Hannah Twynnoy

The strange death of Hannah Twynnoy [ FT417:42] reminds me that Malmesbury Abbey (the site of Hannah’s memorial) is home to the “Flying Monk”. Around AD 1125 the mediæval historian William of Malmesbury wrote in his book Gesta regum Anglorum (Deeds of the English Kings) about a fellow monk reputed to be Britain’s first aviator. In about AD 1005 Elmer (sometimes also called Eilmer) allegedly managed to fly (or rather glide) “more than a furlong (201m/660ft) from the Abbey’s tower using a rudimentary type of hang-glider. On landing he is said to have broken both his legs, which left him lame for the rest of his days. Elmer is immortalised in a stained-glass window located in a side room off the main body of the Abbey, where he is depicted holding what looks like a model of his hang-glider.

• Also mentioned in the report on Hannah Twynnoy is the menagerie at the Exeter Exchange (now the Strand Palace Hotel). During its time as a menagerie, Exeter Exchange was witness to what was probably the first (and only?) elephant execution by firing squad in the UK. The Indian elephant, known as Chunee or Chuny (who had previously performed minor tricks for visitors) became increasingly violent, (perhaps due to his musth, aggravated by pain from a rotten tusk), culminating in him killing one of his keepers while being exercised along the Strand on 26 February 1826.

The decision was made to put Chunee to death. Attempts to feed him poison failed, as he refused to eat it, so soldiers were summoned from Somerset House to execute him by firing squad [as pictured below in a contemporary illustration]. Amazingly, 152 musket balls later, Chunee was still alive, so a keeper finally dispatched him with a blade. His skeleton, exhibited at the Royal College of Surgeons’ Museum [pictured above], was destroyed by a German bomb on 11 May 1941.

Paul “Tiny” Jackson, Devizes, Wiltshire