Family honours Canadian couple's wishes to be laid to rest in Scarborough

It was while working as a nurse on Graham Ward in the late 1940s/early 1950s, that Jean Bolsover met husband-to-be Ernest Chaplin, who had been admitted for stomach surgery following service overseas during World War Two.

Ernest was born in Bolton upon Dearne in 1919 and joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers at the age of 20. As part of the regiment he took part in the Burma Campaign - where Allied Forces fought to retake British Burma from invading Imperial Japan - for six years.

Upon returning home he moved to Scarborough to work on the railways, and was a patient at Scarborough Hospital when he met Jean.

The couple fell in love and married in Manchester in 1954, before emigrating to Canada in 1956 where they were blessed with four children Kim, Gary, Greg and Lisa, and later eight grandchildren.

After Ernest passed away in 2004 at the age of 84, Jean would talk endlessly about her years of nursing in Scarborough, and it was her final wish that when she died that her ashes be spread in the place where she and Ernest had such happy memories.

Jean passed away in 2022 at the age of 92 and the family agreed to honour her wishes.

Children Greg and Kim, and all eight grandchildren travelled to Scarborough, seven from the Greater Toronto area and the eighth from Columbus, Ohio to scatter the couples’ ashes in the sea in Scarborough.

The travellers then joined with other members of the Chaplin family, who journeyed from Nottingham, Cheltenham, Swinton, Goldthorpe, Hunmanby, and Fordon, at a lunch where many met in person for the first time.

Greg Chaplin said: “Scarborough was just how I remembered it. My Dad and I visited England in September of 1992.

“Our cousin Peter, drove Kim and I through town and pointed out where Dad lived and worked while he lived in Scarborough.

“Peter also took us to the hospital where Mom worked and where she stayed while in residence. We managed to get to the area of the hospital where Dad and Mom first met.

“Although it had changed a lot since that time, Kim and I couldn’t help but realize this was the place that their lives together would start.

“Knowing that their final resting place was where their lives together, first started, was so appropriate!

Kim Grimshaw (eldest daughter of Jean and Ernie) said: “It meant the world to us to honour our mom and dad and fulfil their wishes in the place that held such deep meaning for them.”

Jean and Ernie’s Grandson, Marlon Chaplin said: “My childhood quite simply couldn't have been sunnier and I owe much of that to my Nana and Grandad.

“So, to be able to touch my roots and lineage in such a visceral way, walking up the parking ramp across from the Grand Hotel (a landmark I'd only known through my Nana's stories and pictures) and onto the misty beaches of Scarborough felt like an appropriate full circle moment.

“I'll be forever grateful we were able to fulfil my Nana’s wish and honour both her and my granddad.”