Napoleonapp©Julia Bolton Holloway

THE ENGLISH AND NAPOLEON IN A FLORENTINE CEMETERY,
TO CELEBRATE THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR, 21 OCTOBER 1805
AND THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO, 18 JUNE 1815


 
Many of our burials in Florence's 'English' Cemetery in Piazzale Donatello, have connections to England's resistance to Napoleon and his Empire. This app gives you a guided tour of these. If you want to accompany this virtual guide musically I recommend the following on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5p_fplluZ8. 18 June 2018, we shall celebrate the anniversary of the 1815 Battle of Waterloo  at the Collezione Predieri of toy lead soldiers demonstrating that Battle at the Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, via Buffalini, 6, at 5,00 p.m.; then, at 6,00 p.m. visiting the tombs of participants in the Napoleonic wars at the English Cemetery in Piazzale Donatello, 38, 50132 Firenze./Florence. On 24 June 2018 at the English Cemetery we will do the same, visiting the tombs of doctors and understanding the history of medicine shown in the cemetery, using the anniversary date of the Risorgimento's 1859 Battle of Solferino which began the Red Cross and the Geneva Conventions, from the Swiss Henri Dunant seeing the terrible carnage on that battlefield. The two events being as if Tolstoy's War and Peace, trauma and healing.

    Click to enlarge maps

As we go up the central path, on our left in Sector A, we see the largest plot in the cemetery, which is now vacant, but which had had the remains of:
 
A107/ COLONEL THOMAS STIBBERT/ ENGLAND/ QUI IACQUIRO LE SALME DI TOMMASO STIBBERT E LA SUA FIGLIA ERMINIA CHE DA FEDERIGO STIBBERT FIGLIO E FRATELLO FURANO TRASPORTATE NELLA CAPELLE DA LUI ERETTA NEL CIMITERO DEGLI ALLORI
Pastor Luigi Santini wrote: 'A colonel in the British army, he was staying in Florence when his son Frederick (1838-1906), who would make Florence his second home, was born. At Villa Davanzati, in Montughi, the son and brother was to invest his learning and his wealth to bring to life the largest museum of antique arms in the world, and then to donate it to the city'. Colonel Thomas Stibbert of the Coldstream Guards, whose wealth largely came from the family's involvement in the East India Company, is one of the Cemetery's many participants in the Peninsula and Waterloo battles against Napoleon. Formerly buried here, their two bodies were exhumed to the Allori Cemetery, where their chapel became ruinous. Their portraits are in the Museo Stibbert. One wishes their chapel could be rebuilt here. The Casa di Risparmio di Firenze also has a fine exhibit of lead soldiers showing the Battle of Waterloo. A now lone oleander grows beside the memorial stone.

 

Then, at the left hand corner, along the path at the end of which we see the dome of Florence's great cathedral, we find the following tomb under a mimosa tree (he had asked for four for his tomb, I said one was enough!), is:

A29/ WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR/ ENGLAND/ IN MEMORY OF/ WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR/ BORN 30th OF JANUARY 1775/ DIED 17th OF SEPTEMBER 1864/ AND THOU HIS FLORENCE TO THY TRUST/ RECEIVE AND KEEP/ KEEP SAFE HIS DEDICATED DUST/ HIS SACRED SLEEP/ SO SHALL THY LOVERS COME FROM FAR/ MIX WITH THY NAME/ MORNING STAR WITH EVENING STAR/ HIS FAULTLESS FAME/ A.G. SWINBURNE/
Born in Warwick, he is the same generation as Keats, Shelley and Byron, but outlived them. His childhood love, the daughter of an Earl, and sister of another, the Honourable Rose Whitworth Aylmer, is buried in India, 1800, at 20. In 1910, BACSA (British Association of Cemeteries in South Asia), tells us, Walter Savage Landor's epitaph was added to her tomb:

White Silence

Ah, what avails the sceptred race!
Ah, what thy form divine!
What every virtue, every grace!
Rose Aylmer, all were thine.

Rose Aylmer, whom these wakeful eyes
May weep, but never see,
A night of memories and sighs
I consecrate to thee.

