[list-cumbria] Carlisle Patriot, 22 Nov 1823 - BMD (2)

[Petra Mitchinson]

Saturday 22 Nov 1823   (p. 4, col. 5-6)

 

DIED. 

 

[continued] 

 

DEATH OF MARY NOBLE, AGED 107 YEARS.-Died on Saturday last, at Penrith, having attained to the almost patriarchal age of one hundred
and seven years, eight weeks, and four days, Mary NOBLE, widow; who was a native of Haresceugh, in the parish of Kirkoswald, in this
county, in the baptismal register of which parish she is entered as having been born on the 17th of Sept. 1716. Such longevity is an
additional illustration of the beneficial effect of temperance and exercise, by which not only bodily health but the health of the
mind also may (as in this instance) be protracted beyond the common period of mortality. At the age of 90, Mary NOBLE assisted in
reaping a field of barley, and "kept her rigg" (as it is expressed in the provincial phrase) with the young reapers;-and her senses,
with the exception of that of hearing, seem to have been to the last much less impaired than is the usual lot of long-extended life.
She perfectly retained in memory her prayers, which she regularly and devoutly repeated. During many of her latter years, the
burthen inseparable from age was much lightened and assuaged by the kind hands and soothing attention of Mr. and Mrs. NICHOLSON, of
Penrith, who, without any relationship to, or any sort of connexion with her (except that she had been nurse to Mrs. NICHOLSON),
most kindly took her into their house, and waited upon her with an affectionate assiduity, the reward of which is in their own
bosoms and with the Most High. The features of this extraordinary example of longevity will be familiar to many who never saw her,
from an admirable likeness of her sitting and spinning at her wheel, which was taken about Christmas last, at the desire and expense
of the Right Honourable the Earl of Lonsdale, and exhibited during the present season at Somerset House. 

 

The preceding is from the pen of a Penrith correspondent: what follows are extracts from a paper by Dr. BARNES, of this city, read
before the Wernerian Natural History Society of Edinburgh:- 

 

"Mary NOBLE's parents were poor labouring people, of the name of SALKELD, and were chiefly employed in agriculture: both lived to be
very old, and they had ten or eleven children, several of whom reached an advanced age. Mary was brought up with plain and simple
food, and was accustomed to hard labour from her youth. At 30 years of age, she married Wm. NOBLE, a miller, by whom she had three
children, all of whom died young of acute diseases. She is a very short woman, and at present (May, 1823) would not weigh more than
four or five stone. Old age is strongly marked in her countenance and general appearance; her forehead and face are much wrinkled;
her eyes are clear, but her eye-lids are partially averted, and affected with lippitude; she has had no teeth for 20 years, her
gums, however, are so firm that she masticates hard bread with apparent ease. Her hearing began to fail about three years ago, and
has since gradually declined, she having been deaf during the last three months, and at present can scarcely hear any thing. Her
sight is still good. Three years ago, only, it was so perfect that she had no occasion for glasses, and could thread a small needle.
Her hair is flaxen, thick and long, having undergone but little change; it has been a source of profit to her, as she has often sold
a crop of it for ten, fifteen, and even twenty shillings. Her memory was always retentive: when 106 years old, it was so perfect,
that she used to relate an account of the second rebellion, at which time she lived as a servant at Sockbridge; and she saw some of
the rebels hung on Penrith fell. She is able to read a little, and occasionally peruses her Bible. For the last four or five years
she has used a walking-stick, but always walks quite erect, there being no contraction in her limbs. Her respiration is deep, easy,
and uniform: she takes little food, sleeps much; her health has been generally good; she never had any blood drawn, nor took any
medicine, except an opium pill on one occasion for a cough, which made her so sick and ill that her life was despaired of. William
NOBLE, her husband, rented a corn-mill at Melmerby. At that time, the subject of this notice was in the habit of rising at three
o'clock in the morning, and going with carts to Alston, a distance of eleven miles, over one of the wildest, coldest, and most
dreary parts of Cumberland. When she was 72 or 73 years of age, her husband died; and she was afterwards employed as housekeeper to
a farmer at Old-Town, in whose service she regularly drove ponies, laden with corn, to Carlisle and Penrith markets, each town being
about nine miles distant from her place of residence. When 90 years old, she reaped during the harvest, walking a mile to the field,
and keeping up with the other reapers. She has always been abstemious, and her diet of the plainest kind, not objecting to a little
ale or spirits occasionally; but for some years past she has chiefly lived upon tea, which she takes strong with cream, but without
sugar: this is her favourite food; yet, occasionally, she makes use of a little milk or broth: her clothing was always of a warm
kind. Until within the last three months, she span linen yarn with a spinning-wheel, a common occupation among the peasantry of
Cumberland, and made yarn of good quality. I lately saw a very handsome table-cloth which had been woven from it; and it is worthy
of remark, that this cloth, spun at the age of 106, was woven by a blind man. Mary has resided for the last 17 years with Mr.
Jonathan NICHOLSON, of Penrith, who is now 76 years of age, and remembers her a woman from his youth: his wife, who is 69, was
nursed by her when a child, which circumstance gave birth to a strong attachment, and Mrs. NICHOLSON nurses her in her old age, and
affords her every attention and comfort: they have lived together for the last 32 years....... We have strong reasons to believe
that mankind live longer now than formerly; at least in England, where mortality has diminished for many years past. The results of
the population returns afford satisfactory evidence that our ancestors did not enjoy the same degree of health and longevity that we
do at present. The annual mortality has decreased nearly one-third in 40 years. In 1780, the rate was taken at one in forty; in
1795, at one in forty-five; in 1801, at one in forty-seven; in 1811, at one in fifty-two; and in 1821, the results of the census
shew a mortality of one in fifty-eight. Many causes have contributed to produce these effects; the principal of which are, the
improvement in our food and clothing, in the cleanliness of our houses and towns, in the drainage of land, and in the prevention and
treatment of diseases. Some of the most formidable and fatal maladies of former times are now either extinct among us, or much
mitigated in their violence." 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.cumbriafhs.com/pipermail/list-cumbria/attachments/20240302/055b875b/attachment.htm>