MARY ELIZABETH RISBRIDGER (1865-1943)
Mary’s memorial in Christ Church Epsom Common
Photograph © Nishi Sharma 2015
This memorial is found in the north east corner of what is nowadays called the Peace & Reconciliation Chapel of Christ Church Epsom Common, situated between the parish’s two war memorials. To the casual observer, it might be thought to indicate the chapel’s origins as a Lady Chapel. However, the area was originally the church’s North Transept, providing additional seating for the congregation (although monopolised by Lord Rosebery, a regular worshipper at Christ Church, as his family’s pew). It was converted into a Memorial Chapel in 1920, to house the WW1 memorial.
The inscription on the memorial reads, above the statue:
TO THE GLORY OF GOD
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
and below it:
MARY RISBRIDGER
WHO WORSHIPED [sic] IN THIS CHURCH
FOR MANY YEARS ~ APRIL 7. 1943 ~ R.I.P
The memorial’s sculptural form makes it unique among those at Christ Church. The remainder are all essentially two-dimensional and, with the obvious exception of the stained glass, almost wholly text-based. Only two other wall-mounted memorials have figurative elements, being the St Monica of Emmeline Willis and the profile portrait of the Rev Archer Hunter.
The memorial is not in its original position. As arrowed in the photograph of a 1980s wedding below, it was first placed in the South Aisle, right across the church from the Peace & Reconciliation Chapel (and perhaps sited near Mary’s customary pew). It was moved from there during the 1990s “reordering” of Christ Church to make way for additional storage. (As this photograph also shows, the memorial is quite large – being just short a metre from top to bottom.)
Part of a 1980s photograph showing the original location of the memorial
From the Christ Church archives © 2019
(That 1990s “reordering” also led to the moving of four other memorials, but only by a few feet from original locations. These were the “Vicars Board” in memory of the Revd John Matthews (moved from the North Aisle to the Tower Porch to make way for a new letter rack), and the memorials for choristers Trefelyn Cropley, George Jeans, and Frank Pullinger (re-fixed to the Chancel wall when the choir stalls were removed to make way for more flexible seating). For completeness, it should be noted that the memorial for Neil Primrose in what is now the Peace & Reconciliation Chapel was moved a few feet sideways in 1920 to make way for the Parish WW1 memorial.)
Mary was born on 16 March 1885, the third of at least 6 children born to William Lee and Charlotte (née Press). William had been born in Leatherhead and Charlotte in Overton, Hampshire. They married in Q4 1864, registered in Epsom, when William was 42 and Charlotte 22. The 1871 Census records the couple living by Woodcote Green with six children: 9 year old Thomas; 8 year old Isabel; 6 year old Mary; 4 year old Sarah; 2 year old Charlotte; and new born John. The first two were born before the wedding date, and initial thoughts were that these were William’s children from a previous marriage. However, the baptism records of St Martin of Tours (where all the children were baptised shortly after their births) confirm William and Charlotte as the parents. Those records also initially note William as an “Agricultural Labourer” but later refer to him as a “Gardener”.
William died in 1872, aged 53, and the 1881 Census records the widowed 38 year old Charlotte living in Rose Cottage on Epsom Common with five of her children plus the 1 year old Elizabeth Tillier, listed as (presumably Charlotte’s) “Nurse Child”. The child away from home was Mary, and she is found in the 1881 Census as a Domestic Nurse in the household of John (a “Brick & Pottery Manufacturer Employing 39 Men & 3 Boys”) and Ellen Keen in Church Street, Ewell.
On 3 January 1885, the 19 year old Mary Lee married 22 year old James Risbridger (a “Labourer”) in Christ Church Epsom Common. (Risbridger is such a distinctive name that it has occasionally been suggested that Mary was the wife of sometime Christ Church Verger, (Alfred) Andrew Risbridger. He, however, was the son of Mary’s sister, Isabel, and brother in law, Henry Risbridger, who had married in Epsom in 1882.)
