12th December 2020 – Blog Post written by Shaun Campbell
Today marked the 90th Anniversary of the death of Arthur Wharton, and what an emotional and poignant day this has been!
It was important to mark the occasion appropriately and what better way to do this than to ensure that Arthur’s headstone was put right, as it had the wrong date of his death on it since it was installed in 1997.
Since that time, it was always recorded as the 13th December 1930, when in actual fact it should have been the 12th December 1930. I had asked for this to be corrected on a number of occasions, and could no longer trust that this was ever going to be done by those responsible for erecting the headstone back in 1997. The Arthur Wharton Foundation and Arthur’s family took the decision to do this, as it is an important piece of history that simply had to be put right.
Huge thanks to Craig Watson of Watson Memorials, Darlington, who undertook to do this with the greatest care and attention – and at no cost to the family or the Foundation, as Craig said “…this just has to be done, it is crucial that he is shown the respect he deserves”. Craig did this over a two day period earlier in the week and met myself and Danny at the site today, where we laid flowers and paid tribute – it was just beautiful. Even the torrential rain abated for the entire time we were at the cemetery, we like to think that Arthur had something to do with this.
On a personal note, this was the first time that I’ve visited the grave with a smile on my face and a sense of fulfilled purpose – the date had been severely bugging me for a long, long time now, and finally, this has been corrected!
Arthur ‘Kwame’ Wharton (Born: 28th October 1865 – Died: 12th December 1930).
Rest In Peace Arthur. Your legacy continues, with our mission to; “Connect the Present, to the Past, for the Future”.
In case anyone is mis-led by this appearing on a Group dedicated to Northumberland and Co Durham, it should probably be made clear that Edlington near Doncaster is NOT the same as Edlingham, Northumberland!