SECRET BURIAL

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12530, 16 April 1935, Page 4

SECRET BURIAL

SOCIETY LEADER'S WISH

A secret burial .was carried our m the Bristol Channel, five miles off the Welsh coast, .recently. It was iu fulfilment of the wish of'Mrs Helena Augusta Wallis aged S 3, of Portlica.wl., that she be buried at sea. Mr s V allis, who was the widow of the late ColqneL Walli.q of Newport and had been a prominent figure in \\ elsli society, died after a lons illness. Only those .whose help was necessary were taken into the seeret. and even then the final plan* were not disclosed until the last minute.

At her house, Plus Gsaf, the blinds were not drawn, and there were no External signs Q f ,m.ouvping. Tim master of the 'Steam Fug Eagle of Caardiff, received instructions berth, at the landing aft ago 'inside the breakwater. H e did not know the object of his mission nor did the coastguard. The Rev. T. Holmes Morgan, rccjtor «of Portheawl, conducted a Service at the house, ami then the hearse, followed by a- few cars drove along the promenade to the breakwater, where the specially constructed coffin was lowered on to the lug.

Only Mrs Wallis’s 'son, Major Wallis., of London and her son-in-law Mr Kcye, .of Birkenhead qnd Dr . William Hartlapcl, of went aboard the tug. A strong wind tvas bidwing when it liovo-to ■ five miles The captain then read the service for burial at sea . and -tho weighted coffin slid into the deeps' °f the channel with sea birds, circling .overhead, 'crying a requiem. 'Mfs 'Wallis, who was a daughter of the late Captain Evans of Newport, spent much of her early life at sea. She sailed round the world several time'* witfi her father.