, Bath on 17^th December 1884, aged 67. The only surviving child of the family, Kathinka Wilhelmina (born 1855 in Germany), married Charles Edward Mackintosh Russell in 1885; she died on 28^th December 1932 aged 78.

The monument is in St John the Baptist Churchyard (north east of the church), Barnack, Peterborough Unitary Authority. Barnack is south east of Stamford, Lincolnshire.