The Stories from the Stones 9 - By Steve Lavender

'Stories from the Stones'
Please visit the Contents Page for this section, where you will find other 'Stories from the Stones.'

These same stories are also published on Penistone Archive Group's Facebook page, their Journal and in 'The Bridge' magazine issued by St John's church, Penistone. Many thanks to their tireless author, Mr Steve Lavender, for his worthy contributions to local history and this website. - JB.

Story 9 - William Fenton 1819 to 1855

When choosing to create a new story, I have taken one of the following approaches – either the name has inspired me such as Wainwright; Shewabell; Biltcliffe; or Wordsworth for example; or alternatively it is the inscription on the grave which has led me to want to investigate the story further such as those given by Thomas Moore; Joseph Prigg or Frank Peace.

Our next story comes from the inscription we have found on the memorial and leading us to wonder why William Fenton and his youngest sister might find themselves in the Gibraltar area in April of 1855.

In 1855, Queen Victoria was just 36 years old, the war in the Crimea had been waging for two years, Lord Palmerston was our Prime Minister and the world’s first football team Sheffield FC was still two years away from its formal formation (1857). At this time Gibraltar had been under British rule for 150 years. Of historic interest is that in 1805 Lord Nelson’s body had been brought on shore to Gibraltar after his death at the Battle of Trafalgar before being returned to England. One of the cemeteries in Gibraltar is known as the Trafalgar Cemetery where some of those of those who died either during the battle were buried.

The Fentons of Underbank were a long-established family of this area. They became the occupiers of Underbank Hall in the early 1700, when William Fenton (not the subject of this story) married Frances West whose family had been at the Hall since the fifteenth century. We shall hear more of the West family in future 'Stories from the Stones' and their influence on other significant events in our area. One of the great grandchildren of William and Frances is Samuel Fenton, who married Jessey Cayley in 1809. Samuel and Jessey had a large family with four girls and one boy William, born in 1819.

So we come to the mystery, as the epitaph on the chancel wall at St John’s Church says that the plaque was placed there in his memory by his four sisters, and records that he was ‘Barbarously murdered by robbers at Algeciras in Spain, 13th April 1855, aged 35.’

Algeciras is a major Spanish port opposite Gibraltar on the Bay of the same name. Back in the 1850s it would not appear to be the sort of place that a British tourist might want to visit – in particular with the tensions at that time between Britain, Spain and Gibraltar. I have looked at many resources and cannot find any reason for William’s visit – except for a speculative one, and that is that the Thomas Cooke tourist company offered its first international tour in 1855. It did not go to Gibraltar as far as I can discover but maybe this gave William inspiration to travel to the south of Spain.

A particularly poignant observation is that the plaque also mentions that his remains are interred at the cemetery in Gibraltar (although I have not been able to validate this), and that ‘the youngest of his sisters was with him at the time of his cruel death.’ Thankfully, she made her way home and was instrumental in establishing the epitaph to William along with her other three sisters.

As well as this plaque to William – many of the Fenton family are interred at St John’s and it is likely that we will be looking at their contribution to Penistone life in future stories. If you have anything that you may be able to add to William’s death, please let us know so that we can add it to this sad story (Email: sjlav1952@gmail.com).

We will remember William Fenton and has family. My thanks to Richard Galliford, Penistone Archives, Ancestry.com and Jack Briggs’ Penistone Pictorial for their contribution to this story. S. J. Lavender, Chair Friends of St John’s Church Penistone.