At first, the date March 15, 1941, may seem unremarkable. However, eighty years ago, the world looked very different than it does now.

After all, on that Saturday, the world was one year, six months and 15 days into a generation-defining war which changed the course of history forever.

The Isle of Man was playing host to thousands of prisoners of war, across several internment camps - something you don’t see every day.

Many other notable things also happened on March 15, 1941:

A blizzard in North Dakota, USA, killed 151 people.

Mike Love, vocalist and percussionist of American surf-rock band Beach Boys fame was born.

But for one Manx family, that particular date is significant for another reason, one wholly separate from the events going on around the world.

On March 15, 1941, a young Douglas woman named Mary Isabella Holbert died aged just 24 from consumption - better known today as Tuberculosis, or TB.

She left behind an 11-month old baby boy named Peter.

Mary, whose maiden name was Brady, was known to many on the island as 'Belle Brady'.

She died in the family home, on Hillside Avenue, Douglas.

Her father, Johnny Brady worked for many years at Okell’s Brewery in Douglas. He was a leading Roman Catholic churchman at St Mary’s Church, Douglas, for which he was awarded a Papal Medal.

Belle’s husband John was from Manchester, and was stationed with the Army in France and Germany during the Second World War.

He served in a Royal Army Service Corps (R.A.S.C.) unit, ferrying war correspondents from Fleet Street and the global news service Reuters.

His missions even feature in a 2000 book, ’Magic Mistress: A 30-Year Affair with Reuters’ by reporter Doon Campbell.

Belle’s only child, Peter Holbert, now 81, lives with his wife, Jane, two cats, and hibernating hedgehogs in a 1930s semi-detatched in the Victorian seaside town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea in North Yorkshire.

He is a writer and journalist, and said he was never really told much about his mother.

'My father, who remarried, and my grandfather, who’s also dead, never spoke about my mother,' he says on reflection, 'It may have been their way of dealing with the grief.'

Peter found Belle’s death certificate amongst his late father’s papers and he was able to trace her burial site to plot NB 200 in Douglas Borough Cemetery - with the help of Sarah Statham, Douglas Council’s bereavement officer.

Sarah joined the council as a trainee cremation technician on July 24, 2000.

She qualified as a cremation technician in 2002, and became bereavement services officer in March 2003.

The role of bereavement officer is not one widely discussed, and much of their work goes on behind the scenes.

In a nutshell, bereavement officers ensure the constant smooth and efficient operation of cemeteries and crematorium service.

In Sarah’s case, this encompasses both the main cemetery at Glencrutchery Road and at the Lawn Cemetery.

She manages and organises funerals, grave digging, exhumations, ground care, operation and maintenance of cremators, and building maintenance, as well as churchyard and memorials at St George’s Church, which come under the care of the council.

When her long period of service was recognised by the council earlier this year, they said: 'Sarah Statham and her team have been complimented many times on the compassion with which they deal with bereaved families, issues with headstones, her in-depth knowledge and interest in the cemeteries and their records.'

These sentiments were echoed by Peter, who said she was very helpful, and was 'great with my search.'

According to Sarah, Peter first got in touch with the team during one of the coronavirus lockdowns last year.

He asked to verify where his mother’s grave was located, which was made possible thanks to the vast database the team keep on site, which contains all the relevant records.

Upon discovering where his mother had been laid to rest and having it confirmed, Peter immediately wanted to come over from Yorkshire to visit her.

But initial plans fell apart due to outside forces - as Peter put it, 'everything collapsed.'

He said: 'Flybe went into administration and the Manx Government closed the borders because of Covid-19.'

A new trip was booked for last month, with flights from Manchester and a stay at the Sefton punctuated by a nasty fall the day before they were due to travel causing a fractured eye socket - meaning their first day on the island was spent in Noble’s A and E, rather than searching for his mother’s final resting place.

Peter and his wife Jane were finally able to visit the grave on September 9.

Sarah said: 'When he came to visit, he became really quite upset, as there was nothing there to commemorate his mum.'

According to Sarah, this actually can be the case a lot of the time, particularly for those who died in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

'Often families took the time to grieve and then maybe forgot [there was no headstone at the grave] and just moved on,' she said.

'Or they couldn’t afford to buy one - you know, it is expensive enough to do now, and you can imagine what it was like back then.'

Belle was indeed laid to rest in an unmarked grave, a fact which has remained the same for over 80 years - until now.

Peter said: 'When I finally visited her grave, I told her "I’m still here", and I decided that I would give her a headstone to mark her short life and lonely years after death.

'We returned home to North Yorkshire on the 11th and a few days later I emailed Sarah saying that I wanted to give my mother a headstone and I asked for a list of memorial masons.'

He settled on a simple headstone of polished, black granite to be erected by Stephen Gregg, director of local company Gregg Memorials.

Peter said: 'I chose Gregg’s because it was a small family firm and [it] came across as a caring company - which it proved to be greatly so.'

The new headstone was placed on Wednesday, September 29, a full 80 years, 6 months and 14 days after Peter’s mother passed away.

It proudly declares Belle’s full name - Mary Isabella Holbert - for all to see, at last.

- Mr Holbert would like to discover if he has any Manx relatives through the Brady family or hear from anyone who knew his grandfather, Johnny Brady.

Mr Holbert went school in Manchester at De La Salle College with Manx boys including Peter Creer, whose father also worked at Okell’s.

If you have any information which could be of interest to Mr Holbert, please email us at: [email protected] and we will make sure he receives it.