Hi, James,
David Urquhart was widely held to be eccentric, though mostly because he
was different. However, he refused to shake hands with people or allow
his disciples to do so either. His children did not wear any clothes in
the house, which the local Rickmansworth folk considered not only
eccentric but cruel. This was not the case, though it led to his being
accused of causing the death of his 13 month old baby William who died
on the floor of his Turkish bath. The inquest was biased in the extreme
and afterwards Urquhart took one of the jurors to court. If this is of
interest, see a brief article, "The Death of William Urquhart, or, Karl
Marx loved a good gossip", on my website at page:
http://www.victorianturkishbath.org/_3TOPICS/AtoZTopics/Social/Baby/BabyEng.htm
A more local instance is the man who, at his request, was buried in a
vertical position on Box Hill in Surrey. I don't have the details to
hand, but if it's of interest, I can check it out at the local library
for you.
Best wishes,
Malcolm
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James Gregory wrote:
> I am researching 'eccentricity' in the nineteenth century and I am
> keen to find out how extensive the reporting of strange local
> characters and eccentrics was, in local histories, guide books,
> local/ county 'Notes and Queries'. My preliminary research, on the
> North East of England (published as an article in 'Journal of Northern
> History', March 2005) and more recent work using Scottish histories,
> and local histories from Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Cornwall and some
> other places, suggests that eccentrics could be an important part of
> local lore, their memory preserved in texts, and also art work. I
> would be most grateful to members of the Local History List for any
> references to eccentrics they have encountered in nineteenth century
> material.
>
> Many thanks,
> Dr James Gregory.
>
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