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Headstone - John David Kelly

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Description: This image of a headstone was taken at Terrace End Cemetery. The death of John David Kelly on 12 July 1904, aged 22 years, resulted from a horrendous industrial accident. Kelly was employed by Ike Fake, a local bricklayer. On the day he died he was working on the construction of a baker's oven in Main Street. The 'Evening Standard' reported that Kelly had been inside the new oven taking away loose boards and sand used in its construction when the whole structure collapsed, crushing him to death before he could be rescued.

At the inquest held into the death it emerged that the oven had not been built to the architect's specifications as a verbal agreement had been reached between Mr Fake and the builder to replace wooden bracings with iron bracings. Fake admitted the iron anchors were not as strong as they should have been. Although the inquest jury returned a verdict of 'accidental death with no blame attached to anyone' the impressive monument erected by Fake might suggest that Ike Fake had felt some remorse over the tragic accident and its cause.