A few days ago – which was a week after I'd spent about twenty minutes searching for James Horsefield's grave in St Mary's churchyard, Prestwich – I discovered a website called 'The Artisan Naturalists', which contains a page on the Prestwich Artisan Naturalists, and it (belatedly for me, of course) gives directions where to find Horsefield's grave, but it also told me of the existence of two more graves of artisan naturalists there: Richard Buxton and James Percival, who were both buried very close to Horsefield. It goes without saying that I had to return.
In Loving Memory of
JAMES PERCIVAL,
BOTANIST, OF SMITHY BRIDGE NR ROCHDALE,
WHO DIED AUG. 17TH 1902, AGED 74 YEARS.
HE HAD NO FAVOURITE FLOWER BUT LOVED THEM ALL.
ALSO OF ELIZA, HIS BELOVED WIFE,
WHO DIED NOV. 20TH, 1900, AGED 77 YEARS.
ALSO OF NATHAN, THEIR BELOVED SON,
WHO DIED SEP. 2ND 1858, AGED 1 YEAR.'
Not a great deal is known of Percival, although 'The Artisan Naturalist' notes that he was born in Hope Square, behind the present Friendship Inn. If he ever published anything, the British Library has no record of it.
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