Monday, April 24, 2017

What about a cement coffin?

Husband this morning uncovered a letter he'd had from a great-uncle of mine a few years ago. Like Husband, Uncle Woodie was interested in genealogy so he sent us a load of family information. Some of it Husband has disproved - or rather not been able to find any trace of actual evidence - such as Count Otto von Bismarck having an illegitimate child by a distant relation of ours, but other bits are more fact-based though less colourful.

Such as this cutting from an old newspaper. It refers to my great-grandfather, Hobart Pasha Honey. I assume it's from the local Swansea paper but have no idea of date. My great-grandfather died in about 1951 but I imagine it was quite a while before that.

The article reports that Mr H. P. Honey had invented a metal-reinforced cement coffin and was proposing it as an alternative to the traditional because of the current high price of wood. He suggests they are also much better from a sanitary point of view.

The article ends with Mr Honey saying he would be glad to consult with any interested undertakers.

As far as I know the idea never caught on except with gangsters.

And, on a separate note, I am dubious about the claim that all children love syrup of figs. 



2 comments:

Sharon said...

That almost sounds like a gag, like I.P. Freely ...
First thing I saw was Mr. M. PHoney - gotta love my eyes. :-)
Can you just imagine the poor pallbearers?

Liz Hinds said...

It does sound like a joke, I agree, SJ! I don't think he can have thought about the pall-bearers either.