February - Bourne Civic Society

BOURNE CIVIC SOCIETY
NEWSLETTER
Obituary
James (Daniel) Lambert
School Teacher and former
member of the civic society
February 2015
Next Meeting at Baldocks
Mill
Tuesday 10th February
London’s Lea Valley and the
Great War
Jim Lewis
Registered Charity No 512420
Racing Legends
On BBC2
Jeremy Irons (actor)looks back
at the life of Formula 1 champion Graham Hill. Also the mechanics of that era Dick
Salmon, Pat Cavath , John
Sismey. To be shown again in
March 21 or 22.
Wednesday 25th March
ANNUAL GENERAL
MEETING
The Bourne Civic Society
welcomes our new members
All meetings start at 7.30
pm.
We would welcome new committee members, who could bring
new ideas for events and anyone
who knows anything about planning maters. Sign the form below or collect a new form from
Baldocks Mill.
Subscriptions
Many thanks to those members who have already sent in their subscriptions for 2015. If you’ve lost your renewal slip, don’t worry! Just drop your
subscription (single £6; joint £8; family £10) into the Heritage Centre along
with a note of your name and address.
Editors Brenda and Jim Jones. neskin@btinternet.com
Jean-Pierre Beltoise
Jean-Pierre Beltoise was born in Paris, on April 26th 1937. He died after a stroke on January 5th 2015. The
French racing driver whose controversial career included a sensational victory at the 1972 Monaco Grand
Prix, driving a Malboro BRM. Beltoise carried on driving for BRM until 1974. By then the brilliant young
Austrian Niki Lauda had joined the BRM team and Beltoise knew it was time to retire. However not even
Niki Lauder could emulate his feat of winning a grand prix for the British team. Jean-Pierre Beltoise was
one of a rare group, which includes Jean Behra and John Surtees, who had a distinguished career racing motorcycles before graduating to four wheels. The three drivers also drove for BRM.
A painting of the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix hangs in the Raymond May’s room in the Heritage Centre. Painting By Nicholas Watts.
Jean - Pierre Beltroise
Worth family grave found after 160 years
By REX NEEDLE
The grave of Ann Worth, mother of the international fashion designer Charles Worth, has been found in a
London cemetery. Until now, her whereabouts after leaving Bourne in 1836 were unknown and so the discovery has solved the long-standing mystery that has puzzled biographers writing about the life of the man
who founded his famous Paris fashion salon and became the father of haute couture.
Ann was deserted by her husband, local solicitor William Worth, and presumably left penniless. They had
lived at Wake House in North Street where he also had his law practice, but he had been leading a profligate life which resulted in his downfall and the family had no alternative but to seek refuge with relatives.
Soon afterwards, their son Charles left for London to start work with a linen drapery firm in Regent Street
and then in 1845, at the age of 20, he boarded the cross Channel ferry to France hoping to make his mark in
the millinery trade and so began his illustrious career in the world of international fashion.
William Worth died in obscurity at Billingborough on 12th November 1878, aged 89, but there has been no
record of the fate of his wife, Ann (nee Quincey), a local girl he had married on 2nd December 1816. New
research by the Quincey family however, revealed that she died at Highgate, London, over 160 years ago
from sub-acute gastritis and was buried in the local cemetery.
Now further investigation has actually located her grave where it has remained hidden in Highgate Cemetery for decades by dense undergrowth. Paul Quincey, aged 52, a scientist, of Hampton, Middlesex, a direct
descendant of Ann’s elder brother Jeremiah, enlisted the aid of the Friends of Highgate Cemetery who identified the plot which is situated a short distance from that of the family of the Victorian novelist Charles
Dicken. It was completely overgrown but they cut back the vegetation to reveal a single stone slab discoloured with age although the inscription was still readable: “In memory of Mrs Ann Worth, formerly of
Bourn, Lincolnshire, who died in Highgate 3rd September 1852, aged 59” - Bourne being spelled without a
final “e” which was added in 1893 to avoid confusion with Bourn in Cambridgeshire.
Late last year, Paul Quincey paid his first visit to the grave and placed some flowers on the tombstone on
behalf of her surviving family both in England and in Western Australia as a reminder that she had not
been forgotten.
But although one mystery has been solved, another remains unexplained and that is what she was doing in
London in 1852. Her address on the death certificate is given as North Road, Highgate, and it is believed
that she may have recently returned to England after attending the wedding of her son, Charles, who was
then working for Gagelin and Opigez in Paris, the leading fashion fabric retailers of the day, where he met
Marie Augustine Vernet, an attractive sales girl, who became his wife. They were both 26. It would seem to
be a natural conclusion that his mother would be invited to the wedding although her later presence in London remains unexplained.
Paul Quincey, who has been concerned with reports that the family had been mean to her after the crisis in
1836, suspects that Charles Worth may have created a few myths about this period of his life, perhaps because he did not go to Paris with his mother’s blessing, a move that was not without its risks at that time,
and he may have felt guilty that she had died before he had made a success of his career and could offer her
tangible help. “It is also notable that he seems to have avoided providing any checkable details about his
mother”, he said, “and although biographers have since suggested that he was generous to her, that would
have been difficult given his circumstances at that time.”
The new evidence is nevertheless encouraging for her descendants who have until now believed that because of her uncertain situation, her final years and eventual death may have been in humble even dire conditions. "Highgate cemetery was never a cheap place to be buried", said Paul, "and the grave is substantial
so I think this indicates that Ann Worth did not end her life poor and neglected as was previously suspected
although how she lived between 1836 and 1852 remains a mystery."
Our Mission Statement
It is the aim of the society to make sure that new developments are of the highest possible quality and developers are made aware of the issues of surrounding their schemes. Good design
Charles died in France from pneumonia on 10th March 1895 at the age of 69 when 2,000 mourners attended his funeral, including the mayor and civic officials from Paris and the French Assembly together with
the President of the Republic himself. He was buried at Suresnes and his wife was placed in the same grave
three years later but his name remains a byword in world fashion which he did so much to modernise and
where his influence is still evident.
PORTRAIT OF BOURNE is the definitive history of the town and is available on CD-ROM. An order
form may be downloaded from the Bourne web site at www.bourne-lincs.org.uk
Ann Worth’s grave in Highgate Cemetery
Photograph courtesy Paul Quincey