The Cornish Pasty - Fun Facts and Delicious History

By Mary Dodge Allen

Why does a Cornish pasty have a distinctive D-shape and a crimped crust? 

The earliest mention of the pasty in Cornwall and Devon dates back to the early 1500s. This meal of meat, vegetables and/or cheese wrapped inside a thick pastry crust is considered the national meal of Cornwall.

Cornish Pasties (Cornish Pasty Association)

The Cornish Pasty - A Proud Part of Cornwall's Heritage

More than 300 years ago, Cornish tin and copper miners began eating a pasty as their mid-day meal because it could be eaten without utensils, and the thick pastry crust could keep its contents warm. Traditionally, pasties were eaten from end to end. Miners often carved their initials in the far end, to identify their particular pasty.

The Cornish word for pasty is “hoggan,” which evolved into popular slang as "oggy." Tradition states that women who had baked pasties for the miners would shout into the mine shaft: “Oggy, oggy, oggy!” and the miners would shout back: “Oi, oi, oi” when they were ready to eat. 

(You may recognize this chant as part of an Outback restaurant commercial).

Arsenic was often found in tin and copper mines, and arsenic dust was a known hazard. It has been said that the pasty’s thick crimped edge provided a convenient hand-hold that was discarded after eating the meal, to avoid arsenic poisoning from dusty hands. This rings true in the opinion of some historians. But other historians argue that the pasties were most likely wrapped in paper or muslin cloth bags to protect the miners from arsenic dust.

Few photos were taken inside the Cornish tin mines, and in the rare photo below, it appears that two of the seated miners in the foreground are holding pasties wrapped in something.

Undated photo of Cornish tin miners, (Cornish Pasty Association)

Pasties provided a convenient mid-day meal for all types of workers. Farmers, field workers and factory workers could leave in the morning, carrying a pasty in a jacket pocket.

Cornish Pasty Ingredients

Family recipes often varied, according to the food at hand. The crust was traditionally made of white flour, or barley flour (which was cheaper). It had to be thick enough to hold its delicious baked filling, and yet not too tough to eat.

The traditional pasty filling consisted of a small portion of meat such as beef or pork or even cheese, mutton or rabbit, along with a much larger portion of vegetables like potatoes, carrots, onions or turnips, seasoned with salt and pepper. 

The raw meat and vegetables were placed inside the crust and sealed with a prominent crimp. Then the pasty was baked long enough for its filling to become fully-cooked, tender and juicy, while the crust browned.

Vintage post card of a partially-eaten Cornish pasty (Wikipedia)

The Cornish Pasty Spreads Across the World

With the fluctuating economy of tin and copper, many Cornish miners – known for their mining expertise - emigrated to work in mines around the world. My great, great grandfather Nicholas emigrated from Cornwall with his young family in 1850 to work in a copper mine in Ontario, Canada. Years later, he moved his family to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, to work in the copper mines there.

Many Cornish miners emigrated to work in mines located in Pennsylvania, California and Nevada. While other Cornish miners relocated as far away as Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. 

Wherever Cornish miners and their families moved, they brought with them the traditional recipe for Cornish pasties. A Cornish festival is held annually in parts of Australia, and an annual Cornish Festival is also held in Real del Monte, Mexico. The Mexican pasty is called a "paste."

A Mexican "paste" (Wikipedia)

The Traditional Cornish Pasty 

I tasted my first Cornish pasty when I was a child, visiting relatives in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Unfortunately, the ancestral Cornish pasty recipe, handed down to my great-aunt in Michigan has been lost.

But I located a traditional Cornish pasty recipe online, at the website of The Salt Wind Catering Kitchen, located in Redruth, Cornwall (near the area my ancestors lived).

Click this link to see the recipe: Traditional Cornish Pasty Recipe

Traditional Cornish Pasty (The Salt Wind Catering Kitchen)

I plan to bake this traditional Cornish pasty for my family this holiday season.
If you enjoy baking, you might want to give it a try. Enjoy!

