Hannah Twynnoy
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Hannah Twynnoy (d. 1703) is reputedly the first person on record to have been killed by a tiger in Britain.
Hannah Twynnoy was an early 18th century barmaid working in a pub in the centre of the English market town of Malmesbury in Wiltshire. All that remains of the story of her untimely death is her gravestone, in a corner of the churchyard of Malmesbury Abbey. Her tombstone records her name and death at the age of 33 as occurring on October 23, 1703, with a gravestone poem which reads:
In bloom of life/ She's snatched from hence/ She had no room/ To make defence/ For tyger fierce/ Took life away/ And here she lies in a bed of clay/ Until the Resurrection Day. Although this poem is all that exists as a source for her death, recent research by historian John Bowen has discovered that a more detailed account of the death was placed in a plaque on the wall of the parish church in Hullavington, a village five miles from Malmesbury. The plaque, which was almost certainly installed soon after her death in the first years of the 18th century has since been lost but was recorded in Victorian times by a local historian.
It said that Hannah Twynnoy was a barmaid working at a pub called the White Lion in Malmesbury in 1703 when a travelling circus arrived to set up in the pub's large rear yard. The circus contained a menagerie of animals including a tiger, which Hannah was warned against upsetting.
She took pleasure in riling the tiger until one day the tiger broke free and mauled her to death.
[edit] Unsolved aspects of the tale
While it is undeniable that Twynnoy was killed by a tiger on October 23, 1703, many aspects of the tale remain a mystery. Poetic epitaphs on gravestones were popular at the turn of the 18th century, but generally only for the wealthy and celebrated. A gravestone and a plot in the churchyard of Malmesbury Abbey would not have been cheap, even without engaging the services of a poet. One mystery is who paid for her tombstone and interment.
The phrase in bloom of life also indicates she may have been pregnant at the time of her death, as 33 would not have been considered the flush of youth in 1703.
Her connection with the village of Hullavington is also unproved. Although no records have been found which link her to the village, it is probable that is where she originally came from.
The Parish Registers and Bishops Transcripts for Malmesbury contain no entry, between 1635 and 1700, for anyone named Twynnoy. The Hullavington Church documents may reveal Hannah and/or her family; I have not yet researched them or searched an early census, which may/may not exist.[original research?]
[edit] Modern folklore
In 2003, on the 300th anniversary of the death, a simple ceremony was carried out at the grave. Every schoolgirl under 11 called Hannah in the town placed a flower on the grave. A road on a new development in Malmesbury was named 'Twynnoy Close' in 1993.
