Ruth Catherine Britton, 1798-1862by Robert Hughes

The inscription on this stone in St Nicholas’ churchyard in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, reads as follows:-

IN
AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF
RUTH CATHARINE
WIFE OF
JAMES BRITTON
and Eldest Daughter
OF THE LATE
JOHN WADDAM[S]
of Handsworth
[Who?] Died Febry 3rd 1862
Aged 62 Years

She was 63, although she seemed to have knocked off a year somewhere between the 1851and 1861 censuses.

The grave location is at GB Ordnance Survey grid ref.
SP 28537 72439.

It is particularly easy to find, directly facing you coming out of the main (West) entrance to St Nicholas’ church.

It seems unusual for a memorial of this kind to mention the father of the deceased, although a very kind thought.

What it seems to indicate is that this was commissioned by Alfred Waddams, who after all was the man on the spot, (he was buried in this same graveyard on 9 Jun 1865, although his exact grave location is not yet established). The mention of John Waddams, the father of Ruth Catherine and Alfred is compelling evidence; while if John James Britton, the only known child of Ruth Catherine had commissioned this, surely he would have said something like "Beloved mother of John James Britton"!