"Peace - Perfect Peace"

Hadleigh Cemetery, Waipawa

 Peace Perfect Peace, With Loved Ones Far Away ... In Jesus Keeping, We Are Safe And They"

is the inscription on Ernest Henry Ingpen's gravestone.  It's taken from a line [line 4] in a hymn composed in 1875, by Anglican minister Edward Henry Bickersteth.   It gives the impression that Ernest and Emily were regular church goers and confirms that they were Church of England adherants.   A copy of Bickersteth's hymn, inspired by Isaiah 26:3,  is included below.  

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.  (Isaiah 26:3)

Youtube link to music of "Peace - perfect peace"

It seems a rather fitting passage, for a settler - who was indeed far away from his English home. 

In March 1908, Ernest Henry Ingpen deceased at Waipukurau Hospital.  The headstone and registration read 8th March 1908, however the probate file has a date of the 7th March.  [Insert amount of years in New Zealand].

He was interred in Hadley Cemetery, at Waipawa, in the Anglican Block S - plot 36, on the 9th instant.   The image file above shows the Cemetery as it appears today.  On the quiet outskirts of Waipawa, with a view of rolling hills and pasture, again the inscription of "peace - perfect peace", seems fitting.   Ernest Henry was survived by his wife Emily, and his only child, Maud Beatrice Ingpen.  She was a mere 17 years old at the time.   

More than a hundred years later, the headstone still stands.  It could probably do with some refurbishment and a memorial visit might be nice from some of his descendants.  I plan to make such a journey to Waipawa one of these days.  

Fig 1.  Headstone as it is today