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Posted: 03-09-2007 18:15 Post subject:

Slave's gravestone to be restored

The Cornish grave of a former slave will be restored after hundreds of pounds were raised.
Joseph Emidy's headstone will be cleaned and repainted with a special rededication ceremony at the weekend.

The African musician was snatched in the eighteenth century and after a series of horrible adventures landed in Falmouth as a free man.

He used his classical music skills to earn a living teaching people how to play as well as composing.

Disrepair

His skills as a teacher and concert musician were in high demand, as requests for his services appeared in Falmouth and Truro newspapers.

When he died Joseph Emidy was buried in Kenwyn churchyard in Truro.

In the past few years his gravestone has fallen into disrepair but an appeal has raised the hundreds of pounds needed for it to be restored.

Work begins this week and when it is finished a special service will mark the event on 8 September.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/6975999.stm

What surprises me about this story is that, despite having lived here for 17 years now, this is the first time I've heard of this chap, even though I do take an interest in local history.

Posted: 03-09-2007 18:27 Post subject:

I found this earlier article in the local press - it gives more info on Emidy's interesting life. I'll try to get a pic of his gravestone next time I'm in Truro.

SLAVE FOUND FREEDOM THROUGH HIS MUSIC
11:00 - 27 July 2007

The colourful life of a black musician who escaped slavery and settled in the Westcountry is the subject of a talk at the Dartington International Summer School on Monday.

Joseph Emidy, born in about 1775 in Guinea in Africa, was snatched from his home on the west coast of Africa by Portuguese traders at the age of 12.

It was his musical talents which effectively smoothed his passage to a free life, after he was abducted on to a British naval ship, the Indefatigable.

The ship's captain Sir Edward Pellew eventually granted him his freedom when the ship put into Falmouth. He went on to live to the age of 90, earning a living as a musician in Cornwall.

Gareth Henderson, artistic director of the summer school, will talk about Emidy's music and life, and in this 200th anniversary year of the abolition of slavery, he is making a special appeal to trace Emidy's musical compositions. He is known to have written dozens of pieces, but none have ever been unearthed.

"It must be that somewhere Emidy's music exists," he says. "He distributed music around the musical societies, some of it was sent to London to the great impresario Johann Salomon. It must have been distributed.

"People may have some stuff in their attic, there might be some loft of a town hall or assembly hall that has got some music in there and it could be that they have got some music of Emidy's. It could be in the Westcountry.

"He would have played and written a great deal. There are lots of reports of 'a new symposia by Mr Emidy', so where the hell is it?"

Emidy's story has been passed down through contemporary reports of his accomplished playing and his background, as well as adverts for his performances.

After he was abducted into slavery he was taken to Brazil, where he obtained a musical education from the Jesuit Missions and he was sent back to Portugal where he became one of the lead violinists at the Lisbon Opera House in Portugal.

British naval captain Sir Edward Pellew press-ganged him on to his ship after hearing him play at the opera. Emidy was to entertain the sailors on board the ship for more than five years, playing jigs and reels, and more refined music.

"He was abducted and then tossed around the high seas and saw some pretty heavy battles. He wasn't allowed off the ship in case he absconded," says Gavin. "The Royal Navy wasn't allowed to have slaves in custody so he was a free man on the boat but when the ship put into port, he was kept on board."

It could have been a debt of gratitude which made Pellew grant Emidy his freedom when the boat put into Falmouth.

"He had nothing to his name and basically made his way by playing," says Gavin. "He quickly established himself as being able to perform and entertain and he got a little life for himself. People became interested in his music."

Emidy married a local girl, settled in Truro, became leader of the Truro Harmonic Society and taught, composed and performed for a living. One of his students was the MP for Falmouth James Silk Buckingham, who fought for the abolition of slavery, whom he taught to play the flute.

Emidy could, says Gavin, have established himself in London, but he had perhaps become too attached to Cornwall to want to uproot himself.

"There is something about the independent spirit of Cornwall that must have absorbed him," he says.

"Somebody of Emidy's versatility - he played for the sailors on the ship and he had lived in Brazil - must have been a captivating and fascinating person in whose company to be."

"He found a security in the Westcountry, a group of friends and a livelihood, and he didn't want to upset that, so he was never tempted away to the bright lights of London."

http://tinyurl.com/ypvtqu

Posted: 03-09-2007 18:46 Post subject:

There is quite a bit on info about Emidy on the web. There is a musical tribute here
http://www.jonroseweb.com/f_projects_emidy.html.

