LocationDescription
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.]
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