The lost boys

In a shady area near the gate to Linton Infant School there's a tiny grave, perhaps the saddest in St. Mary's churchyard. It is overgrown with weeds and surrounded by a low, rusted iron railing. The headstone, half obscured by lichen, reads:

 ARTHUR HENRY

SON OF

WILLIAM P AND

LOUISA A CHALK

WHO DIED NOV 26

1865

AGED 9 MONTHS

ALSO OF

THE TWIN BROTHERS

OF THE ABOVE

WHO SURVIVED THE BIRTH

TWO DAYS

Before the age of modern medicine, the death of a child must have been an almost universal experience - which doesn't make the loss of these babies any less tragic. It's a comfort to know that William and Louisa Chalk went on to have other children, all girls, who survived and grew up and married, and no doubt brought much joy to their parents...but I'm sure they never forgot the little boys who might have been. Both parents were eventually buried in a family tomb close by their babies.