C. S. Calverley and a Tomb at Southstoke. By M. H. Scotr 
(Read February rith, 1903.) 
In the churchyard of S. James, Southstoke, at the west of 
the West Tower, is a tomb of the Calverley family. At the east 
end of the tomb is an inscription in memory of “ Frederick 
Haggitt Calverley,” who died in 1841, aged 12 years. 
Leaning against the wall at the east end of the churchyard 
is a mural tablet to “Frederick Haggitt Blayds,” who died in 
1841, aged 12 years. This was found by Colonel Bagnall 
O’Cahan, of The Hall, Southstoke, in a rubbish heap. It had 
evidently been removed from the interior of the church, where, 
on the east wall of the aisle, is a blank niche of the same size. 
The Rev. Henry Blayds, who came from Martley, in 
Worcestershire, to the vicarage of Southstoke, in 1852 changed 
his name, from Blayds, which the family had borne for some 
50 years, back to Calverley, the name by which the family had 
been known before the Conquest in their native county, 
Yorkshire. Calverley is an old English name, its derivation 
being cal-verd-lea—the field of the cold wood. One of the 
family was the ferocious Walter Calverley, whose exploits and death 
2 
are commemorated in “A Yorkshire Tragedy,” a play formerly 
attributed to Shakespeare. Having changed his name, the vicar 
altered the inscription relating to the son who had died some 
ten years previously, and the mural monument, as differing from 
the name on the tomb, was probably removed at the same time, 
Our interest in these memorials is due to the fact that another 
of Mr. Blayds’ sons, Charles Stuart, not only won considerable 
fame as an author and a scholar, but was a man of most lovable 
character. 
Born at Martley in 1831, he was educated chiefly at Harrow, 
where his wonderful proficiency and elegance in the classics was 
speedily recognized. As an instance of this the Head Master, 
