17th July 1890

The Star received some “grave” news

The Star printed a short excerpt from an obituary of Mr Thomas Gliddon, which had appeared in an issue of the Undertakers’ and Funeral Directors’ Journal. Gliddon had been the editor of The Casket – a title that would naturally have been of interest to the same audience as the Undertakers’ and Funeral Directors’ Journal. He had been asked to take on the role of launch editor on its founding fourteen years earlier, and had continued until his death on 26 May.

The news was somewhat late in arriving since The Casket was an American publication, and Gliddon had emigrated to the United States in 1851. As the excerpted obituary stated, when asked to edit the publication by AH Nirdlinger, “he had no faith in the project, but worked resolutely at it and made it a success”.

The Guernsey connection

Why did this distant man’s death have any relevance to The Star? Quite simply, Gliddon had once been “connected with” the Guernsey newspaper in 1849, and had been born on the island in 1833, making him 57 at the time of his death.

The Star also quoted from The Casket itself, which described its late editor as having been genial and of a generous disposition, and “never happier than when in the society of his friends… he made friends everywhere, in all ranks of society, and at the time of his death it is doubtful if any man in this city had a larger or warmer circle of friends”.

Sadly The Star doesn’t mention which city, exactly, Gliddon lived in. However, AH Nirdlinger is listed as the assignee of several funerary-related patents, including for a design for burial-casket molding and a design for burial caskets. He is listed as a resident of Rochester, New York. As he is occupied in the same industry as the AN Nirdlinger who published The Casket, it seems logical that The Casket itself would be located in or close to the city.