Eglingham Churchyard Section-B-Row-10-5-Paxton
Transcription
[Lichen makes reading difficult. ]
Here lieth the body of Robert Paxton son of John Paxton of Hagdon who died the 21st day of October 1781 aged 2 years.
Commentary
FAMILY HISTORY
Robert was baptised at St Maurice, Ellingham on 28 January 1780, the second child of John Paxton, a coal miner of New Haughterslaw, and his wife, Mary, nee Coxon. His older brother, John had been baptised there in 1778, born at Old Haughterslaw. Robert died at Hagdon Coal Houses, the cause of death being recorded as Smallpox.
Robert was the second burial record where the cause of death was given as Smallpox, the first, Mary Bickerton, had died less than 2 weeks previously, also at Hagdon Coal Houses. In the following 14 years there would be a further 30 deaths recorded as Smallpox, all but two being children.
Both Robert and Mary came from coal mining families, and their living conditions would have been very basic. Even as late as 1873, a sanitary authority inspector commented on the living conditions of a miner and his family living at Curlesheugh which lies below Hagdon and Haughterslaw on the moor above Eglingham village. The cottage was described as cheerless and damp, two rooms, only one furnished, with the midden piled in a heap close by the door. Drinking water was ¾ of a mile away among bogs but pit holes nearby provided water for washing.
Coal mining was carried out extensively on the moor with workings at Haughterslaw and Hagdon. At one-point Eglingham was known as Coal Eglingham. The landowner leased the land to colliery operators for a term.
Neither the Paxton nor Bickerton families would have been able to afford a headstone for their children. It is unknown whether the landowner or the colliery operator were moved to mark their passing.
