The missing man

This couple is Alexander Denton [b 1542] and his wife Anne [nee Willison] who died aged 18 in childbirth on 29th October 1566. It's believed that she had a little girl called Janne and the infant is very tenderly shown wrapped in the folds of red cloth upon which her Mother is laid. It's strange really because before this year I'd never seen such depictions where the Mother and child are shown together on a monument yet I've now encountered three. None in Sussex though as far as I know. There is a similar Tudor tomb in our local church where the recumbent lady is on the tomb, but no baby even though I have read that she died aged 25 in the same circumstances. 

However, things are not always what they appear to be because what we're looking at is actually a cenotaph to Alexander as he's not buried here. He went on to marry Mary Martin, a 15 year old and by her had his son Thomas who became his heir. She died in 1574 and he on 8th January 1576. Both are buried in Hillesden church in Buckinghamshire and their monument can still be seen today. I gather that this creation of two monuments in different places for the same person is highly unusual.

Arilx