With respect to the atmosphere most favourable to health and longevity,
Sir John Sinclair says, “More depends upon a current of pure air than
mere elevation. There is no place in Scotland, proportionably with its
population, where a greater number of aged people are to be found than
in the neighbourhood of Loch Lomond.” The purest atmosphere, Sir John
maintains, is in the neighbourhood of a small stream running over a
rocky or pebbly bottom.
Mr. Thomas Bailey, in his _Records of Longevity_, states that
“Nottinghamshire has the driest atmosphere of any district in England,
the depth of rain which falls there being something like 50 per cent
below what falls in Lancashire, Devonshire, and one or two of the
northern counties;” yet the records show that it enjoys no superiority,
in point of the longevity of its inhabitants, over those moister
districts. Hence it is concluded that moderately moist air is most
conducive to great age. The reason Hufeland assigns for this is, that
moist air, being in part already saturated, has less attractive power
over bodies,—that is to say, consumes them less. Besides, in a moist
atmosphere there is always more uniformity of temperature, fewer rapid
revolutions of heat being possible than in a dry atmosphere. Lastly, an
atmosphere somewhat moist keeps the muscular tissue of the body longer
pliable, whereas that which is dry or arid brings on much sooner
rigidity of the muscles and vessels of the body, and all the
characteristics of old age. It is this very dry air, joined with the
heat of the sun, which gives to the dried and shrivelled skin of the
face of some old men, in the felicitous humour of Charles Dickens, “the
appearance of a walnut-shell.”
We now proceed to cite instances of Long Life from various localities.
On the fly-leaves of a book named _Long Livers_, published in 1722, were
written the following notes of several old persons in Yorkshire: Ursula
Chicken, at Holderness, 120 years in 1718, and she lived some years
later. In Firbeck churchyard were buried a brother and son, one 113 and
the other 109 years old, both of whom had lived in caves at Roche Abbey.
Mr. Philip, of Thorner, born in Cleveland (the birthplace of Old
Jenkins), had his picture taken when he was 116 years old, with all his
senses perfect. Thomas Rudyard, Vicar of Everton, in Bedfordshire, died
in King Charles’s time, aged 140 years, as appears by the parish
register. Early in June 1768 died, at Burythorpe, near Malton, Francis
Consit, aged 150 years. A few years previously there were three women,
each 100 years old, or upwards, who lived in and about Whitwell, met at
that town and danced a Yorkshire reel. About 1758 a woman died at Sutton
107 years old. “Old Robinson’s father, at Boltby, lived to 108,” and he
himself beyond 98.[52]
The register of Middleton Tyas, adjoining, contains, in sixteen years,
entries of 230 persons buried, of whom seventy-six had reached the age
of 70 years or upwards. In 1813, of fifteen deceased, three were 90, 91,
and 92; in 1815 a person died 97; and thirty-three of the number
specified were 80 years old and upwards; and in the churchyard are
buried two persons of 103 and 101 years. But within the last thirty-five
years instances of longevity in this parish, once so common, form the
exception.
Mr. Durrant Cooper, F.S.A., has communicated to _Notes and Queries_, No.
212, these interesting records from the burial register of
Skelton-in-Cleveland, in the North Riding of Yorkshire:
Out of 799 persons buried between 1813 and 1852, no less than 263,
or nearly one-third, attained the age of 70. Of these, two were
respectively 101. Nineteen others were 90 years of age and upwards,
viz. one 97, one 96, one 95, four 94, one 93, five 92, three 91, and
three 90. Between the ages of 80 and 90 there died 109; and between
70 and 80 there died 133. In one page of the register, containing
eight names, six were above 80, and in another five were above 70.
In the parish of Skelton there was then living a man named Moon, 104
years old, who was blind, but managed a small farm till nearly or
quite 100; and a blacksmith, named Robinson Cook, aged 98, who
worked at his trade until within six months of this age.
In the chapelry of Brotton, adjoining Skelton township, the
longevity was even more remarkable. Out of 346 persons buried since
the new register came into force in 1813, down to Oct. 1, 1853, more
than one-third attained the age of 70. One Betty Thompson, who died
in 1834, was 101; nineteen were more than 90, of whom one was 98,
two 97, three 95, one 93, four 92, five 91, and three 90; forty-four
died between 80 and 90 years old, and fifty-seven between 70 and 80,
of whom thirty-one were 75 and upwards. That celibacy did not lessen
the chance of life was proved by a bachelor named Simpson, who died
at 82, and his maiden sister at 91.
Gilling, in Richmondshire, shows also a very great length of life, and
in persons above 90 years of age a larger proportion even than in the
Cleveland parishes. Between 1813 and 1853, of 701 persons buried, 207,
or rather more than one-third, attained the age of 70 and upwards. Three
were 100, or upwards; between 90 and 100, twenty-one; one 96, 95, and
94; two 92, six 91, and ten 90. Between 80 and 90 there died 87; between
70 and 80, ninety-six.
