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Photo: Whysall Studios, Durban
MEMORIAL SERVICE AT ST PAUL'S COVENT GARDEN - OCTOBER 1984.
A memorial service was held at St Paul's Covent Garden for Webster Booth in October 1984. Before the service his ashes were buried in the grounds and a memorial plaque erected in commemoration to him. In 1991 Pamela Davies, who collaborated with me in writing one of the books on Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth, visited the churchyard in the early 1990s and found Webster's memorial plaque under a hawthorn tree. The plaque was made of brass and in the seven years since it had been erected it was tarnished and blackened, although she could still read the plain inscription:
LESLIE
WEBSTER BOOTH
1902-1984
Pamela returned to the churchyard in 2005 only to find that the hawthorn tree had been cut down and Webster's plaque could no longer be seen. She wrote to make enquiries as to what had happened to the plaque. I quote from our book, Do You Remember Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth?
The administrator, in the rector's absence, kindly instituted another search, equally fruitless. He suggested it could be hidden under a large plant or simply have disintegrated in the adverse weather, as had happened to the plaque to the actor Michael Williams, which had been in place only four years.
In my letter I had enquired also about the possibility of a plaque to Webster Booth's wife, the singer Anne Ziegler, but I was informed that no more plaques are being accepted. The only answer would be an inscribed garden bench, or obtaining permission for a name in a memorial book in the church....
Evelyn Laye had read the lesson at Webster's memorial service. Her life is commemorated by an inscription on a garden bench in the churchyard:
It seems a shame that this plaque, which marked the burial place of Webster's ashes, and was erected in memory of a great British tenor who was also dearly beloved by his family, friends and fans, should have vanished without trace. As one can see from the above photographs, the churchyard is very overgrown, so many other plaques are probably obscured or hidden in the undergrowth.
Apparently no record is kept of those whose memorial services are held at the church.
If the plaques commemorating theatrical musical and theatrical personalities have disintegrated or disappeared in the thick undergrowth within such a short time, valuable pieces of theatrical history are lost forever to future generations.
UPDATE - 19 FEBRUARY 2011
I received an e-mail from St Paul's Covent Garden yesterday and I will outline what was said, below, and also part of my reply. I fear that the matter now rests there as far as I am concerned.
The main problem for those of us administrating this church now is that burial in all central London graveyards was stopped by Act of Parliament in the mid 19th century. Therefore burial of ashes with plaque, of anyone since then, has been illegal. However discreet internment without ceremony, plaque or shrub can be considered.
A number of plaques are placed in the garden illegally but these can disintegrate, disappear, or even, get stolen and in foliage can simply wither.
The Parochial Church Council was instructed by the Diocese to stop putting Memorial Plaques on the church's interior walls. Since then the PCC have accepted inscribed benches for use in the burial ground at £1000 each. A name inscribed in the Actors' Church Union Book of Remembrance costs £100. The PCC has recently decided to consider plaques on the interior wainscotting again, for those artistes honoured by Her Majesty, at a premium of £3000. The proposal to be made by the nearest member of the family.
My reply was as follows:
Thank you for responding so promptly to my query and for explaining the situation to me. As far as I know the ashes of Webster Booth were interned in the Churchyard prior to the memorial service. I know that his widow, the late Anne Ziegler, who was living in Llandudno, North Wales, did not return to the Church after this service, so I'm not sure at what juncture the plaque was placed in the Churchyard.
I shall pass on the information you have given me to Webster Booth's next of kin....
I omitted the name of the person who wrote and also the name of Webster's next of kin. I would add that there would have been no question of Anne arranging to have an illegal plaque placed in the Churchyard! If you look at the photographs again, you will see that there are many plaques there, erected many years after the mid-nineteenth century. I think that it is a rather snobbish practice to consider placing plaques in the central wainscotting only for artistes honoured by Her Majesty.
A few years after Webster Booth's death, Anne Ziegler was granted a special pension by the Queen in recognition of Anne and Webster's contribution to music in the United Kingdom - a very much more practical "honour" than an OBE.
Jeannie C
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