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season of the year being hot, and the corpse fat, it would be impossible to keep her”, and she was accordingly buried without further delay. A few days later, boys who had been playing nearby reported hearing a voice from the grave. They were initially disbelieved but the voice was heard by others and the grave was opened. The body was found to be “most lamentably beaten”, which was thought to be the result of injuries inflicted by Alice on herself in her confinement. Being unable to detect any continuing signs of life, those present at the scene lowered Alice back into the grave overnight, with a view to summoning the coroner the next day. On their return, “they found she had torn off great part of her winding sheet, scratched herself first in several places, and ripped off her own mouth , it was all in gore blood.” She was at least definitely dead. The coroner found that her life had been thrown away and bound over several persons to appear at the
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Alice Davies, the daughter of John Davies, married
William Blunden of Basingstoke on 3 November 1656. The Blundens were a well-established local family who make regular appearances in the municipal records from the 16th century onwards. In 1671 the couple were plaintiffs in litigation brought in
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and fell into a deep sleep from which she could not be wakened. An apothecary was consulted and it was concluded that Alice had died. William had urgent business in London and left instructions that her funeral should be deferred until his return. However, Alice's relations considered that “the
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A brief account was published in 1748, but the only detailed description appears in a tract which can be dated from internal evidence to the year 1675. The tract is quoted in its entirety in
Baigent and Millard's
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William died on 13 March 1701. He and Alice had had two children, William and
Elizabeth. The younger William's daughter and heiress, also Elizabeth, married
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and his wife was “a fat, gross woman”, who “had accustomed herself many times to drink brandy”. One evening she imbibed a large quantity of
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of 1675. Ultimately, no individuals were convicted but “the Town had a considerable fine set upon them for their neglect”.
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A critical view of the accuracy of this narrative (and also of other accounts of premature burial) is taken by
Professor
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relation to property in
Basingstoke but Mrs Blunden's notability rests entirely upon the circumstances of her death.
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The
Uncertainty of the Signs of Death and the Danger of Precipitate Interments and Dissections Demonstrated
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The absence of other confirmatory evidence is commented on by the Rev. Theodore C. Wilks in
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79:. The parish register merely records: "Mr. William Blunden's wife buried July 15th, 1674".
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176:(C.J. Jacob and Simpkin, Marshall and Co, 1889), at pages 162 to 166
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Jacobius
Benignus Winslow and Jean Jacques Bruhier D’Ablaincourt,
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198:(C.J. Jacob and Simpkin, Marshall and Co, 1889), at page 163
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Buried Alive: the terrifying history of our most primal fear
23:, was the subject of a notorious early modern account of
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A History of the
Ancient Town and Manor of Basingstoke
173:
A History of the
Ancient Town and Manor of Basingstoke
194:Francis Joseph Baigent and James Elwin Millard,
170:Francis Joseph Baigent and James Elwin Millard,
52:According to this urtext, William Blunden was a
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161:, Volume III (London, 1861-1869) at page 234
115:, Volume V (Phillimore & Co 1903), at
111:W.P.W. Phillimore and S. Andrews (ed),
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113:Hampshire Parish Registers: Marriages
91:; their only child, Frances, married
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145:(Dublin, George Faulkner, 1748), at
93:William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth
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159:A General History of Hampshire
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185:W.W. Norton & Co, 2001
89:Sir Charles Gounter Nicoll
127:National Archives, Kew,
220:People from Basingstoke
47:History of Basingstoke
130:Reference C 5/61/5
215:Premature burials
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25:premature burial
19:(died 1674), of
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225:1674 deaths
58:poppy-water
21:Basingstoke
209:Categories
99:References
83:Posterity
54:maltster
31:Marriage
147:page 61
117:page 79
66:Assizes
40:Death
63:Lent
75:in
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