Strange Scene at a Funeral.

Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 260, 10 March 1894, Page 4

Strange Scene at a Funeral.

At the funeral of Mr Chas. Burton, a county councillor of Whitwick, near Ashby de la Zouch, the vicar, the Rev. A. F. Tollemache caused much indignation by his conduct. The rev. gentleman locked the gates of the church, and when he saw the funeral party approaching walked away to the cemetery, Canon Denton and Mr Jessou, solicitor to the deceased, failed to induce the reverend gentleman to return to the church, and the Rev. Mr Crane, vicar of Whitwick Thringstone, who was among the mourners, suggested that the body should be conveyed to his church, a distance of a mile and a half. This was accordingly done, and the first portion of the burial service was read there. Meanwhile the Rev. Tollemacha awaited the funeral, and at the approach of the coffin to the grave can«? " Rock of j Ages." Mr Jesson and Canon Denton j failed in their attempt to induce the rev. gentleman to allow Mr Crane to finish the service. He insisted on taking part, and did so quite capably. The vicar stated to Canon Denton thnt the deceased had been excommunicated, and gave that as bis reason for refusing entrance to the church. Nevertheless he was anxious to bury the deceased. The vicar was escorted from the grave to the church by the police, a large crowd following. The deceased gentleman was one of the most popular men in the district, and besides being chairman of many local bodies, was a member of the Ashby Board of Guardians lor 18 years.