Aug 302011
I saw this stone recently at Powerscourt, just beneath the Pepper Pot Tower. I took a photo to try to make out the engraving, but the last lines are difficult to make out. Has anyone any idea what it is about? I need a high-res photo to try to make it out, if anyone is knocking around that way in the next while…! What I can make out so far is:
Location of mystery stone...! Click to see full size.
In Loving Memory
of my dearest friend
Colonel Herbert C Laverton OBE [see comments below]
The Black Watch
Died 10th Jan 1923
——
This stone is placed
in the valley
in which he worked so often
and ________ so well
???
We have some advance on the Mystery stone…!
Is it “…loved so well”? A kind visitor has sent me a better photo to try and get the last lines:
http://enniskerryhistory.org/home/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/mystery.jpg
Very mysterious! Is there a list of OBE recipients maybe? If the Black Watch was the Royal Highlander Regiment maybe the OBE was for military service?
Yes that’s clever. Might see if there’s a list. There’s a book called Wicklow War Dead too. I checked Census for 1901 and 1911 and no dice.
I tried Google – here’s what came up in http://thepeerage.com/p45953.htm
Major Herbert Curling Laverton1
M, #459525, d. before 1926
Last Edited=22 Nov 2010
Major Herbert Curling Laverton married Hazel Valerie West, daughter of Alfred Edward West and Florence Levey, on 7 July 1908.1 He died before 1926.1
He gained the rank of Major in the service of the The Black Watch.1
Citations
[S31] Bernard, Sir Burke, editor, Burke’s genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Ireland, 4th ed. (London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1958), page 752. Hereinafter cited as Landed Gentry of Ireland.
Thanks Mary! With a name like that, that has to be our man! Good find!
Also note below as part of the Black Watch folks coming from Point Natal to Bombay on Oct 3, 02 (presumably 1902) in the London Times Shipping Lists on http://www.britishmedals.us/files/sl1902.htm
The Ionian left Point Natal Oct. 3 for Bombay with the following:
J/RHA – Capt. B. Vincent, Lts. T.E.P. Pickham, O.M. Harris, A.C. Littledale(attached) and 156 men
3/Hussars – Lt.-Col. H.C. Oswald, Maj. W.G. Murray, Capts. A.M. Tabor, H.S. Luverton, R.R. Henderson, Lts. G. Landale, D.C. Gilroy, J. Montgomery, J.J. Dobie, M. Burge, H. Leney, W.R. Tyldon-Wright, C.E. Mann, R.J. Coe, 2/Lt. J.E. Atkinson , Vet.-Lt. C.H. Joleeiffe, 2 warrant officers and 491 men .
2/Black Watch – Maj. the Hon. H.E. Maxwell, Capts. E.S. Dawes, J.T.C. Murray, Bt. -Maj. A.R. Cameron, Lts. H.C. Laverton, the Hon. M.A.C. Drummond, C.W.E. Gordon, L.P. Evans, P.A.B. Baillio-Hamilton, H. Studley, 2/Lts. C.R.B. Henderson, R.M. Robertson, P.G.B. Henderson, 1 warrant officer and 720 men
RAMC – Maj. A.T.J. Lilley, B. Forde, Capts. G.G. Delap, J.H.R. Bond, J.W. Langstaffe
6/DG – Lt. Lloyd and 3 men
9/Lancers – Lt. E. Abadie
Indian Native Forces – Vet.-Lts. E.S. Giliett, R. Porteous
2/N. Staffs. – 2/Lt. F.W.A. Wells and 43 men
3/RB – Lt. R.E. Solly-Flood
Celon Vols. – Lt. Beamish
1/Devon – Maj. J.E.I. Masterson
Returning Boer Escourts:
2/R. Scots – Capt. R.W. Duncan
2/Shropshire L.I. – 2/Lt. P.C.J. Johnson and 66 men
1/R. Scots Fus. – Capt. C.H. Jackson
Due Bombay Oct. 19
In the valley
he worked so often
and loved so well
maybe retired to the area and took up gardening?
Yes, the last line includes something about “Powerscourt” (I was trying to make something out of “Scouts” but it is definitely Powerscourt). Maybe he was employed on the estate/gardens. Retired army men were considered reliable in the 19th century, no reason why the trend wouldn’t continue into the 20th…?! Or else he was a friend who advised about the gardens – perhaps the PepperPot Tower?
You might try The Times newspaper in London. If someone was awarded an OBE they would have been mentioned in the newspaper. You can search the archive online at: http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/archive/
Good luck.
Thanks Ruth,
Get some hits for the date range identified by Mary, above, will need to look in library to get access. Looks likely though from what Mary has posted.
Thanks,
Michael
[...] The Enniskerry Local History Blog has a mystery to solve. They describe that mystery in their post called “Mystery Stone at Powerscourt.” [...]
Herbert Curling Laverton is one of our ancestors. We have his dress sabre as a family heirloom. He was in the 3rd Wilts and then the Black Watch and did indeed get awarded an OBE. Thank you for this picture and transcript – one day we will travel to see it in person!
Hazel West lived at Kilcroney.
Herbert was the son of my great grandfather and is one of many family members I am currently researching. So far I have the following..and would love to hear from Helen Roberts especially. I have never heard of the stone inscription.
He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in The Black Watch on May 15 1897 and joined 1st Battalion, being awarded the Queen’s and King’s Africa Medals with the following bars: “Driefontein”, “Wittebergen”, “Cape Colony”, “Transvaal”, “South Africa 1901″ and “South Africa 1902″.
Promoted to Captain on 29 October 1903 and retired on 3 Jan.1914. He was recalled for the duration of “The Great War”, employed first as a Major with the 2/1st Scottish Horse and later as a temporary Lt. Col. commanding training batallions at home. He died in London on 10 Jan. 1923.
Manager at Madbrook Farm, Westbury and went to Caversham Nr Reading.