Sculpture by Mary Kynaston Potter

at St. Anne’s Church, Oxenhall

Situated in the chancel is The Charles Cross Memorial, dedicated in memory of nine-month old Charles Ashworth, beloved firstborn son to Joseph Cross and Anne Cross (née Ashworth), and is a moving representation of a mother’s love and grief. Commissioned by Joseph Cross, the sculpture is also testimony of a father’s grief, with Joseph’s Christian faith expressed in the prayer and in the symbolism of the design.

Joseph and Anne had left their first born son, Charles, at home in Bolton with his nanny whilst they attended a family gathering in Newent. Charles fell ill and died and four days later his body was buried at Oxenhall alongside the grave of Joseph’s sister Anne Jane Knowles who reluctantly moved to Newent with her husband Andrew Knowles in 1876, and died shortly after aged only 30.

The death of Charles was hidden for 20 years until his guilt-ridden parents invited their talented niece to create a sculpture from Carrera marble to honour his memory. Mary Kynaston Potter possibly used Anne’s photo taken in 1884 to design the sculpture.

It would have taken at least a year for Mary to carve and after signing it in 1901, it was installed after her marriage to her cousin, a naval officer, Captain Hector Watts Jones, in June 1903. The inscriptions beside the sculpture on the Charles Cross Memorial begins:

It was Joseph’s final wish for his ashes to be buried with his eldest son at Oxenhall. A flat gravestone beside The Knowles Monument commemorates the Cross family with the grave containing the ashes of both parents as well as the remains of their son.

Situated in the graveyard of St. Anne’s Church, Oxenhall is another of Mary Kynaston Potter’s sculptures, The Knowles Monument, likely commissioned by Mary’s uncle, Andrew Knowles, in memory of his first wife, Anne Jane Knowles. They had two children: Hester born in 1869, and James born between 1875-1876. Tragically Anne died soon after James was born in 1876 at the young age of 30 years.

The angelic figure holding on to the cross is looking towards the site of the family home at New Court. There are similarities that can be observed in the face, limbs, wings and drapery on this sculpture to those found within the Charles Cross Memorial.

The Cross, Ashworth, Potter and Knowles families were related, gained their wealth from the Lancashire cotton and coal industries, and all had connections with the Oxenhall Sculptures.

Anne Ashworth’s parents were Quakers, and Anne lost her own mother Sophie Ashworth (née Bright) when Anne was only two years old. In 1866 Anne and her sister Lilias joined the suffragists in demanding votes for women - a cause they actively supported for over fifty years.

Joseph Cross studied theology at Oxford and was curate for six years at Hatfield. After travelling, in 1875 he joined the family business, and from 1891 onwards he was the Chairman of Crosses and Winkworth cotton mills. In August 1877 Joseph and Anne were married, and it’s understood enjoyed riding together and travelling around Europe. Despite their tragic regret over losing their firstborn Charles, they went on to have a second son, Guy in 1884. Guy Ashworth went on to join the army, and was married twice, but left no children.

Andrew Knowles married Joseph’s sister, Anne Jane Cross, who became Anne Jane Knowles and to whom, as said, The Knowles Monument is dedicated. Andrew had retired from the coal industry around the same time that Anne passed away, but in 1880 he married Catherine Brooks and together they went on to have four more children - Dorothy, Honor, Andrew and Robert. In his lifetime he was master of Ledbury Hunt, a Newent Magistrate and at the time of his death in 1909 was the owner of 2,000 acres and many houses in Newent and Taynton locale.