Tomb of Joseph Bonomi, Brompton Cemetery

MATERIALS: Sandstone

A grave marker with a curved top, incised with a cross flanked by alpha and omega symbols. Beneath is the inscription, in capital letters: 'In memory of four children who were called out of this life into a better in the Easter week of 1852 ...' The names and ages of the children are then given, ranging from 5 years to 8 months. The dedication concludes 'The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.' Their grandmother and mother, who died in 1858 and 1859 respectively, are listed next, and then 'Their father / Joseph Bonomi / sculptor, traveller and archaeologist / born 9th October 1796 / appointed Curator of Sir John Soane's Museum 1861 / Died 3rd March 1878'. Below is a hieroglyphic symbol, showing the jackal-headed god Anubis (associated with mummification and the afterlife in Egyptian mythology) guarding a tomb with battered sides and a central door. Beneath this is the final dedication, to Colonel J I Bonomi who died in 1930.