He had witnessed in Paris the ceremony where Napoleon was elected Consul for life. He next romantically sought to participate in the Peninsula battles against Napoleon as a volunteer. Having lost his childhood sweetheart to fever in India, while others, including 'Ianthe', rejected him, he proposed marriage to Julia Thuillier, the daughter of a bankrupt Swiss banker whom he met at a dance in Bath, the marriage an unhappy one. They first lived at Llanthony Abbey in Wales, then came to Italy. Pastor Luigi Santini wrote: 'An aristocrat, a Republican and a rebel, Landor left England for Florence in 1821, and arrived with a full-fledged reputation as an artist: his poems and prose attest to his great classical learning and his epigrams are forceful and moving. He was restless and eccentric, changed residence several times. Also extravagant and generous, he succeeded in amusing the Florentines (when he didn't terrify them) with his wit. In 1835 he bequeathed his Villa Gherardesca home to his son, Arnold, and returned to London, only to reappear in Florence in 1858. Finally, turned out by his wife and family, like a mad King Lear, he found refuge for a while with the compassionate ISA BLAGDEN (Sector B, B42), but finished his days in squalor, in lodgings arranged for him by Robert Browning, in via della Chiesa, then the haunt of artists, under the care of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's former maid, Elizabeth (Lily) Wilson. A leader of the early English Romantic movement, his literary production was considerable. He was a fervent supporter of the Italian cause, to which the Brownings introduced him, and raised funds for the 'Garibaldini'.  He lived to a ripe old age, all but forgotten by the younger generation, but his name, as Swinburne wrote for his tombstone, is now forever united with that of Florence, his chosen home'. [See Giuliana Artom Treves, Golden Ring, pp. 38-53.] He collected Tuscan 'Primitive' paintings before Bernard Berenson did so. He was also a great lover of landscape gardening, not liking gardens to be too neat, too precise. His wife (jealous of Rose Aylmer?) did not attend his funeral and a stone was placed on his tomb that was so cheap it disintegrated and was replaced in 1946. His son ARNOLD SAVAGE LANDOR (1819-1871) is buried in a magnificent tomb with a full-size sculpture of Walter's shrewish wife, Julia, on top of it in Sector F, F128, for which she must have paid a fortune. Later Professor Fiske of Cornell, the great Italian and Icelandic scholar, would acquire his villa (now the School of Music in San Domenico, Fiesole) and carefully photograph it as it was. For which see Patrick J. Stevens, 'Jennie's Gift' and Kristìn Bragadottìr, William Morris and Iceland. We are profoundly grateful for Jean Field's gift to us of the many volumes of Walter Savage Landor's writings, which we carried to his tomb in 2007, and to that of ROSA MADIAI (F128), next to his son's, her imprisoned husband Francesco being the subject of WSL's last 'Imaginary Conversation', these now shelved in the Mediatheca 'Fioretta Mazzei'.

    
Walter Savage Landor                   Landor Celebration, 2007

   
Daniel Willard Fiske's photographs at Cornell of the Villa Landor in San Domenico

        
Young Pellew                        Felicie de Fauveau

In Sector B we find the following tombs, beginning with that of

He is a Knight of the Portuguese Order of the Tower and the Sword for his participation as surgeon on the H.M.S. 'Confiance' at the capture of  Cayenne. He and Raffles visit Napoleon on St Helena. Thomas Adolphus Trollope, What I Remember, II.146-147, describes Sir Thomas Sevestre, as an old India Army surgeon called on at the Baths of Lucca to attend a dying duellist.

   

