309 YEARS OLD?
St Andrew’s Church at Cleeve
Priory in Worcestershire dates back to at least the 9th century and
the village was mentioned in the Doomsday Book in 1086. The burial ground was consecrated on 18th October 1315
– just before Sara Charlett was born, if details on her gravestone are to be
believed. It states that she died in
1693 at the age of 309 years! Almost certainly a mistake but nevertheless an interesting
curiosity.
HENRY JENKINS
Yorkshireman Henry
Jenkins is said to have been 169
years old when he died in 1670. The
following epitaph, composed by Dr Thomas Chapman, master of Magedelene College,
Cambridge, can
be seen in the church at Bolton-on-Swale near Richmond in North Yorkshire :
‘ Blush not, marble, to rescue from oblivion the memory of Henry
Jenkins,
a person obscure in birth, but of a life truly memorable,
for he was enriched with the goods of nature, if not of fortune.
and happy in the duration, if not variety, of his enjoyments;
and though the partial
world despised or disregarded his low and humble state,
the equal eye of Providence
beheld and blessed it with a
patriarch’s health and length of
days;
to teach mistaken man these blessings were entailed on temperance
or a life of labour and a mind at ease.
He lived to the amazing age of 169; was interred here December 6th 1670
And has this justice done to his memory 1743.’
A monument to the memory of Henry Jenkins was also erected
in the churchyard in 1743, by public subscription, and the local pub at Kirby
Malzeard near Ripon is called The Henry Jenkins Inn.
Although no parish register exists to support Henry’s
claim that he was born in 1500 at Ellerton-on-Swale, he certainly died at Bolton-on
Swale in 1670, having lived there for some 20 years. Born of peasant stock, Henry remained
totally illiterate all his life. He
worked as a farm labourer, as butler to Lord Conyers and later in life as a
thatcher and river fisherman. A
teetotaller, he regularly swam across the Swale when he was more than 100 years
old. He was often questioned about his
long life by Lord Conyers who failed to find fault with his recollections such
as the Battle of Flodden (1513) when Henry claimed to have guided a horse load
of arrows to Northallerton for use in that battle; and the Dissolution of the
Monasteries. Other Swaledale
centenarians clearly remembered that Henry was a very old man when they were
young and all the evidence pointed to the truth of Henry’s claim. He was often called to testify in court in
ancient disputed matters and was a witness at York Assizes during the latter
years of his life when he testified that to his knowledge, tithes of wool and
lambs had been paid to the vicar of Catterick for at least 120 years.
Churchyard monument
Church epitaph
The Henry Jenkings Inn
ANOTHER CENTARIAN
Cut into the base of the porch of the church at West Tanfield in North Yorkshire,
is a memorial to another Yorkshire
centenarian, Ralph Bourne 1615 –
1728. Henry Jenkins was already 114
years old when Bourne was born and Bourne no doubt heard about Jenkins’ great
age, in fact they may well have known each other. Bourne lived during the stirring times of
Charles Stuart and saw the Puritan rule give way to the dissolute days of
Charles 11. He survived the Great Plague
and would have known about the Great Fire of London. He died when he was 113 years of age just
into the reign of George 11.
OLD PARR
Thomas Parr was said to be
152 years old when he died in 1635. Known as Old
Parr, he was born in 1483 at Winnington in Shropshire
and apparently remained a bachelor until
he was 80. We are not told how old his
bride was but she died 32 years later when Old Parr was 112. He had an affair when he was 105, with one
Catherine Milton, and when he was found out he did penance in a white sheet
outside the local church. This amazing
man later married Catherine when he was 120, but how long it lasted we don’t
know. After he passed the age of 150, he
was presented to the King, Charles 1, who asked him what he had done during his
long life and Old Parr is said to have replied, ‘Sire, I did penance for seducing a lady when I was over a
hundred.’ However, the long journey
to London to
meet the King, with its attendant excitement, was too much for the old man and
he died shortly afterwards. He was
buried in Westminster Abbey on 15th
November 1635.
AULD DUBRACH
In the graveyard at Braemar in Scotland there is a flat
tombstone alongside the Invercauld Vault, in memory of one Peter Grant, known
as Auld Dubrach. He was born in 1714 at
Dubrach in Glen Dee and became known as the oldest surviving Jacobite. He had been taken prisoner at the Battle of Culloden
but managed to escape from Carlisle
Castle whilst awaiting trial and returned home on foot to resume his normal
trade as a weaver and tailor in Auchendryne where he married and had six
children. When he celebrated his 100th
birthday, King George 1V heard about him and granted him a pension of 1 guinea
per week.
Aud Dubrach died at Auchendryne in 1824 when he was 110
years old. His funeral was attended by over 100 people and it is said that an
‘anker’ of whisky (about 4 gallons) was consumed before he was interred, and at
the graveside a piper played the Jacobite tune, ‘ Wha widna fecht for Charlie’s
richt’.