__________________

Mary Dodge Allen is currently finishing her sequel to Hunt for a Hometown Killer. She's won a Christian Indie Award, an Angel Book Award, and two Royal Palm Literary Awards (Florida Writer's Association). She and her husband live in Central Florida. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Faith Hope and Love Christian Writers. 

Website: www.marydodgeallen.com

Recent release, anthology devotional: El Jireh, The God Who Provides

Mary's story, entitled: A Mother's Desperate Prayer, describes her struggle with guilt and despair after her young son is badly burned in a kitchen accident. When we are at the end of all we have, El Jireh provides what we need. 

Click the link below to purchase on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/El-Jireh-God-Who-Provides/dp/1963611608

Mary's novel: Hunt for a Hometown Killer won the 2022 Christian Indie Award, First Place - Mystery/Suspense; and the 2022 Angel Book Award - Mystery/Suspense.

Click the link below to buy Hunt for a Hometown Killer at Amazon.com:

Hunt For A Hometown Killer: A Novel: Allen, Mary Dodge: 9781952369704: Amazon.com: Books

Link to Mary's Spotlight Interview:   Mary Dodge Allen Author Spotlight EA Book

How Adolf Hitler's War Machine Devastated Hundreds of Thousands of French Lives

By Donna Wichelman

Over the last several months, I've reprised a series I began in the spring of 2024, when I interviewed four survivors of World War II the previous October. In this article, I mention Madame Marie-José Delage, whose story you can read in the August 4, 2026 blog.

Madame Pierrette Couillandeau and Madame Marie-José Delage were still young children and friends in Libourne when France capitulated to Adolf Hitler’s German Army in June 1940. Like most French families, they were uneasy about the armistice France had signed in November 1919, ending the First World War. But while Madame Delage’s father had been wounded during World War I and experienced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Mme Couillandeau’s father had a different experience.

Madame Couillandeau and Madame Marie-José Delage Pointing at a Bullet Hole still left in the Building Where Madame Delage Lived: Donna's Gallery October 2023

Believing another war was inevitable, France built the Maginot Line during the 1930s to counteract an attack by the Germans should hostilities arise. The Maginot Line was a series of concrete fortifications and weapons installations that ran from Belfort in the south, guarding the Belfort Gap where France, Germany, and Switzerland meet, to the Longuyon in the Moselle Valley. It stopped short of the Belgian border near the dense Ardennes forest, because Belgium adopted the policy of strict neutrality, which prevented France from building fortifications. A separate extension, the Alpine Line, ran along France's southeastern border with Italy.

But the German Army launched a surprise attack north of Saarbrücken in rugged forested terrain where no one expected, allowing them to break through French defenses, storming the country west and southward.

German Army Shows Japanese Officials Maginot Line
Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock Photo

Madame Couillandeau’s father was one of the French troops stationed in a village along the Maginot Line. He shouldn’t have been there. He was too old at age thirty-six and had two children to feed. He was also a baker, protected from military service by a law enacted during the French Revolution that said authorities could “commandeer bakeries and … keep the masses in bread.” But Mme Couillandeau’s father had not declared his status and ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The men in Madame Couillandeau’s father’s unit took turns watching for German soldiers from the top of a church. One day, her father and one of his buddies were on the lookout but unaware their unit had pulled out. They were left behind to be caught by the Germans and made prisoners of war. 

Meanwhile, the head of the collaboratorist Vichy Government, Prime Minister Pierre Laval, developed a volunteer program called La Relève, The Relief, in June 1942 to help secure the release of French prisoners of war. Negotiating with Germany's General Plenipotentiary for Labor, Fritz Sauckel, they agreed to release one French prisoner of war for every three volunteer workers from France who would be willing to work in Germany on their war machine. 

The propaganda campaign reached out to workers in skilled trades, particularly in metalworking, engineering, and construction, and offered high wages and opportunities for professional training. 

