Caister-on-Sea, Norfolk, UK
Church of the Holy Trinity,
Monument to William Orton Salmon †1828. Marble. North chancel, besides organ. Commissioned by his widow. Signed: Richard Westmacott, London
A draped urn stands above the inscription, which begins as the drapery ends. Westmacott here chose a very different approach to that of his nearby Monument to the Revd. Benjamin Salmon †1821, who had died aged seventy eight. William Salmon, by contrast, died aged forty nine, having retired to Cromer from his distinguished career with the East India Company because of illness. This must have prompted the choice of a draped urn, a common feature of memorials in churchyards. Similarly the pomegranates under the inscription had been a popular symbol in earlier monuments (around 1600) as symbols of the resurrection. Neither the inscription nor the long obituary in volume 18 of the Oriental Herald, pp. 523-4 (Google Books), make any reference to his family. That he was buried at Caister, rather than Cromer, suggests that he was a relative of the Revd. Benjamin Salmon. His widow, who died twenty one years later, is commemorated on the south chancel. William Salmon had begun his career with the East India Company in 1802. In 1808 he was appointed to the lucrative appointment as Collector of Benares, a region bedevilled by the clashing interests of the rich and powerful Hindus and Muslims. He had to retire because of his deteriorating health in 1824.
Caister-on-Sea, Norfolk, UK
Church of the Holy Trinity,
Monument to William Orton Salmon †1828. Marble. North chancel, besides organ. Commissioned by his widow. Signed: Richard Westmacott, London
A draped urn stands above the inscription, which begins as the drapery ends. Westmacott here chose a very different approach to that of his nearby Monument to the Revd. Benjamin Salmon †1821, who had died aged seventy eight. William Salmon, by contrast, died aged forty nine, having retired to Cromer from his distinguished career with the East India Company because of illness. This must have prompted the choice of a draped urn, a common feature of memorials in churchyards. Similarly the pomegranates under the inscription had been a popular symbol in earlier monuments (around 1600) as symbols of the resurrection. Neither the inscription nor the long obituary in volume 18 of the Oriental Herald, pp. 523-4 (Google Books), make any reference to his family. That he was buried at Caister, rather than Cromer, suggests that he was a relative of the Revd. Benjamin Salmon. His widow, who died twenty one years later, is commemorated on the south chancel. William Salmon had begun his career with the East India Company in 1802. In 1808 he was appointed to the lucrative appointment as Collector of Benares, a region bedevilled by the clashing interests of the rich and powerful Hindus and Muslims. He had to retire because of his deteriorating health in 1824.