Grave of Fanny and Beatrice Varcoe
Fanny and Beatrice Varcoe (d.1890)
Sisters Beatrice and Fanny Varcoe drowned at the mouth of the Conwy estuary in 1890 along with six other people, in what was known as the “Conway boating disaster”.
Beatrice and Fanny were daughters of widower William Varcoe, a china clay merchant of Hanley, Staffordshire. While holidaying in Deganwy, on 20 August 1890 they joined two other visitors for a short trip on the Norwegian barque Maria as it was towed from Conwy harbour by a Liverpool-based tug. They were accompanied by pilot William Jones and three local hobblers, whose job was to row ships into harbour (they included Robert Evans, whose military connections are described on our page about the nearby grave of harbourmaster Evan Evans).
A small pilot boat was attached to the barque. The passengers transferred to it, as planned, for the short trip back to Conwy but the rough sea upset the overloaded boat and all eight occupants drowned. Beatrice Baines Varcoe’s body, dressed in white and a blue jacket with brass buttons, was soon recovered. She was 24 years old. William Varcoe and one of his sons, Charles, went to see her body in a temporary mortuary on Conwy quay. She was buried here on 24 August.
Fanny Elizabeth Varcoe’s body was found that day, washed ashore at Hoylake, Wirral, and was brought to Conwy for burial in the same grave as her sister. She was 29.
Their father chose Conwy for their interment because his surviving daughter was seriously ill in Hanley at the time. For the sake of her health, he wanted to keep the news of her sisters’ deaths from her, which would have been difficult had the funerals taken place in Hanley.