A Frenchman, 'Dying suddenly at his work' - July 1593
Finding No. (copy and paste references into search box) - P26/1/A/1
" July 1593, burial of a collier dying suddenly at his work, a Frenchman born"
Just a quick post this time, an extract from the Biddenden parish register.
This is another intriguing one that opens more questions than it answers.... firstly though, it is a good indication of the term collier actually meaning a charcoal maker rather than a coal miner: there were no coal mines in Kent in the 1590s so for this unfortunate fellow to die suddenly 'at his work', indicates he was probably making charcoal.
There is no detail of how he died; was he involved in an accident? I have heard tales of men standing on heaps and the crust giving way for them to plunge into the heap and die a horrible fiery death - not pleasant and the reason I never even put my foot on the side of a heap to reach the top! Cutting up wood with various sharp objects all day every day is also intrinsically dangerous of course so the list of methods of death is potentially quite long. If you are really interested in this kind of thing check out the 'Everyday Life and Fatal Hazard in Sixteenth-Century England' Project... seriously it is proper research.
He is also not named, but there are plenty of other individuals interred on the same register that are not named - too poor or no family to be able to find it out?
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this entry is the fact that he was a 'Frenchman born'. Kent had a large population of immigrants from the Low Countries in this period, who were fleeing religious persecution but, I have yet to find a large French refugee population. Was this individual a collier that had emigrated with his occupation or had he been forced into it through poverty? Or indeed was he an infant when he came England? Sadly, we will never know.
He was probably a protestant to be buried in the Parish Church but, again we just don't know.
Well rest in Peace Monsieur, whoever you were?
This is another intriguing one that opens more questions than it answers.... firstly though, it is a good indication of the term collier actually meaning a charcoal maker rather than a coal miner: there were no coal mines in Kent in the 1590s so for this unfortunate fellow to die suddenly 'at his work', indicates he was probably making charcoal.
There is no detail of how he died; was he involved in an accident? I have heard tales of men standing on heaps and the crust giving way for them to plunge into the heap and die a horrible fiery death - not pleasant and the reason I never even put my foot on the side of a heap to reach the top! Cutting up wood with various sharp objects all day every day is also intrinsically dangerous of course so the list of methods of death is potentially quite long. If you are really interested in this kind of thing check out the 'Everyday Life and Fatal Hazard in Sixteenth-Century England' Project... seriously it is proper research.
He is also not named, but there are plenty of other individuals interred on the same register that are not named - too poor or no family to be able to find it out?
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this entry is the fact that he was a 'Frenchman born'. Kent had a large population of immigrants from the Low Countries in this period, who were fleeing religious persecution but, I have yet to find a large French refugee population. Was this individual a collier that had emigrated with his occupation or had he been forced into it through poverty? Or indeed was he an infant when he came England? Sadly, we will never know.
He was probably a protestant to be buried in the Parish Church but, again we just don't know.
Well rest in Peace Monsieur, whoever you were?