George Stephenson, a farm-labourer, of Runald-Kirk, near Barnard-Castle,
Durham, who died 1812, aged 105, was a very early riser; he used to
reprove (for lying a-bed) his daughter and her husband, both about 70
years of age, but who rose before six o’clock in the morning,—George
saying, “if they would not work while they were _young_, what would they
do when they became old?”
Mr. Carruthers, of Inverness, whose evidence is entitled to respect,
wrote in 1836, that “the patriarchs of the glen of Strathcarron have
been gathered to their fathers. The primitive manners of the olden time
are disappearing even in that remote corner, and human life is dwindling
down to its ordinary brief limits.” This experience is the converse of
the opinion that civilisation and refinement tend to lengthen life.
The Western Isles of Scotland have long been noted for persons of great
age. Martin describes a male native of Jura, who had kept 180 Christmas
festivals in his own house, and this marvellous account was confirmed to
Pennant; but the evidence is not given, and the man died fifty years
before Martin’s visit. Buchanan, in his _History of Shetland_, gives an
account of one Laurence, a Shetlander, who lived to 140; Dr. Derham, in
his _Physico-Theology_, confirms this, and Martin received from
Laurence’s family particulars of his fishing to the last year of his
life. At Orkney Martin heard of a man aged 112; and that one William
Muir, of Westra, lived to be near 140. Tarquis M’Leod, near Stornoway,
in the island of Lewis, died in 1787, aged 113; he had fought at
Killiecrankie, Sheriffmuir, and Culloden, under the Stuarts.
In the _Aberdeen Journal_ we find this evidence: Died, at Strichen,
Widow Reid, aged 81; and in the following fortnight, Christian Grant,
aged 97 years. The surviving resident paupers number only twenty-five,
and among them there are seven individuals whose respective ages are 92,
90, 88, 86, 83, 82, and 80 years—making a total of 601 years, and an
average of nearly 86 years to each. These statistics, in a parish
containing a population of only 947, are perhaps unparalleled in
Scotland.
A well-authenticated instance is that of Mrs. Elizabeth Gray, who died
at Edinburgh on the 2d of April 1856, at the age of 108, having been
born in May 1748, as chronicled in the register of her father’s parish.
Her mother attained 96, and two of her sisters died at 94 and 96
respectively. In 1808 died the Hon. Mrs. Hay Mackenzie, of Cromartie, at
the age of 103. The well-known Countess Dowager of Cork died in 1840,
having just completed her 94th year; she was to the last accustomed to
dine out every day when she had not company at home. Mr. Francis
Brokesby, in 1711, wrote of a woman then living near the Tower of
London, aged about 130, and who remembered Queen Elizabeth; to the last
there was not a gray hair on her head, and she never lost memory or
judgment. Mr. Brokesby also records the death, about 1660, of the wife
of a labouring man at Hedgerow, in Cheshire; she is said to have
attained the age of 140.[53]
Reflecting upon this record, Mr. Robert Chambers observes, with poetic
feeling, “When we think of such things, the ordinary laws of nature seem
to have undergone some partial relaxation; and the dust of ancient times
almost becomes living flesh before our eyes.” We confess to the weakness
of being occasionally depressed in the society of some very aged
persons. We remember Louis Pouchée to have died about twenty years
since, considerably above 100 years old: his voice was a childish
treble, and there was at last a sort of forced gaiety in his manner
which was any thing but cheerful; his piping of “I’ve kissed and I’ve
prattled with fifty fair maids” was a lugubrious rendering of that
lively lyric.
In White’s _Suffolk Directory_ for 1844, the following living instances
are recorded. “W. A. Shuldham, Esq., resides at the Hall, in which, on
July 18, 1843, he celebrated the hundredth anniversary of his birthday.
Mrs. Susan Godbold, who was born at Flixton, has resided at Metfield
eighty years, and walked round the village on her 104th birthday, Sept.
13, 1843. Thomas Morse, Esq., of Lound, is now in his 99th year.” Dr.
Smith, residing at Bawdsea, a few years since completed his 109th; when,
in the fulness of his spirits, he expressed a belief that he should live
for some years to come.
Here is an instance of remarkable memory. George Kelson (”the Woodman,”
in illustration of Cowper’s poem) died near Bath in 1820, aged 101; he
gave evidence before the Commissioners of Public Charities, deposing,
with great clearness, to facts which had occurred ninety years before
his examination.
The parish register of Bremhill, Wiltshire, records: “Buried, September
the 29th, 1696, Edith Goldie, Grace Young, Elizabeth Wiltshire. Their
united ages make 300 years.”[54]
Two centuries ago, the now sleepy town of Woodstock, Oxon., was
proverbial for its long livers. The Rev. John Ward, Vicar of
Stratford-upon-Avon, in his Diary, 1648-9, records: “Old Bryan, of
Woodstock, a taylor by profession, and a fiddler by present practice, of
age 90, yet very lively, and will travail well. George Green and Cripps,
each 90, very hard labourers. Thomas Cock, _alias_ Hawkins, 112 years of
age when he died. Woodstock men frequently long lived. Goody Jones, of
Woodstock, and old Bryan, two such old people as it is thought England
does not afford, nor two such travailors of their age.”
