Hannah Twynnoy

Hannah Twynnoy is known to have been the first nobody in England to die following an attack of tiger. Employee as waitress in a pub of the center of Wiltshire, with the XVIIIe century, her legend belongs to the British folklore. Its birth date is unknown, but on its tomb its death is dated from the October 23rd 1703, at the 33 years age.

The tomb of Hannah Twynnoy is with the Abbaye Malmesbury, in Wiltshire. One can read this poem there: “ In bloom off life/She' S snatched from hence/She had No room/To make defense/For tyger fierce/Took life away/And young stag she dregs in has bed off clay/Until the Resurrection Day ”.

The recent research carried out by the historian John Bowen made it possible to find a report more precise of the circumstances of died of Hannay Twynnoy. The historian could learn that a plate had been fixed on the wall of a church of Hullavington, to five miles from the Malmesbury abbey, detailing the death. The plate was probably installed little time after its death, in the first years of the XVIIIè century. It was lost, but its existence recorded by a historian of the time victorienne.

Ironically, the pub for which Hannah Twynnoy worked would have had as a name " The White Lion" (the white Lion). When a Cirque unloads in Malmesbury in 1703, it settles in the large court located behind the pub. The menagerie includes a tiger, that the waitress enjoyed to aggravate in spite of the warnings that one made him. The tiger escaped and killed Hannah Twynnoy.

Mystery

It is proven that the date of the death is on October 23rd, 1703, and that the cause of death is well the attack by a tiger. However, which remains a mystery is the poem engraved on the tomb of the late one. It was not unusual in England at that time to engrave some worms on the tomb stones. However, this usually was reserved for secured best, the costing whole rather expensive, even while abstaining from resorting to the services of a poet. A batch in the court of the Malmesbury abbey was to also be expensive. The personal identity which defrayed all these costs is unknown.

“In bloom off life” can as mean as the late one was pregnant, since a 33 year old person was not regarded as young person in 1703.

The relationship between Twynnoy and the village of Hullavington are not clear. It would seem that it is its native village, although no document proves it.

Modern folklore

In 2003, for the 300ère birthday of died of Hannah Twynnoy, a ceremony was celebrated, whereas all the young girls of the village old of less than 11 years and fore-mentioned Hannah deposited a flower on its tomb.
a road built in 1993 in Malmesbury was baptized " Twynnoy Close".

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