But La Relève was not successful. The program couldn't provide enough volunteer workers. Estimates suggest that 80,000 to 90,000 prisoners of war out of more than a million still left in captivity were returned in exchange for 24,000 French workers. Madame Couillandeau’s father was fortunate to be one of them and returned to his family in 1943.

La Relève morphed into the compulsory work service (Service du travail obligatoire or STO) under Sauckel, requiring the forced enlistment and deportation of French men to Germany for the German war effort. As many as 650,000 men were sent to work camps from June 1942 to July 1944 to compensate for the loss of German manpower as more and more soldiers were needed at the Eastern Front.

In Paris, French men and women being chosen for work in GermanyDeparture of STO workers from the Paris-Nord station in 1943 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-J14405%2C_Paris%2C_Abreise_franz%C3%B6sischer_Kriegsarbeiter_nach_Deutschland.jpg

In Paris, French men and women being chosen for work in GermanyDeparture of STO workers from the Paris-Nord station in 1943
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-J14405%2C_Paris%2C_Abreise_franz%C3%B6sischer_Kriegsarbeiter_nach_Deutschland.jpg

But even STO never achieved the numbers Sauckel wanted. The French began to evade the compulsory demands by joining the French Resistance--the Maquis. Historians estimate at least 200,000 French were actively involved in the Resistance. Broader estimates put numbers at 500,000.

Members of French Resistance March in Liberation Celebration in Libourne, France Libourne City Archives

Members of French Resistance March in Liberation Celebration in Libourne, France
Libourne City Archives

Though Madame Couillandeau’s father came home because of the prisoner exchange program, war still left its indelible effect on him. He could have avoided it if he had declared himself a baker from the start. Unfortunately, he did not. So when he returned and wanted his old occupation back and to play cards with friends in a bar on the square, he discovered they'd made a lot of money in the market while he had been a prisoner of war. It was a bitter pill to swallow, so he sold his shop and went to Bordeaux.

Boulangerie Spécialité Pan Gascon, Since the Reign of Louis XV in 1765 Donna’s Gallery, October 2023

Boulangerie Spécialité Pan Gascon, Since the Reign of Louis XV in 1765
Donna’s Gallery, October 2023

As I contemplated this real-life story, I was struck by the irony of how the war affected Madame Couillandeau's family as much as Madame Delage's. In different ways, both fathers had become casualties of war--Madame Delage's father developing PTSD during the First World War and escaping to Canada, and Madame Couillandeau's father to Adolf Hitler's war machine. In both cases, their families' lives would never be the same. It's something for all of us to ponder as we consider whose fathers and families will be destroyed by the nations still warring in our contemporary world.

Donna is an Angel Book Award-winning author of historical romance for A Song of Deliverance. Book 2, Rhythms of the Heart, is an interconnected stand-alone set in the same Victorian mining community of Georgetown, Colorado.

Weaving history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption grew out of Donna's love of travel, history, and literature as a young adult while attending an international college in Wales, U.K. She enjoys developing plots that show how God's love abounds even in the profoundly difficult circumstances of our lives. Her stories reflect the hunger in all of us for love, belonging, and forgiveness.

Donna was a communications professional before becoming a full-time writer. Her short stories and articles have appeared in inspirational publications. Her romantic suspense novels, Light Out of Darkness and Undaunted Valor in her Waldensian Series, are available on Amazon. 

Donna and her husband of forty-two years participate in ministry at their local church in Colorado. They love spending time with their grandchildren and often bike, kayak, and travel. 

Author Spotlight: Cheryl Rae Johnson

Me with my parents at Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly in North Carolina
when I was around two years old.
Many years later, I would sign my first contract here with Elk Lake Publishing.

My childhood collection of Little House on the Prairie books, worn from a dedicated reader's devotion, sits proudly on my bookshelf, a reminder that as a little girl similar in age to its author, I imagined myself a modern day Laura Ingalls Wilder who would one day write her own story of a family moving from place to place – Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Montana – and the escapades those moves involved. And there were plenty, I assure you. Because my dad was a church planter, moving every few years was just a part of life.