James, born in Merton in 1863, was the son of Drury Risbridger (a “Labourer”) and Mary (née Kember) who had married in St Mary’s Ewell in Q4 1848. Drury died in Q2 1868, and the 1871 Census records the widowed 42 year old Mary and five children from 2 to 12 (including the 7 year old James) living with her father, Thomas Kember, in the now-lost Garden Cottages off Epsom’s East Street. By the time of the 1881 Census, the widowed 52 year old Mary (now a “Laundress”) had moved to “Stamford Place, 1 The Common, Epsom” with her five children (including 18 year old James – listed as a “Carman” or carter).
[As an aside, it is worth mentioning that James’s father, Drury, is listed in some records as both “Drurey” and “Drew”. And then, for some reason (and probably a transcription error), the record of his son James’s 1885 marriage – nearly 20 years after his early death – to Mary Lee at Christ Church notes that he was “Risbridger, John (labourer deceased)”.]
The 1891 Census records the 28 year old James (now listed as a “Gas Works Labourer”) and 26 year old Mary living in Margaret Cottages on Stamford Green with their first three children, all of whom were baptised at Christ Church. (Sadly, their first-born child, Mary, died aged 5 in mid-1891.) By the time of the 1901 Census, the family were living in Willow Cottages on the Common and three more children had arrived. The couple’s last child, Percy, was born on 29 November 1902. Like his siblings, he was baptised at Christ Church where the records show that the family was still living on the Common.
By the time of the 1911 Census, the family had moved to 38 Middle Lane, Epsom. James is now shown as a Foreman at the Gas Works – where his 18 year old son, James junior, was also working as a “Blacksmith’s Striker”.
In 1926, James junior (now aged 33 and listed as a “Seaman”) emigrated to Australia on the Moreton Bay which left London on 9 February bound for Melbourne. The passenger manifest lists his last UK address as his parents’ home in 38 Middle Lane, Epsom. In yet to be discovered circumstances, he died in Australia in 1930.
The September 1939 Register records Mary and James senior still at 38 Middle Lane. The 74 year old Mary is listed the conventional “Unpaid Domestic Duties” and 77 year old James as “Gas Worker Retired”. Also living with them were their 49 year old daughter, Edith (also “Unpaid Domestic Duties”), and her husband, 50 year old Sidney J Smith (“Gardener Disabled”): they had married in Epsom in Q3 1915.
As noted on her memorial, Mary died on 7 April 1943. She was 78. The Probate record of administration of her £383 estate being awarded to husband James notes that the death was at their Middle Lane home. Mary was buried in Grave K1 of Epsom Cemetery on 12 April 1943.
The widowed James was 88 when he died, also at his Middle Lane home, on 14 January 1961. He was buried in the same grave as his late wife on 19 January. The Probate records note that administration of James’s £795 estate was awarded to the couple’s 51 year old son, George (a “Boilerman”).
The grave of Mary and her husband, James, in Epsom Cemetery
Photograph by Roger Morgan © 2019
The couple’s grave is in the foreground of the photograph above. The headstone – now missing its original cross – has the following written on its three layers:
IN
AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF
MARY RISBRIDGER
DEARLY BELOVED WIFE OF JAMES RISBRIDGER
ENTERED INTO REST APR 7th 1943
AGED 78
ALSO
JAMES RISBRIDGER
DEARLY BELOVED HUSBAND OF THE ABOVE
DIED JAN 14th 1951 AGED 88
R.I.P.
And, on the top two levels of the back is another memorial:
IN LOVING MEMORY
OF OUR DEAR
JIM
THE BELOVED SON OF
JAMES AND MARY RISBRIDGER
WHO DIED IN AUSTRALIA
SEPTEMBER 4th 1930 AGED 38 YEARS
THY WILL BE DONE
The readily available records provide disappointingly few details of Mary’s life. It seems, however, that this was rather more modest than her distinctive memorial in Christ Church might suggest.
Roger Morgan © 2019