The fate of James Higham. 

Though the cemetery of  St. Michael's Church is quiet, the little town of Hoole, England, was once the epicenter of discovery.  A young astronomer, James Horrocks, correctly predicted and witnessed the first recorded transit of Venus there in 1639.  His fellow parishioners were keen to honor their countryman and neighbor, and have installed stained glass windows and other honors in and around the church ever since.  One of the most famous stained glass images, centered behind the altar, is of Horrocks observing the transit of Venus projected onto a sheet.  

The occurrence of transits in pairs (in the ensuing years of 1761 & 1769, 1874 & 1882, and 2004 & 2012) was likely greeted with great zeal by the St. Michael faithful.  New stained glass was readied to commemorate the anniversary and the December 9, 1874 transit of Venus, causes for community celebration.

Within days of the 1874 transit, an event that had not been witnessed by any human then alive, James Higham, age 62, died on November 26, 1874.  Here he rests, a sentinel to the beautiful artwork behind St. Michael's Church.  I hope to make it at least through the last transit of Venus in this century, taking it one day at a time. 

[Note: see later blog http://transitofvenus.nl/wp/2011/07/24/media-vita-in-morte-sumus/ for other details related to this story.]