In 1703, Hannah Twynnoy became Britain's first recorded victim of a tiger.
Her grave stone, in Malmesbury Abbey has the epitaph:
In bloom of life, She's snatched from hence, She had not room to make defence;
For Tyger fierce, Took life away, And here she lies, In a bed of clay, Until the Resurrection Day.
One has to wonder if William Blake heard of her fate? No way of knowing, but one other obvious question is who was Britain's last victim of a tiger?
Answer: Rosa King, who died after a tiger entered an enclosure at Hamerton Zoo Park, near Huntingdon Cambridgeshire on 29th May 2017. In fact this tombstone and the other strange headstones contained in this BBC story, reminded me that there is a lot of humour in death .... you just have to turn over any tombstone to find it.
Janet Marie Crowder Girolamo died in October 2015. She shares a double tombstone with her husband Russell who hasn't been using his side at this time. On her side of the tombstone it says "If you can read this, your standing on my boobs."
Katharine and Sterling Ivison, who died in 1997 and 2008, obviously enjoyed a final laugh with the epitaph "We finally found a place to park in Georgetown"
There are hundreds of these on the web; from actress Bette Davis who had "She did it the hard way" on her tombstone, or gun-slinger Robert 'Clay' Allison, whose friends declared that "He never killed a man, that did not need killing," right through to Williams Shakespeares "Good Friend for Jesus sake forbear, to dig the dust enclosed here. Bless be the man who spares these stones, and cursed be he who moves my bones"
But perhaps the oddest, is the tombstone of the late Lieut Nathaniel “Natty” Grigsby, who died on the 16th of April 1890. He was apparently still aggrieved at what he perceived to be the perfidy of the Democratic Party in the USA, who he held responsible for the death of his friend Abraham Lincoln. He was related to Lincoln by marriage (his brother married Lincoln's sister), and he also blamed the Democratic party for the American Civil War.
In fact so agitated was Mr Grigsby by these 'crimes', that he dictated his own epitaph as he lay on his deathbed, and asked one of his sons to make sure the inscription was carried out.
"Through this inscription I wish to enter my dying protest against what is called the Democratic party I have watched it closely since the days of Jackson and know that all the misfortunes of our nation has come to it through this so called party therefore beware of this party of treason. Put on in fulfillment of promise to Deceased. Reprinted as posted on one side of the monument of N. Grigsby."
Proving that although you may not be able to take it with you when you go, you sure can still dish it out from beyond the grave.
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| Hannah Twynnoy ~ Tyger Tyger, Burning Bright |
Her grave stone, in Malmesbury Abbey has the epitaph:
In bloom of life, She's snatched from hence, She had not room to make defence;
For Tyger fierce, Took life away, And here she lies, In a bed of clay, Until the Resurrection Day.
One has to wonder if William Blake heard of her fate? No way of knowing, but one other obvious question is who was Britain's last victim of a tiger?
Answer: Rosa King, who died after a tiger entered an enclosure at Hamerton Zoo Park, near Huntingdon Cambridgeshire on 29th May 2017. In fact this tombstone and the other strange headstones contained in this BBC story, reminded me that there is a lot of humour in death .... you just have to turn over any tombstone to find it.
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| A Gal With A Sense Of Humour ...... |
Janet Marie Crowder Girolamo died in October 2015. She shares a double tombstone with her husband Russell who hasn't been using his side at this time. On her side of the tombstone it says "If you can read this, your standing on my boobs."
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| They Liked To Share A Joke ... |
Katharine and Sterling Ivison, who died in 1997 and 2008, obviously enjoyed a final laugh with the epitaph "We finally found a place to park in Georgetown"
 |
| Shakespeare's Blessing And Curse |
There are hundreds of these on the web; from actress Bette Davis who had "She did it the hard way" on her tombstone, or gun-slinger Robert 'Clay' Allison, whose friends declared that "He never killed a man, that did not need killing," right through to Williams Shakespeares "Good Friend for Jesus sake forbear, to dig the dust enclosed here. Bless be the man who spares these stones, and cursed be he who moves my bones"
But perhaps the oddest, is the tombstone of the late Lieut Nathaniel “Natty” Grigsby, who died on the 16th of April 1890. He was apparently still aggrieved at what he perceived to be the perfidy of the Democratic Party in the USA, who he held responsible for the death of his friend Abraham Lincoln. He was related to Lincoln by marriage (his brother married Lincoln's sister), and he also blamed the Democratic party for the American Civil War.
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| Nathaniel Grigsby - Bitter To The End. |
In fact so agitated was Mr Grigsby by these 'crimes', that he dictated his own epitaph as he lay on his deathbed, and asked one of his sons to make sure the inscription was carried out.
"Through this inscription I wish to enter my dying protest against what is called the Democratic party I have watched it closely since the days of Jackson and know that all the misfortunes of our nation has come to it through this so called party therefore beware of this party of treason. Put on in fulfillment of promise to Deceased. Reprinted as posted on one side of the monument of N. Grigsby."
Proving that although you may not be able to take it with you when you go, you sure can still dish it out from beyond the grave.
I never did get Spike Milligan's humour but I like his epitaph; "I told you I was ill".
ReplyDeleteYou might like the tombstone offering of Rodney Dangerfield (a comedian who has played both Lucifer and God in film roles), which says 'There goes the neighborhood.'.
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