Burial of Ashes of Lord and Lady Plunket

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 97, 27 April 1938, Page 6

Burial of Ashes of Lord and Lady Plunket

FLOWER-FILLED CABIN. Two bronze caskets containing the ashes of Lord and Lady Plunket, who were killed in an aeroplane accident in California on February 24, were brought to England in the liner Queen Mary and thence to Denham by Mr and Mrs Douglas Fairbanks and Mrs Jack Dean, formerly Miss Fanny Ward, mother of Lady Plunket.

The cremation of the remains of the victims took place in America, and during the voyage from New York the caskets rested upon a pedestal, draped w r ith the Union Jack, in a flower filled cabin.

The burial took place at Denham, Bucks. The funeral service was held in the parish church, where Lord and Lady Plunket were married in 1922 The grave was lined with spring flowers and foliage, and the bronze casket containing the ashes—inscribed only with the Christian names of Lord and Lady Plunket—were covered with lilies of the valley.

Heading the procession were Lord Plunket and the Hon. Robin Plunket, sons of Lord and Lady Plunket, and others present included Lady Victoria Braithwaite (mother of Lord Plunket), the Hon. Brinsley and the Hon. Kiwa Plunket (brothers), Captain and the Hon. Mrs Tahu Rhodes, Colonel and the Hon. Mrs F. E. Smith, and Captain and the Hon. Mrs Charles Wliidborne (brothers-in-law and sisters of Lord Plunket).

On the day before the funeral, Mrs Dean said:—“Lord and Lady Plunket had been waitiug for 10 days to get reservations on a streamlined express. Then my daughter, who had promised

mo not to fly, came and said: ‘Mother, we must. But don’t worry. We’re going by the southern route to avoid the mountains and we’ll phone you when we get there.* I,never got that ’phone call. To-morrow I go to the funeral at Denham. ’ ’