Boyle

This funeral procession descending Chew Hill may have been for Major Edmund Boyle who died in 1912.  It is believed the Wookey family were the undertakers at the time but the man in the top hat has not been identified.  This picture is courtesy of Pat and Dave Hellard who is the grandson of Charles Wookey.

Major, the honourable Edmund Boyle in the Rifle Brigade who had a mounted section which may explain why some of the soldiers were wearing Jodhpurs but are not carrying swords as would be expected for cavalrymen.

Edmund Boyle was the brother of Richard Boyle, 8th Earl of Cork and it is believed he married Ida Waldegrave Money in 1866. She was born in 1843 and may have been the daughter of Archibald Money and Annette Laura Maria Waldegrave. Ida France Boyle died in 1924 and Ida Waldegrave Boyle died in 1930. Edmund Boyle was living in Chewton House  from the 1870s and members of his family are buried in the churchyard of Chewton Mendip. He was a churchwarden and JP in 1890 and first chairman of the parish council in 1894.

An article in a local paper from 1901 explained how he died in Clifton in 1901. His funeral was held in Frome but he may have  been bought back to the village to be buried with his family.

This would explain why the funeral was going down  Chew Hill as it is assumed his body was picked up from Hallatrow station. The picture is deceiving because it give the impression that the cortege was on relatively

Other possibilities  for the person being buried are Lord Carlingford who died in 1898 who was a government minister but it was not his style to have a military funeral.

His wife, Countess Frances Waldegrave had her brother, who was an officer in the Royal Berkshire Militia, reburied in Chewton Mendip but that was c 1870 and the soldiers would have been wearing red coats and the police style helmets.