My dad on the far left. First Baptist Church in Newton Falls, Ohio,
where I was born, is still going strong.

I never wrote those stories, but that seed was planted and nourished and continued to grow, waiting for God's perfect timing and just the right stories. All I needed was a small dog and my mother.

Bentley, a mini-dachshund, became a part of my youngest daughter's world when she was fifteen. A little over a year later, my mother moved in with us after my father passed away. Bentley was small, but his personality was large, and with every pounce he took through the house, my mind tumbled with a children's story. Bently does this, and Bentley does that until I had to get my thoughts on paper.

At the same time, my mother and I spent many afternoons at the dining table poring over her notebooks of family history and research, me asking questions about things she'd written, she asking her own questions about something she knew there was an answer to, God providing those answers. Miracles I will never forget.

A year later, she passed away, but the memories and the dreams lingered.

My mom lived an adventurous life!

In May 2016, I attended the Blue Ridge Mountains Writers' Conference at Ridgecrest in North Carolina, where Elk Lake Publishers offered a contract, and two Benny Books came to life.

Bently put his paw of approval on my children's book contract.

Click here to see the Benny books on Amazon.

When a group of writers from Elk Lake formed a collection of novellas, I jumped in, even though I'd never written a historical romance. I wanted to tell in fiction form my parents' story. With two wonderful mentors helping me, I wrote a well-received novella. And I wondered, what is next?

The fictional story, "Nobody Loves You Like Me,"
based on my parents, can be found
 in this collection of stories published by Elk Lake Publishing.

I had ideas born from the kitchen table with my mother. Irish immigrants who came during the potato famine. Fiddle players who worked the docks of New York City during the day and played the saloons at night, eventually leaving and making their way to Southeastern Tennessee, Alabama, Texas.

And while the stories of Chattanooga Hearts are fictional, there are whispers of ancestors throughout, of my parents' influence and of dreams that refused to die.

Click here to learn more about the books! 

Loving Miss Lucy, the fourth book in the series,
released yesterday, November 2! 

Loving Miss Lucy, Book4, released November 2, and the final book of the Chattanooga Hearts Series, The Master of Ceremonies, will be out Spring 2027, but a spin-off series is already in the works. Once again, my mind can hardly keep up!

Thank you for going down this memory lane with me and allowing me to share my books with you! 

Cheryl Rae Johnson writes historical romance novels set in the American South. She has made her home in all corners of the US but is now settled on the eastern edge of Texas, where she teaches writing and literature at her local university as well as ministers alongside her husband of over forty years in her local church. She can often be found drinking coffee and hanging out with her ever-growing brood of grandchildren. She loves to connect with her readers. You can join her here:

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All Things Pacific Northwest: The Remarkable Story of Fay Fuller

Fay Fuller & Mount Rainier

Welcome to All Things PNW. You, again, are my captive audience as I talk about the most beautiful and terrifying object I see nearly every day… Mount Rainier.

Have you ever been to Washington State?

I'll ask my question a different way. Have you ever been to Washington State when the mountain is out?

That's what we say here. The mountain is out today! And it's a glorious day when the mountain is out. But even when the mountain is not out (which is often), it's still there. Still beautiful and still terrifying.

Reflection Lake taken by my husband

We drive by lahar siren stations and see signs pointing toward evacuation routes. I can drive through two river valleys on my way to visit my daughter, who lives only twelve miles from me. Here in the foothills of Mount Rainier, the mountain's beauty is never entirely separated from the danger it represents.

For millennia, the Indigenous peoples surrounding Mount Rainier traveled its slopes, navigated its river systems, and gathered its seasonal vegetation. And long before British explorers named it Mount Rainier, the mountain was known to Sahaptin-speaking peoples as Taxúma.

But today, I want to tell you about the first woman on record to summit the mountain.

Edwina Fay Fuller

Fay Fuller in her mountaineering attire, circa 1890. 

Courtesy of the National Park Service, Mount Rainier Archives.

