Headstones with unusual stories to tell: The barmaid who taunted a tiger



In 1703, Hannah Twynnoy became Britain's first recorded victim of a tiger.

She was a barmaid at the White Lion in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, when a travelling menagerie set up in the pub's large rear yard, ready to attract paying crowds.

Hannah was warned against upsetting the tiger but she enjoyed bothering and poking at the big cat - until one day it discovered the cage door was open. Fed up of the pesky barmaid, the tiger launched itself on the unfortunate servant and mauled her to death.

The stone, in Malmesbury Abbey has the epitaph:

In bloom of life

She's snatched from hence

She had not room to make defence;

For Tyger fierce

Took life away

And here she lies

In a bed of clay

Until the Resurrection Day.

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