Ann Moore, the fasting-woman of Tutbury

In some ways things haven't changed much in two hundred years. There were then, as now, con artists waiting everywhere to prey on the gullible. In many ways it was easier in the 1800s to run a scam--there was no news or social media to blow the whistle on the perpetrators, and science was in its infancy and unable to easily disprove certain claims.

Ann Moore was one of the best-known scammers of the era. She was known in her town of Tutbury, Staffordshire as an improvident, immoral woman of large family and dubious income. Her poverty, by about 1805, led her to a minimal food intake, and she survived so successfully on so little food that at some point in the next year, she decided to turn her necessity into a money-spinner.

She permanently took to her bed about April 1807, at age 46, and it was given out that she ate nothing after this time. By August she was drinking very little and pamphlets were being produced about her. Even Joanna Southcott, a questionable character herself whom I discussed in an earlier blog, was aware of Moore's existence and using it for her own purposes of prophesy. 

In September 1808, a flawed investigation took place which declared Moore's claims to be true, and she began to make money from her deception. For four years she attracted visitors, some of them devout Christians, who believed her claims of piety, devotion to God and dependence upon the Bible and her religion. Some of them made substantial donations to support her, and in 1812 she possessed some £400 -- a fortune for a woman of her standing.

On April 21, 1813 another investigation--a scrupulous watch on Ann Moore--began. This time it was strictly enforced and no food or liquid was taken by the woman. She rapidly lost weight and sickened. By the 30th of April her case was so bad that it was feared she would die, and the fraud was exposed. The watch was ended and, with careful nursing, Moore recovered but her claims were revealed as false, and her faith as no more than a sham.

Impoverished once more, and having gained nothing but ephemeral notoriety by her scam, Ann Moore died a few months later.

There are others recorded in history having undertaken similar confidence tricks. A young woman in Germany, one Anna Kinker, in 1800 had made the same sort of claims. And as far back as the 1600s the 'Derbyshire Damsel', Martha Taylor, had claimed to live 'without meat or drink'. As Ann Moore is believed have been born and lived her early life in Derbyshire she may have heard stories about 'the Damsel', and patterned her scam on that tale.

Google Books has several of the pamphlets about Ann Moore; a search on her name will make them available to you.

And...watch out for scams; they are all around us...

'Til next time,

Lesley-Anne

Joanna Southcott -- Faithful or Fanatic?

The Regency era had its fair share of fanatics and eccentrics, but few of their names have resonated through the past two hundred years to the present day. Joanna Southcott (her name is variously spelled Johanna, her last name Southcote) is one of the few.

In our world, she has a Facebook page, her name is associated with a South Park episode (Royal Pudding), and she was referred to in a Monty Python sketch (The Epsom Furniture Race). In the Regency era, she was viewed with equal parts of faith and of dismay.

Joanna Southcott was born in Devon in 1750 to a farming family. She spent part of her early years as a domestic, but in about 1792 she was taken with the belief that she was possessed of the gift of prophesy. In fact, she believed she was the woman mentioned in the Book of Revelations in the Holy Bible. She spent the following years writing her prophesies and collecting over 100,000 followers who paid anywhere from several shillings to a guinea to be 'sealed'; that is, to receive a square of paper folded and wax-sealed with a seal she had found bearing the initials 'I.C.'. She believed these initials stood for Jesus Christ.

She produced some sixty publications in her life, many of them pamphlets, or tracts. Some of her writings were in verse, some letters to followers. Their nature can be seen from this excerpt:

"I warned the Parliament; and they refused the warning, and the sword of war followed; but now is come the second warning, from the woman's hand to the shepherds."

Two things ensured her lasting notice by history. One was 'Joanna Southcott's Box' -- a sealed box containing her prophecies and valuable papers. The box was supposed to be opened in the presence of twenty-four bishops, but it was never possible to gain the agreement and attendance of said bishops. One box, claimed to be the original "Ark of the Testament", was opened in 1927 and found to contain nothing of value. The Panacea Society, the last remnants of Joanna Southcott's followers, claims to have the original box in safe keeping still.

Southcott's other claim to lasting fame came about when she believed herself to be pregnant with the new Messiah at age 64. Her followers greeted this revelation with rapture, and the 'pregnancy' was met by a flood of preparations and gifts for the coming of the Shiloh of the Book of Genesis. Chief among these was the 'cot' of cradle of satinwood and gilt, costing reportedly 200 pounds.

The Literary Panorama of February 1815 printed an article about Southcott headed with the following:

"It would be criminal in us to omit the story, and much more, to insert it without deriving from it an occasion of caution against the first deviation from rectitude, truth, and duty."

The Panorama published a full account of her death, passed judgment on her life, and printed a list of "Specimens of presents lately made to Mrs. Southcott". The following is a selection:

- A superb Manger, fitted up as a Child's Crib, decorated with infinite taste, and made of the most costly materials, by Seddone and Co. with its draperies, hangings, etc. cost 300 pounds.

- A costly Mohair Mantle, a purple Robe, divers rich Frocks, Bibs, Caps, etc.

- A magnificent gold Caudle Cup, ditto Pap Boat, and spoons, with a complete set of matchless China Caudle Cups, etc.

- Many dozens of rich Wines.

- A matchless Child's Coral, with golden bells.

- Fourteen brilliant Diamond and other Rings, some with curious devices and pious mottos.

To her credit, in the last days of her life in December 1814, Southcott instructed that all these gifts be returned to their donors. The 'cot' remains in the possession of the Panacea Society.

Joanna Southcott expected the birth of her divine child in July 1815. By September it became obvious that something was wrong. Joanna began to believe that "Now it all appears delusion". In fact she wondered if Satan had misled her for many years. She died on December 27 and was observed for four days, as per her instructions, in case she was merely in a trance, or should rise from the dead. When it was clear that she no longer lived, a dissection was done and dropsy declared the cause of death. Since then, people variously have claimed the cause of death to be brain disease, cancer, or possibly cystic growth of the kind seen in 'hysterical' pregnancy.

Whatever the truth of her life and death, Joanna Southcott has resonated through the past two hundred years. There have been several books written about her, there are many websites devoted to her, and her own writings are available from Google Books. A simple Google search will bring a multitude of results.

The Regency era--as always, full of surprises!

'Til next time,

Lesley-Anne