The page also suggests that it may not have been have been Cornwall's attractions that kept him in Truro:
We know that his music was brought to London by anti-slavery activist James Silk Buckingham and given a hearing to some music critics, including impressario Salomon, who though impressed with the work, advised that Emidy remain outside of the capital's music circles because of his colour and background.

Posted: 22-09-2007 21:54 Post subject:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/rynner/IMG_0168.jpg

According to an exhibition in the church, he was quite an ugly negro, but nevertheless married the daughter of a local merchant. (No comment on her charms, however!)

There is also a plaque to his memory in Falmouth parish church, which I'd not noticed before, so I'll have to go and visit that.

Posted: 24-09-2007 07:43 Post subject:

BBC reveals Britain's most unusual epitaphs
By Martin Beckford
Last Updated: 3:04am BST 24/09/2007

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.

Have your say: What is your favourite epitaph?
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. Shocked

Members of the public voted Mrs Johnson's gravestone as the most mysterious memorial in Britain. It details how the 28-year-old suffered a build-up of fluid, known as dropsy.

Doctors repeatedly "tapped" the excess fluid from her abdomen without anaesthetic.

The gravestone, found in Loughborough, Leics, names the two doctors who carried out the operations and the exact amount of fluid extracted – 315 gallons, two quarts and one pint — although the total given on the epitaph is different.

As her gravestone was made of expensive Swithland slate, experts believe her physicians paid for it, which "amounts to a 19th century example of opportunistic, if brazen, advertising".

Dr Richard Smart, one of the competition judges and director of the National Archive of Memorial Inscriptions, said: "The decision to include on Sarah's gravestone the amount that was drained from her, along with details of who carried out the work, totally bizarre, very unusual, and a fascinating social insight."

Almost as strange as Mrs Johnson's gravestone is the story of Hannah Twynnoy, whom historians believe was probably the first person in Britain to be killed by a tiger.

A barmaid at the White Lion Inn in Malmesbury, Wilts, she teased a tiger belonging to a travelling menagerie until one day the animal broke free and mauled her to death.

Researchers believe she may have been having an affair with a local notable as her death was commemorated with an expensive gravestone in the Malmesbury Abbey even though she was poor.

A gravestone found in Milton Regis, Kent, records the death of Simon Gilker in 1696, aged 48.

The date of his death, 5 Nov, and the cause given – "by means of a Rockett" – suggest he died at an event to commemorate Guy Fawkes's attempt to blow up Parliament in 1605.

Another runner-up, found in a churchyard in Brighton, East Sussex, details the long and eventful life of Phoebe Hessel, who died in 1821 aged 108.

As her gravestone relates, she joined the British Army and received a bayonet wound to her arm in the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745, during the War of Austrian Succession.

The fourth runner-up, found on a memorial slab in a church in Bramfield, Suffolk, ruefully tells how Bridgett Applewhaite died of a seizure in 1737 before she could marry her second husband.

The epitaph, which states how Mrs Applewhaite lived on for 60 hours "in terrible convulsions plaintive groans or stupefying sleep without recovery of her speech or senses", was later considered "revolting and profane".

Hannah Twynnoy

Who died October 23rd 1703 Aged 33 Years. 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

http://tinyurl.com/24ognp

Posted: 24-09-2007 10:33 Post subject:

Posted: 24-09-2007 11:42 Post subject:

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s163/DrBastard_album/Flowertablet.jpg

Found this in my local church and thought it interesting. I don't have a clue what it's about- any ideas welcome!

Posted: 24-09-2007 17:12 Post subject:

Posted: 25-09-2007 13:42 Post subject:

There's a couple of pages in todays Mirror on Britain's strangest epitaphs which can be read HERE

Posted: 26-09-2007 04:06 Post subject:

Posted: 25-06-2008 08:05 Post subject:

Grave of Fuller Pilch, 19th century cricketer, delays £8 million concert hall
By Graham Tibbetts
Last Updated: 2:40AM BST 25/06/2008

Fuller Pilch, a leading 19th century cricketer who once kept England's best bowlers at bay, is now having a similar effect on developers.
Building work on a planned university concert hall is being delayed because it is earmarked for land where he is buried.

For around ten years in the 1830s he was regarded as the finest batsman in the country and even pioneered a style of batting - known as the Pilch poke - to make use of his height.

After his funeral in 1870 the all-rounder was buried in the churchyard of St Gregory's, Canterbury.

Now his body, along with the remains of 200 others, must be disinterred and reburied away from the site before the £8 million project can go ahead.

