Location | Description |
Area C: North Transept [Partially behind display boards] | INSTRUCT THE IGNORANT M.S. ABRAHAMI BALME Hujusce oppidi nuper incolæ Qui patrlæ et oppidanis suis Quantum in se fuit prode [sic]e Per annos fere senaginta, pro viriet laborauit, Publici cujusque operis Auctor assiduus aut curator prudens. In negoths obeundis, nemo peritior aut exercitatior, Nec in amicitle muneribus Tum facto tum consilio promptior; Vita longa et perutili feliciter clausa Feb. Die iv. Anno salutis mdccxcvi ætatis xc. Jussu suo extra muros ecclesle corpore posito Lætam per christum sperans immortalitatem Requiescit. Hano tabulam pietatis ergo poni curavit Filius mœrens E. BALME A.M. R.S. ET A.S. Soc. [Translation] Sacred to the memory of ABRAHAM BALME lately an inhabitant of this town, who laboured, to the utmost of his ability, for almost sixty years, to benefit, so far as lay in his power, his country and fellow townsmen, as a diligent originator or prudent administrator of each public work. In the discharge of business matters no one was more ready in deed as well as in counsel. Having happily brought to a close a long and very useful life on the fourth day of Feb. in the year of salvation 1796, and in the 90th year of his age, his body having been laid by his command outside the walls of the chancel awaiting a joyful immortality through Christ, he rests. This Tablet of affection therefore his sorrowing son E.BALME, M.A. F.R.S., F.A.S., has caused to be here placed. [In his notes, Blackburn quotes from William Scruton’s The Parish Church in Pen and Pencil Pictures of Old Bradford, pp23 – 38.:- “Fortunately, the choice piece of sculpture by FLAXMAN to the memory of ABRAHAM BALME has escaped the touch of the vandal and remains undisturbed. It was regarded by the great sculptor himself, as one of his finest conceptions, and it has called forth the admiration of that severest of critics JOHN RUSKIN.] [Grade ‘A’ for the Cathedral Advisory Fabric Committee Inventory of Valuables, March 1992, Canon COOK, JOHN SHAW, Dr LINDSTRUM. ] [There has, sadly, needed to be a repair made to this monument on the 5th line of the inscription.] |