Out of the woods!

Back in about 2000 when I first began to delve into my family’s past, I had a phone conversation with my aunt in Laguna Beach, California. She was 87 at the time. Out of nowhere she mentioned that their grandfather William Leyland Hunter was buried at Tooting, England!

I’d always assumed from family stories of his life as a tea trader and the China Clippers etc, that he had lived and died in China. My mother and her sister were born in Hong Kong ( Kowloon ) as was their father, Tobias Hunter ( my grandfather )

Surprised, I asked how this came about and while she didn’t elaborate much on the “how” part. she did tell me “when” 

In 1924 my mother and my aunt were sent to boarding school in Bournemouth, England. They were there for four years, after which they returned home to Shanghai, where the family had moved after WW1.

It was during this time in England, either at the beginning or before they went home ( or maybe my GF made a trip to visit somewhere in the middle that I’m unaware of, but I don’t think so )

In any case, he took the girls to see the grave and my aunt told me that he said: He bought and paid for the gravestone himself and it was made of granite and he had done it as a sign of respect to his father. *Note: Eleanor is the wife he married in England, the mother of the final two children. She died in 1924 and it appears that her name was added quite some time after the original, which itself was not erected at the time of death, as my GF would have been just 17 then. At this point I don’t have a date for when the stone was put in place.

Internet capabilities were far more difficult back then.  There was no Google so I relied on AOL chat rooms and member lists to try finding info about where this grave might be. As it turns out there is only one actual “graveyard” in Tooting and it’s at St Nicholas Church. In 2001 I found a lady who very kindly went to have a look. She found the stone lying on it’s side, covered with brambles and weeds. Obviously with help, she somehow managed to right it, clean it up and sent me several photos, two of which I’ll add to this post.

She wrote me that as a reward for her work, she was treated to a rare view of a fox who had taken notice of her efforts and come out  to give his approval.