The memorial to Emily Skinner 1838-1869 is an unusual triangular obelisk. Moreover it's the smallest obelisk in the cemetery, by some way. Compared to the likes of Smith or Board, this is a much more humble memorial. The inscription reads:
9/460 In memory of Emily the beloved wife of Thomas L. Skinner who died April 8th 1869 aged 28 years.
The stone had been toppled at some point, and was firmly sunk into the ground.
Emily Skinner was born in Tangier Place, Taunton. In October 1867, she married Thomas Lowday Skinner in the Wesleyan Free Church in St Mary Street (now Bar 27). On the first of April 1869 Emily gave birth to a healthy girl, but Emily herself succumbed to infection, as so many women did after childbirth. The baby survived, Emily Lowday Cordelia Davis Skinner, who would marry Thomas Bale in 1907. She lived to 1950.
Our working assumption is that this memorial was home-made by friends of Thomas Skinner, who worked as a carpenter. We assume this little triangular obelisk was taken from a building site, perhaps a gate post, and re-used as a memorial with the addition of simple lead letters.
It was a simple job for Fine Memorials to re-erect this piece, so the stone is again a fitting tribute to a life cut tragically short.
