Mary Anna Maria Fosbery
Mary Anna Maria Fosbery, d.1915
Mary Fosbery (nee Wilson) was well known for her charitable works in St Asaph and, earlier, in Llandyrnog. She moved to Bryn Elwy in St Asaph after the death of her husband, George Langford Fosbery, with whom she had lived at Pentre Mawr, Llandyrnog. They had married in 1864.
Mary was president of the Mothers’ Union in St Asaph (a Church group supporting mothers from all classes of society). When her daughter Georgina married in 1899, Mary treated paupers living in the workhouse to a “first class tea”. She sometimes visited the elderly and sick in the workhouse, giving them gifts such as sugar and tea. She subscribed to the shilling fund, which supported the Denbighshire Infirmary’s care for the “working classes”.
Her son Francis Langford Fosbery was a Captain in the Royal Irish Regiment during the South African (Boer) war. He was killed in action, aged 30, near Belfast, South Africa, in January 1901. He is commemorated by a brass plaque in St Asaph parish church.
Another son, William Ingleby, died in 1903 aged 29. He was the curate of Workington, Cumbria. His body was taken by train from there for burial here.
Mary’s stepson, Norman, died the following year, aged 45, and is also buried here. He was a regular worshipper at the cathedral and had earlier been organist at Llandyrnog church, helping to upgrade the organ in 1885.
When Mary died in January 1915, aged 82, her estate was worth £10,776 (more than £1.1m today). Her son Charles Leslie (Charlie) couldn’t attend her funeral as he was on “urgent military duties” in France as an army Captain. He was a civil engineer before joining the Denbighshire Hussars before the war.