John was in the habit of corresponding regularly with his mother by post, but had not written for some time and his mother was becoming anxious. One day she set out the Wallingford road with the intention of meeting the postman, and it was here that she witnessed the ghost of her son walking towards her, apparently in so much distress that it convinced her that her son must be dead.

This fact was confirmed some weeks later, when a letter finally arrived with the sad news that John had died of dysentery in India, and been buried by his servants. His mother put the distress she had seen on the face of John's ghost on the fact that he hadn't been given a Christian burial.

John was one of 11 children, many of whom also emigrated serve in India. John's brother Edward later erected a monument in John's memory in a field to the north of the house, with an inscription 'Alas! My poor brother.'

An article on the Henley Standard website claims that the monument was actually constructed to 'lay the ghost' of John Thurlow Reade, although there is nothing given to substantiate this claim, beyond the assertion that he would have been distressed not to have been given a Christian burial.

Ibsden House is also notable for the stone circle that stands within the grounds. Although at first glance it may appear ancient, it was actually also constructed in 1827. I've not been able to find out whether it too is a monument to the late John Thurlow Reade, or whether the date of it's creation is just a coincidence.

The monument and stone circle are not the only unusual building projects associated with the Reade family. Another of John's brothers, Edward Anderton Reade, was also a civil servant in India, and it was a conversation Edward had with the Maharajah of Benares, Ishree Pershad Naryan Singh, that inspired the latter to fund a very unusual project in the village of Stoke Row, Oxfordshire.

Edward had told the Maharajah of the trials and tribulations faced by the people of his home village of Stoke Row on account of the difficulty of finding clean drinking water. The Maharajah remembered this, and years later funded the construction of an elaborate well at Stoke Row. Known as the Maharajah's Well, this ornate well has a golden elephant above the well mechanism. The well was opened in 1863 and remained in use until the Second World War.