Grave memorial to Susannah Darby and William Darby (also known as Pablo Fanque)

Grave memorial to Susannah Darby, 1848 and her husband William, professionally known as Pablo Fanque, added 1871.

MATERIALS: fine-grained sandstone.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial is in two parts: a standing grave slab raised on a moulded plinth, and a horizontal grave cover shaped like a pitched roof projecting east from the plinth to a hipped east end.

The standing grave slab incorporates a bas-relief carving of an ornamented funerary urn partly covered by a cloth above a cornice formed by carved leaves and acorns. Below this is the following inscription:

‘SACRED / TO THE MEMORY OF/ SUSANNAH DARBY, / AGED 47 YEARS. / THE BELOVED WIFE OF/ WILLIAM DARBY, EQUESTRIAN MANAGER, / PROFESSIONALLY KNOWN AS/ PABLO FANQUE / HER DEATH WAS OCCASIONED BY THE FALLING / OF A PORTION OF THE CIRCUS ERECTED IN / KING CHARLES CROFT / LEEDS / ON SATURDAY THE 18TH DAY OF MARCH 1848.

TO THE GODS DECREE WE MORTALS ALL MUST BEND, THY WILL BE DONE OUR BEST AND ONLY FRIEND, MY SOUL BY THY COMMAND, IS BORNE AWAY, TO REALMS OF LIGHT AND NEVER ENDING DAY, TORN FROM THE WORLD, AND FROM MY HUSBAND DEAR, PITY MY FATE, AND DROP A SILENT TEAR.

HER BEREAVED AND AFFLICTED HUSBAND / HAS CAUSED THIS MONUMENT TO BE ERECTED.’

Below this, in slightly different type:

‘ALSO CAROLINE SUSANNAH, THE INFANT DAUGHTER OF WILLIAM / AND ELIZABETH DARBY, WHO DIED JANUARY 1ST 1859, / AGED 1 YEAR AND 4 MONTHS. Of such is the kingdom of Heaven.’

The horizontal grave cover has the following inscription: ‘ALSO THE ABOVE NAMED / WILLIAM DARBY PABLO FANQUE / WHO DIED MAY 4TH 1871 AGED 75 YEARS.’