LORRY AS HEARSE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXL, Issue 20260, 8 November 1935, Page 2

LORRY AS HEARSE

RICH WOMAN’S REQUEST A story of joy turned to life-long sorrow, of grief nursed for years in secret, and of a rich woman’s direction in her will that her body should be carried on a lorry to the crematorium, comes from Brighouse, near Bradford, Yorkshire. Mrs Gladys Goldthorpe, of Howland, Brighouse, died at the age of 56, leaving a fortune of £26,000. In her will she stated: “I desire to be cremated. Send a sealed casket Cno wood) on a lorry to the crematorium. No set religious service, but if you can find someone to play well Chopin’s “Dead March,” perhaps a couple of hymns, and another organ selection, I shall be glad.” Her last wishes were faithfully carried out with the exception of the reference to “no wood.” A relative explained that she could not be cremated in a metal casket, and she was taken to the crematorium from the place where she died in a customary wooden shell. Tragedy overtook Mrs Goldthorpe when a young woman. Her husband was district officer for the Government in the Malay States. They met in England while he was on leave, and 18 months after he had returned to his post she set out to rejoin him. But when she arrived at Colombo romance was turned into tragedy. She was met with the news that he had died. Grief-tricken, she went on to Malay, where Government representatives tried in vain to persuade her to return to England. She nursed her sorrow, became ill, and her life was despaired of. Doctors, however, restored her to health.

Some Italian officers having given their horses French or English names the War Minister has ordered that all animals in the army must bear Italian n^mes.