While working on my guidebook project (it’s with designers now, coming to a book store near you soon!) this week, I re-found the very interesting gravestone of Mr. Harry Bernard Russell, and wanted to share his story. In 2023, my husband and I worked on a collection of gravestones at Coley’s Point’s St. John the Evangelist’s Church and churchyard, near Bay Roberts, in Newfoundland. This was part of a three-phase project at this site in collaboration with the parish, which was a great experience. I wrote about the site in my guidebook, if you want to learn more! We’re just going to talk about Harry today though!

This is the gravestone of Harry Bernard Russell. His gravestone was likely carved in St. John’s, and had broken at some point in the past. In the ‘before’ photos, you can see the holes from a pin repair, and a fairly adhesive that we had to remove. Unfortunately, this old adhesive dyed part of the marble blue, and I’m really hoping the cleaning treatment does help lift that stain, but only time will tell there! The stone was also set in concrete into the base at some point, not by us! I do not recommend anyone set gravestones into concrete (or even on historic buildings, but we can talk about that later). We carefully removed the old adhesive, and as much of the flaking white paint as possible, before resetting the break using a stone conservation epoxy, cleaning with D2 and water, and filling any spaces in the break using a fine lime mortar. This work was done at the request of the parish, and we are archaeologists who can hold permits to work at these historic sites, so please do not go out and try to fix gravestones on a whim!

That’s the conservation side, but back to Harry! His gravestone has several interesting symbols above the epitaph, bordered with abstract curled leafy designs. We can see a three-link chain, a triangle with a skull and crossed bones inside, a drafting compass and square with a G inside, and the words ‘At Rest’. Three-link chairs are a symbol of the Oddfellows, standing for ‘Friendship, Love, and Truth’. The square and compass are symbols of the Freemasons, with a G for ‘God’ in the centre, suggesting that Harry was a member of both the Oddfellows and the Masons. The skull and crossed bones inside the triangle is likely a symbol of the Oddfellows as well, who use a skull motif in many of their artworks and designs (and sometimes literal skulls). So Harry was a busy fellow!

His epitaph reads:

In
Loving Memory
of
Harry Bernard Russell
Who was accidentally killed
at Grand Falls
October 19th, 1937
Aged 33 Years.
____
While Working in the Grand Falls Mill,
Twas Poisonous Acid caused his death,
How body now lies cold and still,
Him for the last on Earth we’ve met.
____
Now to his memory we erect,
This Stone with sadness and respect,
His Body lies beneath this sod,
His soul has gone to meet it’s God.

It is not the most common thing to see the cause of death on a gravestone, unless the person died in a particularly dramatic or tragic way. You see this with shipwreck or disaster victims, or my all time fav Robert Cooper at Woodland Cemetery in London, Ontario (blog post linked, go read all about him!), and it is helpful for finding more information about those individuals. Harry’s friends or family not only included his manner of death on his gravestone, but wrote it into a custom epitaph poem, which is especially touching to see.

Harry and his coworker James Parker were tragically killed by toxic sulphur fumes in the Sulphite Plant at Grand Falls, owned by the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company (A.N.D. Co.). The Western Star reported that they asphyxiated, but didn’t provide many other details. The Bay Roberts Guardian also reported on the accident, writing on October 23rd:

“Two Men Killed At Grant Falls: Bert Russell of Coley’s Point, one of Victims, Others Injured.
At 2:15pm on Tuesday, a safety plus blew out of the acid tank in the sulphite department of the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company’s mill at Grand Falls, and resulted in the accidental death by gas of Harry Bertram Russell, aged 37 of Coley’s Point, and James Barker, aged 35, married with five children, of Grand Falls, as well as injuring several others.

The body of the late Bertram Russell arrived here by Wednesday’s train. His funeral took place on Thursday from the residence of Mr. George Tippett, Coley’s Point, to the C. of E. Church and cemetery. The Masonic and L.O.A. Societies of which the deceased was a member, attended the funeral.

Bert Russell was a Guardian newsboy several years ago. Later he went to Toronto where he was employed until about three or four years ago when he returned home. Early this year he went to Grand Falls where he was employed as an iron worker. Not feeling well, he returned from Grand Falls a little over two weeks ago for a rest and left here again on Thursday of last week. Bert was working in the sulfite dept. when the fatal accident occurred. Further particulars of the accident are not yet available.” (Bay Roberts Guardian, Oct 23, 1937, Pg. 1).

The local paper had much more detail on Harry’s life, giving us the details of his employment history, and how he had just returned to work after some time in Coley’s Point with an illness, only adding to the tragedy of the accident. It is interesting to note as well, that the local Bay Robert Guardian refers to Harry as ‘Bert’ for ‘Bertram’, which they have recorded as his middle name. However, his gravestone and the Cornerbrook paper both have his middle name down as ‘Bernard’, which could also be shortened to ‘Bert’. They also note his age as 37 in the local paper, but 33 years on his gravestone and the Cornerbrook paper. It is a little odd to see such discrepancy between papers, but we know that his nickname ‘Bert’ works for whichever was his middle name was!

Unfortunately, the 1935 Coley’s Point census records are not much help. They list a ‘Harry B. Russell’ lodging with the Tippett family at age 30, and that he was single at the time. This suggests that the record stating he was 37 when he died was a mistake, and that 33 appears much more correct. Listing his middle name as only ‘B’, however, is not helpful! The papers above also state that members of the Masons and the L.O.A. (Loyal Orange Association) also attended Harry’s funeral, and it is possible that they assisted in the payment of his gravestone.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little dive into an interesting gravestone and the man behind it! Keep an eye out for my upcoming guidebook, and I’m hoping to bring you some more interesting graveyard research soon!