In 1637 there was living in Blackboy-lane, Oxford, “Mother George,” who,
although 120 years of age, could thread a fine needle without the help
of spectacles.[55]
Between February and May 1767, there died in Oxford seven persons whose
ages together amount to 616, viz. 88, 93, 86, 87, 90, 82, and 90. In the
same year is recorded the death of Francis Ange, in Maryland, aged 130;
he was born at Stratford-upon-Avon, remembered the death of King Charles
I., and left England soon after.[56]
The heads of Colleges in Oxford have frequently attained great ages: we
have mentioned Dr. Routh, President of Magdalen, who died in his 100th
year. There are generally very old people living in Oxford; and at
Iffley the ages recorded in the churchyard commonly exceed 70.
Midhurst, in Sussex, must be a healthy locality; for, according to the
_Dublin Chronicle_, December 2, 1788, the town, then containing only 140
houses and cottages, had seventy-eight inhabitants whose ages were above
70; thirty-two were 80 and upwards; and five were between 90 and 100;
and the seventy-eight persons, except four, were in some business or
occupation.
Wye, near Ashford, Kent, is another noted locality for long life; the
ages of 70, 80, and even 90, being by no means rare in the parish
register.
In 1800 twenty-two men died in England and Wales who had reached or
passed the age of 100, and forty-seven women. The oldest woman, 111
years of age, died in Glamorganshire. With the men there was a tie: a
man aged 107 died in Hampshire, and another of the same age in
Pembrokeshire. Four of the centenarians died in London, two others at
Camberwell, one also at Greenwich, and one at Lewisham. More men died in
the year than women; but of the 595 persons who had reached the age of
95 or upwards before they died, nearly two-thirds were women.
Great longevity is attained in some of the murky streets, lanes, and
alleys of London. In 1767 died Widow Prossen, of Oxford-road, in her
102d year, having passed nearly her whole life among old clothes in a
pawnbroker’s shop, accumulating a large fortune. In the same year died
her neighbour, Benjamin Perryn, aged 103.
In 1767 also we find Widow Waters, of Saffron-hill, dying at the age of
103; and one Wood, of Markam-court, Chandos-street, at 100.
In 1846 there died in grimy Holywell-street, Strand, one Harris, a Jew
clothesman, who had lived in the same street more than seventy years:
his wife died a few years before him, at the age of 93; and his eldest
son was 73 at the time of his father’s death. In 1780 there died in St.
Martin’s workhouse Widow Pettit, aged 114; and next year, Widow Parker,
of White-Hart-yard, Drury-lane, aged 108, with all her faculties
unimpaired.
In 1788 there died at Hoxton, aged 121, a widow, who, up to a very
advanced period, cried gray peas for sale about the streets of London;
and was well remembered by many aged persons as a woman apparently
beyond the middle stage of life, full twenty years before the time of
her decease.[57]
Occasionally we find very old persons almost _growing to the spot_ on
which they were born. In 1780 died at Englefield, Hants, James Hopper,
an agricultural labourer, aged 108, who had never quitted his native
Englefield even for a few miles. And in 1799 died Mr. Humphries, a
carpenter, born at Newington, Surrey, aged 102, and who would never go
more than two or three miles from the house in which he was born. One
Trundle, a farmer of Rotherhithe, who died 1766, aged 100, had lived in
the same house eighty-two years. Sometimes this takes the turn of
misanthropic seclusion: Christopher Tarran, of Sutton, near Richmond,
Yorkshire, who died 1827, aged 93, shut himself up in his chamber, from
which he never stirred during the last twenty years of his life, and
only twice admitted any one into the room. In 1811 there died at
Desford, Leicestershire, one John Upton, aged 100; he had been a worsted
framework-knitter for one firm in Leicester for ninety-three years.
Widow Richardson, of Holwell, Leicestershire, who died 1806, aged 97,
kept school in the parish 75 years, and was never five miles from home
during her long life.
We remember two stalwart millers, brothers, Joseph and John Saunders,
aged 79 and 73, born at Pixham-mill, and then of Pixham-house, hard by,
near the foot of Boxhill, Surrey, where they died, at the above ages.
---------------------
Footnote 52:
Edward Hailstone, Horton Hall; _Notes and Queries_, 2d series, No.
230.
Footnote 53:
Condensed from Chambers’s _Book of Days_, vol. i.
Footnote 54:
Britton’s _Wilts_. vol. iii.
Footnote 55:
_Walks in Oxford_, 1817.
Footnote 56:
_Select. Gent. Mag._ iv.
Footnote 57:
Bailey’s _Records of Longevity_, p. 249.
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