30 January 2011

A small beer..

In the grounds of Winchester Cathedral is this gravestone of Thomas Thetcher a grenadier in the North Hants Militia who died of a violent fever due to drinking a small beer when hot.


The gravestone gives advice to the drinkers among us "Here sleeps in peace a Hampshire Grenadier, Who caught his death by drinking cold small Beer, Soldiers be wise from his untimely fall And when ye're hot drink Strong or none at all."
Not so easy to see on the gravestone, but the memorial was restored in 1781, replaced in 1802 by the North Hants Militia and again replaced by The Royal Hampshire Regiment in 1966. Tomorrow I have a photo of the fateful pub where Thomas had his small beer!

8 comments:

  1. About the danger of drinking too little?

    ReplyDelete
  2. A very cool, historic photo! I'm going to be much more careful when only drinking half a beer this summer.....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, make sure it's a strong one!

    ReplyDelete
  4. It would cost way too much for so much carving on a gravestone today! I like the story though. Very funny.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very interesting. I new drinking too much could kill you but too little?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I always try to avoid cold small beer, luckily I am more of a cider man. Love these headstones with tales on them.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Cider always reminds me of my youth, swigging from 3 litre bottles at parties (classy I know!). Although I'm sure that's not the kind of cider you drink!

    ReplyDelete