Skulferatu #48 - Dick Turpin's Grave, St George's Graveyard, York

 

I first discovered Dick Turpin’s grave many years ago on a damp, February evening.  I think I was in York on some work related business and was staying in a nearby hotel.  After a few beers I went outside for a sneaky cigarette and on walking around the corner of the hotel found myself in a small graveyard.  Most of the stones were laid flat in the ground with the exception of one at the far end of the cemetery.  I walked over to see which local worthy merited having the only standing tombstone and found that it marked the grave of the notorious highwayman Dick Turpin.  All I knew of him was the legendary (and very untrue) story of his ride from London to York on his horse Black Bess, to enable him to have an alibi for a crime he had been involved in.  I imagined him as a character much like Adam Ant in the video for his song ‘Stand and Deliver’, a handsome and slightly androgynous man, dressed in fancy clothes, a bit of makeup and being quite charming as he relieved rich travellers of their ill gotten money and valuables.  A bit of a Robin Hood character.  Unfortunately, as is usually the case, the truth does not live up to the legend.

 

St George’s Graveyard, York

 

The grave of Richard ‘Dick’ Turpin

 

Gravestone of Richard ‘Dick’ Turpin

 

Richard Turpin was born in 1705 in Essex and was a butcher by trade.  In the 1730s he became involved with a gang of Essex poachers known as the Gregory Gang, probably by helping them sell on and dispose of the deer they had hunted and killed.  As the crimes of the gang diversified, Turpin joined with them in a series of violent and brutal housebreakings and robberies.  These crimes caused such an outrage that in 1735 the Duke of Newcastle offered a £50 reward (around £11,000 in today’s money) for information leading to the capture of the culprits.  Several members of the gang were caught, and they quickly betrayed and named Turpin and the other gang members.  Turpin and the remaining members of the gang went on to commit several more robberies, but with most of them soon captured by the authorities, Turpin fled and for a while kept a low profile.   

 

In 1737 Turpin joined up with two other highwaymen and committed a series of robberies around the Waltham Forest area.  After being involved in a fatal shooting, Turpin again fled, this time to a hideaway in Epping Forest.  There he committed several more robberies.  Then, one day while he was out and about in the forest looking for someone suitable to rob, he came across Thomas Morris.  Morris recognised Turpin and presented his blunderbuss at him with the intention of capturing him and handing him over to the authorities.  Turpin, however, did not particularly fancy facing the law and the hangman yet, so he quickly dived behind an oak tree, drew his guns and shot Morris dead.  Then, before he could escape the scene, Turpin heard others approaching, drawn by the noise of the shooting.  Unable to flee, he hid himself in a Yew Tree and remained there for almost two days while he waited for those searching for him to move on.  Eventually, when all was quiet, he made his getaway. 

 

In June 1737 a reward of £200 (around £44,000 in today’s money) was offered for the capture of Turpin for the murder of Morris.  A pardon was also offered to any of his accomplices who could lead the authorities to him.  At this time a description of Turpin was given describing him as being ‘…about thirty years of age, by trade a butcher, about five feet nine inches high, of a brown complexion, very much marked with the Small-Pox, his cheek bones broad, his face thinner towards the bottom, his visage short, pretty upright, and broad about the shoulders.’  So, not much like Adam Ant then.

 

After carrying out a few more robberies in and around Epping Forest, Turpin, obviously beginning to feel the heat, left the area and made his way up to Yorkshire.

 

In Yorkshire Turpin masqueraded as a horse trader named John Palmer and stole horses to sell them on.  He made friends with several of the locals and often went out hunting with them.  One day, on returning from hunting, he spotted his landlord’s game cock strutting around in the street next to his lodgings.  Being a bit of a psychotic creep and a bully, Turpin thought it would be fun to shoot it, so drew his gun and blew it away.  One of the landlord’s friends saw him do this and remonstrated with him.  Turpin then threatened to shoot him too.  The landlord, on being told of what had happened, obtained a warrant, and had Turpin detained.  Turpin then appeared before three Justices of the Peace and was committed to the House of correction at Beverley.  The Justices of the Peace were suspicious about how Turpin had made his money and suspecting that it may have been through criminal activity, they made enquiries about him.  It was soon established that Turpin was suspected of carrying out thefts of both horses and sheep.  As horse theft was a capital crime that could result in the death penalty it was decided to transfer Turpin to be held at the more secure location of York Castle.

