St. Mary’s Episcopal Church is located on the western side of the Perth Road roundabout in the town center of Dunblane. Near the church grounds stands a small statue of a bear and a fox, commemorating the sixteen children and their teacher who tragically lost their lives in the Dunblane Primary School Massacre on March 13, 1996. Nearby are the town’s tennis courts, known as the club where the Murray brothers developed their skills.
Opened in 1843 and designed by John Henderson, St. Mary’s is a beautiful example of Gothic Revival architecture. Like many Episcopal churches, it has its own burial ground. Among those buried here is Alice Plimmer, who rests in an unmarked grave adjacent to the choir’s exterior.
Alice Victoria Plimmer (née Degnan) passed away from influenza and pneumonia on October 21 at Cairnhill, Doune Road, Dunblane, at the age of thirty-six.
Alice Degnan was born in Hong Kong on April 11, 1881. She was the second child of Peter and Elizabeth (née Butlin) Degnan. Peter served in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and was assigned to military service in Asia. Later, he was deployed to Penang, Malaysia, where the family lived in the Straits Settlements.
By 1887, the family had returned to the British Isles and settled in Dublin. In 1895, they moved to Aldershot, Hampshire. When the 1901 Census was conducted, nineteen-year-old Alice was still living in Aldershot with her family, which had grown to include three more daughters: Maria, Katherine, and Nora. Their eldest sister, Clara, had already left home by that time.
Alice likely returned to Asia with her family due to Peter’s military service. On September 7, 1908, Alice married Albert Augustus Pavett in Ahmednagar, Bombay. Their son Richard was born in Ahmednagar on August 27 the following year. Tragically, Alice lost both her husband and son in 1910; Albert passed away in March, and Richard died in August.
On July 26, 1911, Alice married Walter Henry Plimmer in Jhansi, Bengal. Their son Henry Lester was born in Jhansi on March 3, 1912. The Plimmer family eventually left India and settled in Dunblane, where both Walter and Alice took up positions as master and mistress at Queen Victoria School. This boys-only school had recently opened on September 29, 1908, in memory of those who fell during the Boer War.
Their daughter Iris was born at Queen Victoria School on December 13, 1916.
Alice’s funeral took place in Dunblane on Wednesday, October 23, two days after her death. Following a service in the school chapel—the official memorial to Queen Victoria in Scotland—her coffin was escorted by the school’s pipe band and a cortege of forty to St. Mary’s Church.
The Plimmer family left Dunblane after Alice’s death. Walter did not remarry and passed away in March 1971 in Leicestershire, his home county.
Sources: Ancestry, British Newspaper Archive, ScotlandsPeople
I wish to thank Canon Nerys Brown for showing me the location of Alice’s resting place.
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