My article in the May edition of Welsh Country Magazine is about Frances Power Cobbe (1822 – 1904). She was a fascinating nineteenth century personality- a journalist, a campaigner for women’s rights and a leading anti-vivisectionist. She is a buried in a quiet grave in the cemetery of St Illtyd’s church in Llanelltyd near Dollgellau, alongside her companion and partner, the sculptor Mary Lloyd.
“I desire that my coffin be not made of oak, or of any durable wood but, on the principle of earth to earth burials, of the lightest and most perishable materials, merely sufficient to carry my body decently to the grave. I desire to be carried to Llanelltyd Cemetery, not in a funeral hearse, but in one or other of my own carriages, driven by my coachman, at his usual pace. And I desire that neither then, nor at any other time, may my friends or servants wear mourning for me.”
As her gravestone says, “Bless her for her noble and unselfish life …a valiant champion of the oppressed, both man and beasts.”
