Late of this parish

It means (a). "Late" is just a way of saying that the person being disucssed is now dead. We still use it today in phrases like "my late Uncle John used to say...." to indicate that uncle John is no longer alive. (NOTE: you can only use it the way before the noun -- you can't say "my Uncle John is late" and have it mean the same thing.)

Hi Khoff,

Have you read any of the novels in the 'No. I Ladies' Detective Agency' series by Alexander McCall Smith? There's also a TV series of it now.

The stories are tender, wise and funny. They are set in a fictionalized version of Botswanna. The people who live there speak their own wonderful brand of English, and one of the things they say is, eg, "My Uncle John is late", m

Hi,

"Here lieth inter'd John Smith, late of this parish..."

Note we can also say of a living person, 'This is Mary Smith, late of Montreal.'

'Late' here means 'formerly but not now'.

eg 'She lives in Toronto now, but she is late of Montreal'. It sounds quite formal and rather quaint.

I'd say that's the underlying meaning on the tombston

Cliveie John Smith was formerly but now in this parish.

but now OR but not now?

After 6 years, a correction.

Thank you.
Clive

he is buried in the parish he belonged to

anonymous in old tombstones you can read something like: "Here lieth inter'd John Smith, late of this parish..."
what does it mean?
a) he is buried in the parish he belonged to
b) when he died he was a member of this parish, anyway he was not born in this parish

Informally, it can mean someone may just have left the area, or maybe a team or their job. Yes agreed quaint but sounds rather educated I would say.

A

Hello, your answer does not help me.

Thank you for your advice.