A Strange Burial, 1736
From The History of Lymington, and its immediate vicinity, by David William Garrow (1825):
Lymington Parish Church
Update: "without the Needles" refers to a location — Needles Point.
In the parochial register of Lymington, for the year 1736, is entered a curious minute, which, for its singularity, deserves notice. The words run thus: —
"Samuel Baldwin, Esq. sojourner in this parish, was immersed without the Needles, sans ceremonie, May 20, 1736. It was ever his request, whilst living, that his body might be so disposed of after his death, from a superstitious notion that his wife, in the instance of her surviving him, would dance over his grave, actuated by a spirit of vindictiveness for his conjugal infidelity."
"Samuel Baldwin, Esq. sojourner in this parish, was immersed without the Needles, sans ceremonie, May 20, 1736. It was ever his request, whilst living, that his body might be so disposed of after his death, from a superstitious notion that his wife, in the instance of her surviving him, would dance over his grave, actuated by a spirit of vindictiveness for his conjugal infidelity."
Lymington Parish Church
Update: "without the Needles" refers to a location — Needles Point.
Comments
Well, what else could one expect after all that conjugal infidelity? You just can't go round canjugaling all up and down the country side and not expect some connubial retribution.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 01/21/13 at 10:05 AM
Wonder if that's where Les Dawson got the inspiration for his famous joke: "The wife's mother said, when you're dead I'll dance on your grave. I said, I hope you do, I'm going to be buried at sea."
Posted by Benvenuto on 01/21/13 at 10:56 AM
The Needles are three stacks of chalk that stick out of the English Channel (or the River Solent, depending on your POV) on the western end of the Isle of Wight (which is in the middle, at the bottom of England, near Portsmouth), so "without The Needles" sounds a lot as though he was pitched over the gunwale somewhere - without being the opposite of within, in this case. Especially since Lymington is on the mainland, about a mile inland.
50 39 44.40N 1 35 28.80W
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Needles
50 39 44.40N 1 35 28.80W
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Needles
Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 01/21/13 at 11:13 AM
I want the epitaph on my tombstone to read, "I Told You I Didn't Feel Well!".
Posted by KDP on 01/21/13 at 05:44 PM
@KDP; I want mine to say "Out to Lunch".
(Most people that know me would say it sums up my life fairly well.) 😊
(Most people that know me would say it sums up my life fairly well.) 😊
Posted by Captain DaFt on 01/21/13 at 11:57 PM
I'd have thought his biggest fear would have been that she'd put him in his grave, who cares what happens once he's there.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 01/22/13 at 01:23 AM
Puts me in mind of Cyril Tawney's "Six Feet o' Mud".
Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 01/22/13 at 11:04 AM
I lived in Lymington for a couple of years, so weird to see it mentioned, but this is WU so maybe not....
Posted by Steve A on 01/23/13 at 09:52 AM
http://www.picgifs.com//smileys/smileys-and-emoticons/devil/smileys-devil-748249.gif Wait till we get around to Beaconsfield, Iowa.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 01/23/13 at 10:04 AM
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.
Category: Death | Obituaries | Eighteenth Century