 

While in prison there, Turpin wrote to his brother in law in Essex.  However, he refused the letter, and it was returned to the post office where James Smith, who had taught Turpin to read and write, saw it.  He recognised the handwriting and travelled to York where he identified John Palmer as being none other than Dick Turpin.  For this Smith was given the £200 reward that had been advertised for the capture of Turpin.

 

On the 22^nd of March 1739 Turpin stood trial at York for the theft of several horses.  He was found guilty and sentenced to death.

 

On Saturday the 7^th of April 1739 Turpin was taken in an open cart through York to the place of execution at Knavesmire.  It was noted that he behaved with ‘amazing assurance’ and bowed to the spectators gathering to watch him hang.  As he climbed the ladder to the gallows it was noticed that his right leg trembled, and he stamped down to stop it.  He then spoke to the hangman for a few minutes and confessed to him that he was the notorious highwayman Dick Turpin and recounted some of the robberies he had been involved in.  On finishing his chat with the hangman, Turpin threw himself from the ladder.  He then died after about five minutes and his body was left to hang for several hours before being cut down.

 

Turpin’s corpse was taken to a local inn at about three that afternoon and was buried the next morning in St George’s Churchyard.  Shortly after being buried, it was reported that his body had been dug up and stolen.  There was a huge outcry about this, and the body snatchers and Turpin’s corpse were soon found.  Turpin’s body was quickly reburied, and this time was covered in quicklime.

 

And that would be the end of that, or so you’d think, but now there is some doubt that the gravestone really does mark the grave of the notorious Dick Turpin.  It is thought that the stone, placed at the grave a couple of hundred years after Turpin’s death, was put there more as a tourist attraction and that Turpin would have been buried in an unmarked grave.  Whatever the truth is, I don’t know, but I’ll take it as being the place where Dick Turpin is buried…probably.

 

I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on my wanders around York to the grave, in the hollow of a tree overlooking the graveyard.

 

Skulferatu #48

 

Skulferatu #48 in hollow in a tree overlooking Dick Turpin’s Grave

 

Google Map showing location of Skulferatu #48

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 53.954961

Longitude -1.076049

 

I used the following sources for information on Dick Turpin –

 

Wikipedia – Dick Turpin

Wikipedia - Dick Turpin

 

The Trial of the Notorious Highwayman, Richard Turpin

By Thomas Kyll

Wikisource - The Trial of the Notorious Highwayman Richard Turpin

 

Derby Mercury – Thursday, 30^th June 1737

 

The Newcastle Courant – Saturday, April 21, 1739

 

The Yorkshire Post – Wednesday, 5^th July 2017

 

Tourist information sign at site

 

Values of rewards in today’s money offered for capture of Turpin calculated using the bank of England’s Inflation Calculator

Inflation calculator | Bank of England

 

Skulferatu #27 - Grave of The Great Lafayette, Piershill Cemetery, Edinburgh

 

In a rather non-descript and suburban Edinburgh cemetery there is buried a legendary entertainer, magician, and illusionist from a bygone era.  A man, who back at the start of the 20^th Century, was one of the most sought after acts in both the USA and the Europe.  The grave is that of the Great Lafayette, and also his pet dog, Beauty. Today I took a stroll in the howling wind through the backstreets of Leith, Restalrig, Lochend and Piershill to pay them both a visit.

