RICHARD FISHER
FUNERAL OF A CHORISTER AT ST. JOHN'S, NEWBURY.
One of the Senior Choir-boys of this Church, who had been up to a very recent time most regular in his place not only at the Sunday Services, but also at the daily Evensong, was buried with great solemnity on Monday last. The Rector, the Rev. T. Hubbard, in his Sermon on Sunday morning (being the Festival of St Matthias,) noticed his loss with evident emotion. "We should try to realise and take comfort in the Article of our Faith" "I believe in the Communion of Saints" and "most heartily thank God for all His servants departed this life in His faith and fear " '—from St. Matthias whom we this day commemorate, down to our-dear brother whose vacant place in the choir we so sincerely lament— “Beseeching him to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with them we may be partakers of His heavenly kingdom."
On Monday, the altar was draped in black crape, with a wreath of white azalias, snowdrops, and other flowers in the centre; the clergy stalls were hung with purple cloth, and a wreath of white flowers occupied the place of the deceased member of the choir. The corpse, on a canopied bier covered with a purple pall with yellow fringe, and a large white cross throughout its entire length, was met at the porch by the Clergy and Choir in surplices, who preceded it to the chancel chanting the first part of the Burial Office to the 7th tone. The body having been deposited between the choir stalls, a wreath of flowers was put above it by one of the choristers. The Psalms (xxxix and xc.) were then chanted to the Gregorian "Tonto Peregrinus." The Rev. C. N. Robarts read the lesson. The hymn—
"Jesus live,! no longer now
Can thy terrors, death, appal us.”
was then sung. The choir and clergy, followed by the body, proceeded to the cemetery, where the Rev. T.Hubbard performed the remainder of the service. After the benediction the following hymn was sung (from the "Hymnal noted")-
O! Paradise, O! Paradise,
Who doth not crave for rest!
Who would not seek the happy land?
Where they that lov'd are blest.
Where loyal hearts and true
Stand ever in the light,
All rapture through and through,
In God's most holy sight.
O! Paradise, O! Paradise,
Wherefore doth death delay?
Bright death that is the welcome dawn
Of our eternal day.
Where loyal hearts and true, &c.
O! Paradise, O! Paradise,
'Tis weary waiting here;
I long to be where Jesus is,
To see and feel him near.
Where loyal hearts and true, &c.
O! Paradise, O! Paradise,
I want to sin no more ;
I want to be as pure on earth
As on thy spotless shore.
Where loyal hearts and true, &c.
O! Paradise, O! Paradise,
I feel ' twill not be long.
Patience! I almost think I hear
Faint fragments of thy song.
Where loyal hearts and true, &c.
The coffin was of plain wood with a black cross on the lid, and the initials R. F. Before it was lowered to its last resting place a wreath of flowers was placed on it.
We are happy to state that notwithstanding the immense crowds who assembled to witness the spectacle (there were probably over a thousand persons present) order and decorum were preserved. We understand that the Pall was furnished by Mr. Vigers, undertaker to the Guild of St. Alban's, London.
Newbury Weekly News and General Advertiser - Thursday 28 February 1867
A curious feature of this article is that the only clue the boy’s identity is the set of initials on the coffin lid: nowhere else is his name given.
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