Arms: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, argent on a mount vert, a boar passant sable (for KELLETT);
2nd and 3rd, argent a cross gules, in the first quarter a fleur-de-lys of the last (for HADDOCK).
Crest: An armed arm embowed and garnished or, holding in the hand a baton of the last.
Motto: Feret ad astra virtus ('Virtue will bear you to the skies‘).
UK Baronetcy created on 6th Aug 1801.
The Protestant or "English Cemetery" in Florence is the final resting place of some well-known people. The Victorian register has been transcribed for the web. Listed on the second page are Robert and Jemima Kellett and their son William. Jemima is also shown under her maiden name of Hunter.
The three Kellett tombs (see below) are enclosed within a single iron railing, backing on to the tombs of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (designed by Lord Leighton for Robert Browning) and Fanny Waugh Hunt (sculpted by her husband, Holman Hunt, following her death from childbirth complications). They are located in sector F, grid references 12 and H / I. Below them on the next row is the burial plot for the Stibbert family. The two men are commemorated by simple horizontal slabs: Jemima's is a more elaborate vertical monument.
The records from the Victorian alphabetical register show the:
Surname / Christian names / Father / Country / Place and Date of death / Age at death / Grave
These records are shown below together with the memorial inscriptions.
Location F12I: *Kellet (Hunter)/ Giovanna/ / Inghilterra/ Firenze/ 5 Settembre/ 1854/ / 549/
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JEMIMA ONLY DAUGHTER OF THE LATE JAMES HUNTER ESQ OF RENFREWSHIRE SCOTLAND, AND WIDOW OF THE LATE CAPTAIN NAPIER KELLETT DIED AT FLORENCE SEPTEMBER 5TH 1854 AGED 50 YEARS - . - =I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE= =SAITH THE LORD= HE THAT BELIEVETH IN= =ME, THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE= - . - 549 |
There is a Kellett crest as above; the inscription is between sculpted reversed torches; the back of the tomb has a star globe with wings
Location F12I: *Kellet/ Guglielmo Napier/ Roberto Napier/ Inghilterra/ Firenze/ 8 Maggio/ 1853/ Anni 27/ 507/
+ SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF WILLIAM AUGUSTUS NAPIER KELLETT LATE LIEUTENANT 72 HIGHLANDERS THE BELOVED AND ONLY SON OF CAPTAIN RBT NAPIER KELLETT OF RENFREWSHIRE SCOTLAND DIED AT FLORENCE MAY 8TH 1853 AGED 27 YEARS - . - THE LORD GAVE AND THE LORD HATH TAKEN AWAY BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD - . - |
Location F12H: *Kellet/ Cap: Roberto Napier/ / Inghilterra/ Firenze/ 2 Novembre/ 1853/ Anni 56/ 517/
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT NAPIER KELLETT LATE CAPTAIN ROYAL HIGHLANDERS OF RENFREWSHIRE SCOTLAND, NEPHEW OF SIR RICHARD KELLETT BART DIED AT FLORENCE NOVEMBER 2ND 1853 AGED 55 YEARS - . - REQUIESCAT IN PACE - . - 517 |
It can be seen that all 3 died in a short space of time: the funerals are mentioned in the Maquay papers that are in the Harold Acton library of the British Institute in Florence:
6 Nov 1853: 'I attended Captain Kellett's funeral.'
11 May 1853: 'in the morning before breakfast George and I attended the funeral of poor young Kellett who died of consumption.'
7 Sep 1854: 'up early to attend funeral of Mrs Napier Kellett. Father mother and son have all died within 16 months.'
Shortly after these sad occasions, one of the Kelletts' three daughters was married there. The registers from Florence survive in the archives of the diocese of London in the Guildhall library.
Further information about Robert & Jemima Kellett & family is given here. More information about the Kellett family is given here.
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