Whitchurch

Scottish Granite Anstruther Memorial This picture (probably taken in July 1926) is provided courtesy of Wilma van Stratum - God-daughter (and relative) of Babs Anstruther. >

Henry (Harry) Torrens Anstruther died in 1926. A block of Scottish granite was brought to Whitchurch and set as his memorial stone. The photograph records its arrival. The group is standing at the corner in the churchyard adjacent to the spot where H.T. Anstruther was - and where now other family members are also - buried.

In the picture - Babs Anstruther, Douglas Anstruther - son of Harry Anstruther - Lady "Mab" (Mabel) Wormald (Babs' mother) and, probably, Else Grootenhuis (née Wormald) a favourite first cousin of Babs Anstruther - both born in the same year, 1901.

It is equally possible that the third woman is Douglas' sister, Joyce Anstruther (later Joyce Maxtone Graham, Joyce Placzek - the writer, Jan Struther). Joyce died in 1953 in New York and she too is remembered here - where her ashes are buried beside her father.

Church of St. John - Whitchurch, Bucks.

Lower right section of graveyard. 1999.

1926 - Henry Torrens Anstruther.
1932 - A.F.C.A. - Adrian Fagus Campbell Anstruther. (Age 15)
1953 - Joyce Placzek (Maxtone Graham) - née Anstruther.: (the writer, Jan Struther)
1956 - Douglas Tollemache Anstruther.
1961 - Jean Dionis Drew-Smythe - née Anstruther.
1981 - Evelyn Mabel (Babs) Anstruther - née Wormald.

Sir Edward Smythe of Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire - a Lord Chief Justice of Ireland - Sir Edward Smythe died in February 1682 and is remembered by a plaque set into the floor of the aisle of St. John the Baptist Church. His son was also named Edward whose wife is named as Mary. Edward and Mary Smythe had a daughter (baptised at the church) Sarah Spencer Smythe. Also remembered in the church is Lucius Smythe. The Smythe property was sold to a member of the Reynolds family towards the end of the seventeenth century.

Edward Smythe's memorial tablet is set in the aisle of the church. The transcription of the Latin wording on the memorial tablet which appears on the link page above is the work of Veronica Sankaran who kindly agreed to translate it especially for this site. Veronica Sankaran is widely known for her translation of the seminal Norman era Domesday Book. (Philimore & Co Ltd, Chichester, 1983)