Ethel Preston

Among the more fascinating and poignant memorials in Lawnswood Cemetery is that of Ethel Preston (1861-1911). She stands, life size, in a replica of the entrance to her home, The Grange in Beeston. The door is slightly open and she is said to be waiting for her husband Walter, a manufacturing chemist, to come and join her. In fact he married his 22 year old housekeeper, only a year after Ethel's death, though she did arrange for him to be buried alongside his first wife when he died in 1930. When the monument was first erected it caused quite a stir. People flocked to see it and extra trams and police had to be laid on for the crowds! They even sold postcards of it. Her name, reputedly, passed into local lore, if you're looking sad or pensive, they will say: 'What's up? You've a face like Lawnswood Ethel.'  Even now, people visit and leave roses for her.