BANK OF ENGLAND GIANT.
BODY DISINTERRED. On August 3, during excavation work at the Bank of England, London, the builders’ workmen unearthed, among sundry human remains, the huge lead coffin of the last person buried within the Bank precincts. This was William Jenkins, one of its clerks, who attained a stature of 6 feet 71 inches and died of a decline at the age of 31, on March 24, 1798. The era of “body-snatching,” which reached its climax in the exploits of the notorious Burke and Hare, was not yet extinct, and Jenkins’s relatives obtained permission of the Governors to inter the corpse in. the Bank’s Garden Court. They cited rumours that “some surgeons” had offered 200 guineas for the body because of its exceptional development.
It was in the course of tracing a. foundation wall that the lead coffin, weighing some 3cwt., was discovered about 40 feet below ground. It was in a good state of preservation. Other remains near by show signs of greater age. It is probable that Nunhead Cemetery will be selected for the reinterment.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19330925.2.141
Bibliographic details
Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 255, 25 September 1933, Page 10
Word Count
179BANK OF ENGLAND GIANT. Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 255, 25 September 1933, Page 10
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