204 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



In the disused churchyard of St. Ann, in the centre 

 of Manchester, now in part absorbed in town improve- 

 ments, and in part planted and laid out as a garden, 

 there was visible, until 1891, a memorial slab bear- 

 ing the inscription : 



' Here is interred John Willatt, late postmaster of this town, 

 who departed this life July 24, 1772, aged 41 years.' 



Of him it has been written that he was ' second to 

 none in this part of the kingdom in the knowledge 

 of his profession.' 



The same words might with truth have been added 

 to the simple memorial of John St. Lawrence Beau- 

 fort, his modern successor, in the beautiful cemetery 

 of Prestwich. 



My private belief is that Willatt died of pure grief. 

 In the second decade of married life the Willatts lost 

 two of their children, and as they entered on the 

 next, sharp sorrow again visited the modest home. In 

 1772, in May, a third son died ; in June, a daughter ; 

 in July, the father. 



Sarah, Willatt's widow, of more elastic mould, bent 

 to the storm and survived it. She succeeded her 

 husband in the Manchester post-office, outliving him 

 by nearly thirty years. The history of the Willatt 

 family is comparable, in some of its features, to that 

 sad story told by the monument which may be seen to 

 the west of the mail road, in Stanwix churchyard, 

 near Carlisle.^ 



As for the memorial slab itself, that is hidden away 

 * ' Life of Archbishop Tait.' Macmillan, 1891. 



