It's Still Life

The Death of Thomas Thetcher

In Winchester Cathedral’s graveyard is a tombstone “In memory of Thomas Thetcher, who died of a violent fever contracted by drinking cold small beer when hot the 12th of May 1764. Aged 26 Years.”

“Small beer” is a weak fermented beer of low alcohol, and had he consumed regular “strong” beer he’d not have contracted cholera or typhoid, which was carried in the drinking water at that time.

His tombstone reads (in part):

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.

An honest soldier never is forgot
Whether he die by musket or by pot.

The connections we make that blend time: In 1918, the tombstone caught the attention of a young American soldier called Bill Wilson, who camped nearby with his US Army unit before shipping out to the Western Front – two decades later, Bill Wilson founded Alcoholics Anonymous, having faced down his own challenges with alcohol and remembering Thomas Thetcher’s epitaph.

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Written for Denise’s Six Sentence Story including the word “blend”.  ©Misky 2006-2024.