 

Grave of the Great Lafayette & Beauty

 

The Great Lafayette, whose real name was Sigmund Neuberger, was born on February 25th, 1871 in Munich, Germany. In 1890, when aged 19, he and his family emigrated to the USA.  There he worked for a while as a bank clerk, but always had an interest in the music hall and the theatre.  He started out as an amateur with an act that involved shooting with a bow and arrows.  The sort of act where he would shoot a coin out of someone’s fingers.  As time went on, he decided he wanted to try his luck in the entertainment industry and left home with £80 of his hard earned savings.  His parents couldn’t understand why he had left a good job at the bank to pursue such a financially insecure career and told him that he would soon return home penniless.  However, within weeks of leaving he had secured an engagement at Spokane Falls, Washington.   From there his career developed and he became renowned for an act that included quick costume changes, magic and elaborate illusions involving a troupe of actors, acrobats and animals.  He also sang, danced, played various instruments, and composed the music for his shows.  The Great Lafayette, as he was then known, became much in demand and was soon touring the world.  He commanded large fees for his act and was one of the highest paid stars of that era.  It was reckoned that he was earning around $44,000.00 a year, which in today’s money would be over three and a half million dollars.

 

One of his more elaborate acts, that soon became a favourite with audiences worldwide, was ‘The Lion’s Bride’.  This act, which involved a real, live lion in a cage, now seems a bit dated, cruel and full of racial stereotypes.  It is basically the story of a beautiful maiden who is shipwrecked in the Persian Gulf and then captured by the servants of the tyrannical monarch there, Alep Arslan.  Arslan is entranced by the maiden’s beauty and wants her for his harem.  However, the maiden rejects his advances, much to his annoyance.  Her lover, played by the Great Lafayette, attempts to rescue her, but she ends up back in the clutches of Arslan.  She is then offered the choice of becoming Arslan’s wife or being thrown into a cage with a ferocious lion. She chooses to die, rather than give herself to him.   Arslan has her placed in a cage with a real lion and in the finale of the act, which thrilled audiences, the lion would leap towards her, only for the Great Lafayette to burst out of it revealing it was actually him in a lion costume.  The real lion having been switched when a group of fire-eaters, jugglers and performers obscured the audience’s view of the cage.

 

While he was touring The Great Lafayette was given the gift of a pet dog by his friend Harry Houdini.  He named the dog Beauty and soon doted on her.  She went everywhere with him and became part of his act.  He spoiled the dog rotten and treated her as his best friend, buying her a diamond studded collar and giving her, her own room, in the house he had bought in Tavistock Square in London. 

 

In May 1911, the Great Lafayette arrived in Edinburgh with his troupe for a run of shows at the Empire Theatre in Edinburgh.  However, he wasn’t in Edinburgh long before disaster struck.  On the 2^nd of May his beloved dog died suddenly.  Lafayette was heartbroken and had to have the best for Beauty, even in her death.   He had her embalmed and was given permission to have her buried at Piershill Cemetery, by the company that owned it.  This was under the provision that on his death he too would be buried in the same plot as his dog.  Even though he was completely heartbroken by Beauty’s death, Lafayette being the consummate professional carried on with the run of shows, all of which were sold out.

 

On the night of the 9 May 1911, The Great Lafayette’s act was all going as planned and the audience were enthralled.  They had watched as he shook out a large square of silk and dropped it to the ground, then whisked it away to reveal a Teddy Bear sitting there.  He made as if he was winding the bear up and it then came to life, danced around, and conducted the theatre orchestra before toddling off stage.  He had juggled with goldfish, produced two children out of a piece of cardboard and imitated various conductors of bands.  The finale had then been ‘The Lion’s Bride.’  Just as that had reached its conclusion and Lafayette and the other performers were taking their bows an electrical fault on stage caused the scenery to catch fire.  The audience at first assumed this was part of the act, until the manager had the fire curtain dropped and asked the orchestra to play the National Anthem.  This, and the fact that smoke was now pouring out into the theatre encouraged them to leave.  Remarkably they all escaped safely.  Things on the stage, behind the fire curtain, did not go so well.  The lion, which was terrified by the flames, was running loose and because of this no one could get past it to one of the fire exits.  Other performers were trapped by the flames from the burning scenery, and all was a scene of confusion.  It appears that Lafayette may have escaped from the flames at first, but on hearing of the situation with the lion had run back to try and save it.  This time he did not make it back out.