. Bentinck Walter, at nine, Frederick and two girls, Mary and Cecilia, were left orphans by the death of their mother. Their father, Walter Yelverton, had now left politics and was cursitor in the Court of Chancery in Ireland. In 1808, 17-year-old Bentinck was admitted to Trinity College Dublin as a Fellow Commoner. He attained a Bachelor of Arts in the summer of 1814. He subsequently secured a commission in the 6th (or 1st Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot but narrowly missed service in the Napoleonic Wars. He was with the regiment in Cape Town when word arrived that his father had died in Ireland in June 1824. Bentinck Walter Yelverton duly succeeded to Belle Isle but his attempts to manage his father's affairs and to look after his two unmarried sisters earned him an unfortunate blot in his copy book when the Adjutant's Roll noted he had been 'Absent without Leave from 31 March 1826'. We have an enchanting essay on his regimental spoon contributed by Michael Ayrton: yelvertons.html. He subsequently retired on half-pay. In June 1829, he married his cousin, the Hon. Anna Maria Bingham, eldest daughter of John Bingham, 1st Baron Clanmorris of Newbrook, County Mayo. Their daughter Anna Maria Cecilia was born in 1833. Bentinck died in Florence in 1837, aged forty-five, and was interred in the Swiss-owned 'English' Cemetery. His daughter died in Nice aged just 13 in 1846 (B3).
 
      
                                                                                     Crest, Lion passant regardant
       

                                              The 1870s Harper's Monthly shows this Yelverton tomb

Burke's Peerage: Lt.-Col. Hon. Gerald de Courcy was born after 1776. He was the son of John de Courcy, 19th Lord Kingsale and Susan Blennerhassett. He married Elizabeth Carlyon Bishop, daughter of John Bishop, on 29 January 1807. JLMaquay, Diaries 19/10/1848 'to deCourcy who appears dying made out his will and had it signed' 20/10/1848 'deCourcy died today at 11 o'clock.' 22/10/1848 'went in early to deCourcy's funeral.' Their children were Susannah de Courcy d. 9 Jan 1884, Geraldine de Courcy, Frederica Maitland de Courcy, Henrietta Jane Paulet de Courcy d. 1 Jul 1906, Colonel John Fitzroy de Courcy, 24th Lord Kingsale b. 30 Mar 1821, d. 20 Nov 1890. For a descendant's obituary, see http://www.kingsmeadschool.co.uk/decourcyobituary.htm

   

Elizabeth Carlyon Bishop, daughter of John Bishop, had married the Honourable Gerard de Courcy on 29 January 1807. He died in October 1848, leaving her a widow. Their children were Susannah de Courcy d. 9 Jan 1884, Geraldine de Courcy, Frederica Maitland de Courcy, Henrietta Jane Paulet de Courcy d. 1 Jul 1906, Colonel John Fitzroy de Courcy, 24th Lord Kingsale b. 30 Mar 1821, d. 20 Nov 1890.



Next, buried with his son and his wife, the surviving daughter erecting a huge tomb to her Scottish mother, is

   

Would you leave
That child to wander in a battle-field
And push his innocent smile against the guns? Book I,772-774

He has a biography in John Marshall, Royal Naval Biography, Or Memoirs of the Services of all the Flag Officers, accessible on Google Books. Many members of his family connected with the Royal Navy. He seems never to have married. This tomb urgently needs consolidation, was damaged by a British bomb in WWII..

 

 

           

     

                                                      

their grandson, the family being connected to the Moysers, Whytes, Fleetwood Wilsons and Chichesters.

 

In Sector D, to the right at the top of the Cemetery we have the following tombs:

   

     

and

 

Major Alexander Tomkins was in the 77th Infantry. A descendant writes: 'Burgoyne Tomkins (c. 1761-1836), was a physician, not a mere surgeon as his father had been. He took an MD at St Andrews and was a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and held the sinecure post of Physician to the Tower of London garrison for over 50 years (Burgoyne's sons were officers in the Army and the Royal Navy, one dying at Waterloo, while two of his daughters married Army officers)'. 

 

Now we go back up the path to the cross to find in Sector E at the corner that we have the tomb of

And then, turning down by the statue of Speranza, we have the very touching and equal tombs of a King of England's son, his servant and his wife, next to the tombs for American Hiram Powers' three children.