However, no one is sure where Pilch lies because a 12ft obelisk marking his grave was moved to Kent county cricket club's headquarters when the churchyard fell into disuse in 1978.

Canterbury Christ Church University must first work out who lies where, a riddle that may force planners to trawl through parish records before the 350-seat auditorium can be completed.

"We have been advised that Fuller Pilch is buried within the churchyard and that his memorial stone was moved," said Mary Galliers, a spokesman for the university.

"However, his name does not appear on the initial survey of graves undertaken as part of our planning application. We cannot confirm the location of his grave until a further survey is carried out."

If planning permission is granted, the remains affected by the building work will be reburied in a memorial garden in a corner of the churchyard.

Pilch, who was born in Norfolk, hit 10 centuries during his career - a rare feat on pitches that were little more than a meadow - and was one of the first batsmen to wear pads.

One newspaper report described him as a "merciless tyrant" at the crease and he toured with the All England XI before becoming landlord of the Saracen's Head in Canterbury.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2190312/Grave-of-Fuller-Pilch%2C-19th-century-cricketer%2C-delays-and1638-million--concert-hall.html

Posted: 25-06-2008 08:17 Post subject:

The Times version of this story has a pic of Pilcher, and adds:

Posted: 06-11-2008 10:16 Post subject:

Gravestones removed or 'secured' by over-zealous safety officers
Up to a million gravestones have been removed or 'secured' by over-zealous health and safety officers.
By Charlotte Bailey
Last Updated: 8:17PM GMT 05 Nov 2008

Councillors across the country have set about shoring up memorials with plastic binding, or stakes, or removing them entirely, to prevent them from falling over and causing injuries and compensation claims.

The Health and Safety Executive has recorded 21 incidents of injuries caused by falling headstones over the past seven years.

The Government have said that gravestone accidents have caused eight deaths in the past 20 years.

However ministers have admitted that the vast majority of gravestones do not present a threat and some MPs are now saying that the measures are upsetting families who see it as unnecessary.

John Mann, Labour MP for Bassetlaw, said that in his constituency district and parish councils had staked 800 gravestones.

He said: "Distressed constituents have found almost entire graveyards full of staked monuments.

"One mother felt her son's grave had been desecrated."

Mr Mann also believes that the stakes themselves present more of a hazard to passersby as he believes that they could trip or impale themselves. He said that the situation was a nationwide "scandal".

He said: "I would estimate that between 500,000 and a million headstones in Britain have been wrongly staked by over-zealous burial officials.

"This is a scandal across the country."

Justice Minister Bridget Prentice admitted that some town halls had over-reacted to worries about gravestones and said that councils should pay to restore them when they had been defaced or moved for no good reason.

She said that new national guidelines were expected to be published soon.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3387614/Gravestones-removed-or-secured-by-over-zealous-safety-officers.html

Posted: 09-11-2008 02:44 Post subject:

When I saw the title to this board, I thought it would refer to unusual and interesting epitaphs, as opposed to cryptic one.

Many Forteans will enjoy A Small Book of Grave Humour, edited by Fritz Spiegl. It contains many famous ones, including;

"Hae mercy oan ma soul, Lord God,
As I wad dae, were I Lord God,
And ye were Martin Elginbrodde"
(Dumfries)

"Erected to the memory of
John McFarlane,
Drowned in the Water of Leith,
By a few affectionate friends."
(Gorgie Cemetary, Edinburgh)

"Here lies
Lester Moore
Four slugs from a 44
No Les
No more"
(Boot Hill Cemetary, Tombstone, Arizona)

And my personal favourite, which I find not a little touching:

"Whoever treadeth on this stone,
I trust you tread most neatly;
For underneath the same do lie,
Your honest friend, WILL WHEATLY"

The book, however, does not record the monument to some bloke (whose name escapes me) in Grange Cemetary, Edinburgh, who drowned in Duddingston Loch, aged 78, with the inscription "This monument was raised by the Edinburgh Youth Society".

Posted: 09-11-2008 02:59 Post subject: Coded epitaph

This epitaph can be easily read once you relise how to:

BENE

ATH TH ISST

ONERE POS ET

H CLAUD COSTER TRIP

E SELLERO

F IMP

IN GT ONAS DO

TH HI

S C

ON SOR

T I A N E

I reckon that this bloke was gay and buried in the same grave as his partner, Iane, hence the code.

My own epitaph is going to be very simple. It's going to read;

"Yes, well, I blame the government for this!"