 

The theatre burned for three hours before the flames were brought under control.  The next day several bodies were recovered, and the newspapers made much of the body of Alice Dale being found.  She was the little person who had played the Teddy Bear and her charred remains were found still in the bear costume.   The body of the Great Lafayette was then found on the stage, though only it wasn’t actually his body, but rather that of his body double for several of his acts.  At the time no-one realised this and the body was cremated, and arrangements made to inter the ashes at Piershill Cemetery.  But a couple of days later another body was recovered under the rubble and this one wore an array of rings that were identified as those the Great Lafayette had worn.  Realising their error, this body was then cremated, and the urns switched to make sure the right remains went to Piershill.  In total eleven people died in the fire, all either performers or stagehands.

 

On the 14^th of May 1911, the Great Lafayette’s funeral took place.  Despite it being a misty, damp day, huge crowds turned out to watch the funeral cortege of twenty carriages make its way through Edinburgh and down to the cemetery.  The cortege was led by the hearse containing Lafayette’s remains.  It was drawn by four ‘Belgian horses’ with ‘nodding black plumes on their heads.’  At the cemetery, the urn containing Lafayette’s ashes was placed in Beauty’s coffin between the paws of the dog.  A graveside service was then held before the coffin was lowered into the ground and the Great Lafayette was laid to rest.

 

The grave of the Great Lafayette and Beauty

 

Dedication to Beauty on slab of grave

 

Signature of the Great Lafayette on slab of grave

 

Lafayette left his vast fortune to his brother who promptly took the money and left the country without paying off the debts accrued by Lafayette, and also without paying the funeral costs. This resulted in a court case from which we learn that the total cost of the funerals for both Beauty and the Great Lafayette was £411.  In today’s money that would be about £48,700.  Probably not to bad for a showbiz funeral.

 

In 2011 the Festival Theatre, which stands on the site of the old Empire Theatre, held a series of events to mark 100 years since the fire and the death of Lafayette and the other performers.

 

I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on today’s walk in the flower trough by The Great Lafayette and Beauty’s grave.

 

Skulferatu #27

 

Skulferatu #27 in plant trough at front of the grave

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #27

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are:

 

Latitude 55.955495

Longitude -3.138674

 

I used the following sources for the tale of The Great Lafayette –

 

Newspapers –

The Evening News, London – May 10, 1911

The Globe, May 10, 1911

The Westminster Gazette – May 10, 1911

The Scotsman – May 11, 1911.  May 13, 1911. May 15 1911.

Strabane Weekly News – May 20, 1911

Sunderland Daily Echo – May 11, 1911

The Courier – May 22, 1913

 

Wikipedia – Sigmund Neuberger

Wikipedia - Sigmund Neuberger

 

The Edinburgh Reporter

The Edinburgh Reporter - The Great Lafayette Festival 9 May 2011

 

Article and photographs are copyright of © Kevin Nosferatu, unless otherwise specified.

Skulferatu #25 - John Livingstone's Tomb, 1 Chamberlain Road, Edinburgh

 

Just along from Holy Corner at Greenhill in Edinburgh, down a quiet suburban street of nursing homes and large, villa type houses, there is what looks like a neat and well-kept garden.  It is a place I have walked past many times and have always assumed it was part of the garden of the house that stands behind it.  That is until a friend pointed out that it is actually the tomb of a long dead Edinburgh resident.

 

The tomb is in what looks like a well-kept and neat garden

 

Today I took a walk there and wandered on in.  I wasn’t convinced at first that I hadn’t actually just walked into somebody’s private garden, and was half expecting to be asked what I was doing there.  But on going through the gate, I found myself in a small walled area with a large gravestone on one of the walls and realised it was indeed an old tomb that I was in.