 
 

Dearest People, . . . At the moment I'm on leave in Florence & enjoying it a lot. . . I found the General's grave yesterday and his wife's side by side, & took a photo. . . I don't suppose another member of the family will have the opportunity for a long time. What I did decipher was as follows:- 'Beneath this sacred symbol of salvation repose the mortal remains of Gen. Sir. W.H.S., K.E.B., Colonel of 79 Highlanders, who departed this life at Florence 13th March 1862. His wife Georgina Hacking, died on 1 May 1872. His tomb is No 778. The graveyard is in the centre of the Piazza Donatello, in the main boulevard, the Viale Principe Amadeo, Viale Principe Eugenio. It took some time to find the grave once I had looked up the caretaker's book & found his name, as there was no plan . . . The grave is on the right of the central pathway as you go toward the centre of the cemetery, about 5 yards from the path, & almost opposite E.B.B.'s . . . It is closed to the dead now, but the living may enter by pulling on the bell rope at the main gate & waiting till the caretaker or his wife comes to open.

    
                                                  Captain Jack Sewell, 1945

E12O/ E59/ 771/ JAMES BANSFIELD/ ENGLAND/ "NOT NOW AS A SERVANT ABOVE A SERVANT A BROTHER BELOVED" PHILEMON 16 VERSE/ SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JAMES BANSFIELD PRIVATE IN THE 11TH HUSSARS/ WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE ON THE 11TH OF JANUARY 1862/ HE WAS FOR 20 YEARS THE FAITHFUL AND DEVOTED SERVANT OF GENERAL SIR W.H. SEWELL K.C.B. BY WHOSE WIDOW THIS TOMB WAS RAISED// 771

 

 

F131/ VLADIMIR FEDOROVICH RADECKIJ/ RUSSIA
          

              
This Russian Radetsky is an engineer, likely of the telegraph, and also a government advisor. His name would not be exactly popular during the Risorgimento 
as it is shared with the Czech General who served Austria against Italy, defeating both Napoleon and Carlo Alberto, and for whom the Radetsky March was 
composed by Strauss.

F122/ PRINCESS VERA LEONIDOVNA UROSOVA/ RUSSIA 
    
This four-year-old Russian princess buried beneath the now-felled great cedar of Lebanon comes from a family who were great friends with the Tolstoy family, 
Prince Leonid Dmitrievic Urosov being Vice-Governor of Tula. Princess Selene-Maria A. Obelensky explains that Vera is only distantly connected to her 
grandmother, Princess Orussov. We include her in this app because of Tolstoy's epic novel, War and Peace, on Russia's defense against Napoleon's army.

        

                        

Booklet and app created, 11 May 2018, Aurello Anello Books

FLORIN WEBSITE © JULIA BOLTON HOLLOWAY, AUREO ANELLO ASSOCIAZIONE, 1997-2022: MEDIEVAL: BRUNETTO LATINO, DANTE ALIGHIERI, SWEET NEW STYLE: BRUNETTO LATINO, DANTE ALIGHIERI, & GEOFFREY CHAUCER || VICTORIAN: WHITE SILENCE: FLORENCE'S 'ENGLISH' CEMETERY || ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING || WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR || FRANCES TROLLOPE || HIRAM POWERS || ABOLITION OF SLAVERY || FLORENCE IN SEPIA  || CITY AND BOOK CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII|| MEDIATHECA 'FIORETTA MAZZEI' || EDITRICE AUREO ANELLO CATALOGUE || FLORIN WEBSITE || UMILTA WEBSITE || LINGUE/LANGUAGES: ITALIANO, ENGLISH || VITA
New: Dante vivo || White Silence
Newest: Abbreviated Virtual Guide: http://www.florin.ms/VirtualGuide.html to the English Cemetery, in italiano http://www.florin.ms/GuidaVirtuale.html              
              The Stones of Florence http://www.florin.ms/StonesofFlorence.html in italiano, http://www.florin.ms/LapidiDantesche.html
              Emio Latini, Daniel in the Island of the Dead, https://vimeo.com/139962781
              https://once-and-future-classroom.org/the-dante-vivo-project-florence-italy/
              The English and Napoleon in Florence's 'English' Cemetery http://www.florin.ms/Napoleonapp.html
              Tombs associated with Slavery in Florence 'English Cemetery http://www.florin.ms/SlaveryTombsapp.html
              Fanous Women Associated with Florence's 'English' Cemetery http://www.florin.ms/FamousWomenapp.html
              History of Medicine in Florence's 'English' Cemetery http://www.florin.ms/MedicalHistoryapp.html


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