On The Winds Of Time

The imposing granite Courtoy mausoleum in Brompton Cemetery ....

Courtoy Mausoleum In Brompton Cemetery

..... is the last resting place of Hannah Courtoy (b.Hannah Peters), who died in 1849 aged 55, and two of her daughters who never married. She was rumoured to be a mysterious society woman of great wealth, and possibly a royal mistress ... hence the great tomb. She never married, but had three daughters (only one of who married), and inherited a fortune in a much disputed will, from a rich merchant named John Courtoy, whose name she apparently took. 

The mausoleum is Egyptian in style, which wasn't unusual, but strangely no plans for the tomb have been found (however, according to Robert Stephenson, a cemetery guide, its not the only family tomb where plans can't be found now), and it has unreadable hieroglyphic carvings, and a twisted monogram on the door. It's also the only monument in Brompton Cemetery for which no key to its huge bronze doors can be found.

But, also according to local Brompton legend, its also a Victorian time machine. This legend reminded me a little bit of the Brentford Trilogy of fantasy books by Robert Rankin, and is a heady mixture of fact and fiction. This legend was revived again, when a report by Reuters in 1998 repeated the claims that the tomb contained a working time machine.

Some researchers believe that the tomb was actually built by maverick Victorian inventor Samuel Warner (inventor of the psychic torpedo), in partnership with architect (or sculptor ... reports vary), and Egyptologist Joseph Bonomi, (both of whom's graves are close by the tomb). Warner died in poverty, after abandoning his wife and seven children, when negotiations with the British government (led by Prime Minister Wellington) to buy his esoteric designs, broke down.

Bonomi's grave stone has the same hieroglyphic carvings as the tomb, and seemingly a carved image of the Courtoy tomb on it, with a carving of the Egyptian god Anubis facing toward the tomb. This, in Egyptian mythology, apparently is suggestive of a soul out of time.

A Victorian Time Machine Seemed A Possibility .....

However, as there was strong belief at the time, that the ancient Egyptians had found the secret of time travel, probably that symbolism's was not so odd. Some 'researchers' believe that Hannah Courtoy's unmarried daughters financed Warner's last great invention .... a time machine, based on designs uncovered by Bonomi in the Valley of the Kings.

Many many others, simply believe that Warner was a conman, who had been found out by the British government, and who had conned the Courtoy spinsters out of their money, to 'build' some sort of psychic time portal in the mausoleum, and to try and alleviate his poverty at the end of his life. Hannah Courtoy had died well before the tomb was completed, and so was re-interred there after it was completed in 1853. Warner also died in 1853, and coincidentally that was also the year Bonomi erected his family tombstone for the four of his children who had died early. 

One minor mystery is that it was built, apparently unobserved by any critical officials. Also strangely, neither of the two spinster daughters left any wills. Another mausoleum resembling the Courtoy tomb, is located in the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris, and so some of those same 'researchers' speculate that teleportation transportation between the two sites is possible. The myth includes the idea that Warner's grave is actually empty, and so is the tomb (apart from Hannah), as both the Courtoy spinsters and Warner, are all sailing the winds of time.

Of course, time travel is always an enduring idea, so these stories are ever popular as you will see in next weeks posts..