The cost of Empire

Mrs Gibbings, the wife of an army Major General was 29 years old when she died in Spanish Town, Jamaica. The suspicion, of course, is that a death such as that in 1859 was probably as a result of childbirth. The story is repeated over and over again in the lives and deaths of young people in the military, the trading companies, or in the missions, around the world. Many graves can be found in Africa, India, the Far East telling the tales. And records I've seen of, for example, the London Missionary Society, or the Honourable East India Company Civil Service spell out the names and statistics.

Mrs Gibbings, however, was actually laid to rest here in Candie Cemetery in Guernsey. It says so on the stone. I can only guess at the difficulties that entailed.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert paid a surprise visit to Guernsey in 1846!. How did that happen?. Anyway, the islanders were so overwhelmed at the honour that they erected that tower behind to remember the event. And on budget!.