 

The gravestone within the tomb

 

The tomb is the burial place of John Livingstone and his wife, Elizabeth Rig.  Livingstone was an apothecary who lived in Edinburgh in the 17^th Century.  In 1636 he purchased the house and estate of Greenhill.  At that time Greenhill lay well outside the city boundaries and was within an area known as Burgh Muir.  In 1645 the Black Death swept through Scotland, killing many in Edinburgh, Leith, and the surrounding areas.  Livingstone was one of those who succumbed to the disease and he died shortly after falling ill.  He was buried in the grounds of his house, rather than in one of the many churchyards in Edinburgh, as laws introduced to deal with the plague stipulated that the bodies of plague victims had to be buried outside of the city.  Livingstone’s house was demolished many years ago and replaced with the suburban sprawl of Victorian villas in which the tomb now sits.

  

View of the gravestone and inscription

 

On the gravestone within the tomb, there is carved a grinning skull and crossbones and underneath this are John Livingstone’s initials IL (I being an old way of writing a J, as can be seen on the word judgement on the inscription).  There is then an inscription that reads –

 

THIS SAINT WHOS CORPS LYES BURIED HEIR

LET ALL POSTERITIE ADMEIR

FOR VPRIGHT LIF IN GODLY FEIR

 

WHEN IUDGMENTS DID THIS LAND SURROUND

HE WITH GOD WAS WALKING FOUND

FOR WHICH FROM MIDST OF FERS HE'S CROUND

 

HEIR TO BE INTERRD BOTH HE

AND FRIENDS BY PROVIDENC AGRIE

NO AGE SHAL LOS HIS MEMORIE

 

HIS AGE 53       DIED 1645.

For those who don’t want to work through the old spellings, a straight translation is –

 

The saint whose corpse lies buried here

Let all posterity admire

For upright life in Godly fear

 

When judgements did this land surround

He with God was walking found

For which from midst of fears he’s crowned

 

Here to be interred both he

And friends by providence agree

No age shall lose his memory

 

There is also an inscription in Latin above the carved skull and crossbones that reads ‘MORS PATET, HORA LATET’.  This meaning - ‘Death is sure, the Hour obscure’ or to put it more simply, we are all going to die, but don’t know when.  Cheery stuff.

 

Latin inscription on the gravestone

 

In the Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, Volume 3, there is a section by John Geddie on the ‘Sculpted Stones of Edinburgh’.  In this he describes the tomb and includes the following sketch, which clearly details the inscription.

 

Sketch from The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club of inscription on Livingstone’s tomb

 

Geddie rather wryly points out that despite the inscription stating Livingstone’s memory will not be lost, nowadays nobody does actually remember him or his ‘saintly qualities’.

 

Over the years the tomb fell into a state of disrepair.  In 1984 the council carried out research to see who owned it, as they wanted to issue them with a notice to carry out the work that was needed.  However, their research led them to realise that the tomb was owned by no-one, so they took it into their ownership and then carried out extensive repairs.  The restored tomb and forecourt were re-opened to the public in 1999.

 

I placed the Skulferatu that accompanied me on todays trip in a gap in the wall opposite the gravestone.

 

Skulferatu #25

 

Skulferatu #25 in gap in wall at John Livingstone’s tomb

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #25

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

Latitude 55.934420

Longitude -3.205961

I used the following sources for information on John Livingstone’s Tomb –

 

Plaque on wall of tomb

 

Wikipedia Page on Greenhill, Edinburgh

Greenhill, Edinburgh - Wikipedia

 

Historic Environment Scotland Website – Article on Tomb

Historic Environment Scotland - Tomb of John Livingstone

 

Canmore Website

Canmore - John Livingstone's Tomb

 

The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, Third Volume

The Sculptured Stones of Edinburgh

By John Geddie

Published 1910