ENGLAND'S TALLEST MAN
A memorial plaque on a fine Georgian house at Market
Weighton in East Yorkshire, depicts a large
footprint, that of ‘The tallest
Englishman ever recorded who lived in this house.’ William Bradley was born at Market Weighton on 10th February 1787,
one of 13 children and grew to be 7ft 9ins tall and weighed 27 stones. A huge man, as a painting at the
Londesborough Arms in the town, shows, together with a huge chair said to have
belonged to Bradley. One of his shoes,
15ins long and 51/2ins
wide, can be seen in Hull
museum.
The Yorkshire Giant travelled the country exhibiting
himself at fairs and shows and it cost 1/- to see him, quite a considerable
amount in those early days of the 19th century. Apparently King George 111 was quite taken
with him and presented him with a gold watch chain.
Bradley died at Market Weighton on 30th May 1820 at the age of
33 years. His coffin measured 9ft x
3ft. He was buried at 5-o-clock in the
morning of 3rd
June 1820, to avoid onlookers, originally in the churchyard, but in
1872 his remains were exhumed and reburied inside All Saints Church at Market
Weighton, where a memorial tablet can be seen.
William Bradley is still recorded in the Guinness Book of
Records as the tallest ever British person.
A fund has been started in recent years to raise money for a statue of
the great man to be erected in his home town which now has a 'Giant Bradley Day' each year.
A CULINARY DWARF
An old thatched cottage on the Melton Road in Oakham, Rutland, was once the home of Jeffrey Hudson,
who was born in Oakham in 1619. He was a
dwarf, just 3ft 6ins tall. Although he was so small, Jeffrey didn’t
allow himself to be treated anything other than a man and during his lifetime
he was a soldier, courtier, adventurer and duellist! He fought on the Royalist side in the Civil
War and was even said to have been captured by pirates and to have fought
several duels . On one occasion he chose
pistols on horseback and shot his opponent dead. He became page to the Duke of Buckingham,
and it was whilst the Duke was entertaining Charles 1 that Hudson leapt out of
a cold pie. Queen Henrietta was so taken
with him that he entered her service. A
life sized statue of Hudson
can be seen in Fyvie
Castle in Aberdeeenshire,
depicting him as a soldier in helmet and breastplate and with a musket at his
side. Hudson died in 1682 when he was 63 years old.
Statue of Hudson at Fyvie Castle
LORD TOM THUMB
A very fine statue
can be seen in the entrance lobby of Durham’s
Town Hall – it depicts one Count Joseph Boruwlaski who was born in Poland in
1739. After wandering through Europe he apparently settled in Durham where he spent the last 37 years of
his long life. He died in 1837 when he was 98 years old and was buried in
Durham Cathedral. His epitaph in the church of St Mary the Less reads: ‘Poland was my cradle, England my
nest. Durham is my quiet Place, where my bones
shall rest’. He was quite a dandy and his charm and wit
made him a favourite guest. He was an
accomplished violinist and his violin, together with his clothing and cane are
displayed in a showcase alongside a very fine painting of him, also in the Town
Hall foyer. Known as Lord Tom Thumb,
The Count was only 39 inches tall.
Apparently he was not a dwarf but a perfectly formed man.
A tetrastyle Greek temple, known as he Count's House, which stands on the riverside at Durham, is thought to have been an ornamental folly in the Count's garden.
COMMANDER IN CHIEF
The
inscription on a gravestone in the churchyard at Christ Church in Keighley Road,
Skipton tells us about an unusual 19th century Skipton man:
‘In memory of the late
Edwin Calvert, son of Richard Calvert of Skipton. (Known by the name of the “Commander in
Chief” being the smallest and most perfect man
in the world, being under 36” in height and weighing 25 ½ lbs). Who died (much lamented and deeply regretted by all who knew him). Aug 7 1859 in the 17th year of his age. Blest lovely youth as thou art, it were so cruel to depart. Yet dear Saviour I resign, my lovely youth for ever thine.’
A PRODIGY OF NATURE
Daniel Lambert was only 39 years old when he died in 1809
and he was buried in the graveyard of St Martin’s
church at Stamford
in Lincolnshire. The epitaph on his gravestone reads :
‘ In remembrance of that Prodigy of Nature,
Daniel Lambert, a native of Leicester,
who was possessed of an exalted and
convivial mind
and in personal greatness had no competitor.
He measured 3ft round the leg, 9ft 4ins
round the body and weighed 52 stones 11 lbs.
He departed this life on 21st June 1809
aged 39 years.
As a testimony of Respect this stone is
erected by his friends in Leicester.’
Lambert was the keeper of Leicester Prison. Apparently he was very fond of a wager and
often boasted that he could beat any fit man in a race, provided he had the
right to choose the course. The course
he always chose was a long narrow passage. A portrait of Lambert can be seen
hanging in the George
Hotel at Stamford.
Daniel Lambert
Epitaph
Commemorative fence at Burley House.
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