BBC reveals Britain's most unusual epitaphs
SOURCE: BBC (9-25-07)
When Sarah Johnson died of dropsy in 1819 her doctors turned her gravestone into a ghoulish advert for their services, with full details of her agonising treatment.
Almost two centuries later her sufferings, and the remarkable way in which they were recorded, have come to light as part of a nationwide search for unusual historical epitaphs. The full results of the search are to appear in the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? magazine.
Mrs Johnson's headstone is the winner of the contest, which has also uncovered carved tributes to an early casualty of Bonfire Night fireworks, a Wiltshire barmaid killed by an escaped tiger and a woman who fought on the front line for the British Army in the 18th century, yet managed to live to the age of 108.
Almost two centuries later her sufferings, and the remarkable way in which they were recorded, have come to light as part of a nationwide search for unusual historical epitaphs. The full results of the search are to appear in the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? magazine.
Mrs Johnson's headstone is the winner of the contest, which has also uncovered carved tributes to an early casualty of Bonfire Night fireworks, a Wiltshire barmaid killed by an escaped tiger and a woman who fought on the front line for the British Army in the 18th century, yet managed to live to the age of 108.
Source:
BBC
Source URL:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=EWCCRELDGNSO3QFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2007/09/24/nepitaph124.xml
Date:
9-25-07
