Isabella Stevens (1832 – 1907)

Isabella Hannah Cooper, born 10th August 1832, married the Reverend (then Mr) Edward Stevens in Halifax, Yorkshire, on 22nd December 1853. Both were aged 21.

Her youngest son Frank created a memorial plaque to her which is mounted on the wall of the south transept of Holy Trinity Church, Sibford Gower.

The Latin inscription on the pedestal reads Mater Dilectissima Mea (my most beloved mother) and has the signature of Frank Lascelles on the side.

The English inscription on the base reads

To the most dear memory of Isabella Hannah, the wife of the late Reverend E T Stevens, MA,  sometime Vicar of Sibford Gower, Sibford Ferris and Burdrop. She died on the Eighth day of October in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Seven aged seventy three years. Her body lies by the West Door of this church.

May her sweet soul rest in peace.

The panel below the sculpture carries the last two verses of the poem To J. S. by Alfred, Lord Tennyson:

Sleep sweetly, tender heart, in peace;
Sleep, holy spirit, blessed soul,
While the stars burn, the moons increase,
And the great ages onward roll.

Sleep till the end, true soul and sweet.
Nothing comes to thee new or strange,
Sleep full of rest from head to feet:
Lie still, dry dust, secure of change.