Born on October 10, 1869, Fay moved with her family to Tacoma when she was twelve. By twenty, she was teaching school in Yelm, Washington.

Her fascination with Mount Rainier began when famed mountaineer Philemon Beecher Van Trump visited her classroom. Van Trump, who had made the first documented ascent of Mount Rainier alongside Hazard Stevens in 1870, inspired the young schoolteacher with his account of climbing the mountain.

She was determined to stand on that summit herself. Soon Van Trump invited her to join a climbing expedition.

At the time, mountaineering was largely a man's sport. The physical demands were considerable, but society's expectations for women's clothing and behavior made such adventures particularly difficult. Fay, however, was undeterred.

On August 10, 1890, just two months before her twenty-first birthday, Fay Fuller became the first woman known to summit Mount Rainier.

Even today, climbing to the top of this more than 14,000-foot volcano requires considerable preparation, endurance, and specialized equipment. Imagine attempting such a feat in 1890, when climbing gear was rudimentary and the journey to the mountain itself was an undertaking.

There were certainly no modern climbing clothes designed for women. Instead, Fay ascended the highest peak in the Cascade Range wearing heavy flannel underwear and bloomer suit, wool stockings, boys' hiking boots fitted with metal spikes, and a straw hat.

Her unusual attire attracted almost as much attention as her accomplishment. Some considered her clothing immodest, particularly the bloomers, which allowed greater freedom of movement than the long skirts expected of respectable women.

And Fay was the only woman in her climbing party, accompanied by four men.

Before the final ascent, Fay blackened her face with charcoal to protect herself from the intense glare of the sun reflecting off the snow.

The climb was arduous, yet Fay was determined to reach the summit through her own efforts, reportedly refusing assistance from her companions.

At approximately 4:30 in the afternoon, the five climbers finally reached the summit.

Fay later recalled the experience in words quoted by the National Park Service:

A heavenly moment, nothing was said—words cannot describe scenery and beauty, how could they speak for the soul?

I imagine that after hours of exhausting climbing, standing above the clouds and looking across the Cascade Range must have been an extraordinary moment. But reaching the summit was only half the journey. The party arrived so late that descending before nightfall was impossible. Instead, they sought shelter in an ice cave warmed by volcanic steam vents near the summit. There they spent the night, high on the slopes of an active volcano, with little protection beyond the wool clothing and blankets they had carried.

Imagine spending the night on Mount Rainier in 1890. In those clothes!

There's also an amusing account of a climbing party that followed Fay's expedition. According to the story, the men discovered several hairpins she had lost along the route and jokingly declared them proof that a woman really had reached the summit!

Seven years later, on July 27, 1897, Fay climbed Mount Rainier a second time. Sadly, that expedition was marked by tragedy.

Thirty-four-year-old Professor Samuel Edgar McClure had joined the Mazamas climbing expedition to conduct scientific measurements of the mountain's elevation. During the descent, McClure lost his footing and fell to his death, becoming the first recorded climbing fatality on Mount Rainier.

Today, McClure Rock, near Paradise, bears his name.

But Fay's remarkable story extended well beyond mountaineering.

She became Tacoma's first female newspaper reporter, writing a column for the Tacoma Ledger called "Mountain Murmurs," where she covered mountaineering excursions and news. She also helped establish climbing organizations, advocated for women's participation in mountaineering, and supported the movement that led to the creation of Mount Rainier National Park in 1899.

Fay Peak, near Mowich Lake, was named in her honor.

What fascinates me most about Fay Fuller is not simply that she was the first woman to reach the summit, but that she challenged the expectations of her time with such determination.

Enumclaw, Washington, circa 1905. PEMCO Webster & Stevens Collection, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle.

Public domain in the United States.

So… the next time someone says, "The mountain is out!" I'll probably do what I always do—stop and admire it. But now I'll also think about a twenty-year-old schoolteacher who looked at that enormous volcano in 1890 and decided she wanted to stand on top of it.

And I think I'll be perfectly content to admire it from down here!

As close to the peak as I've ever been. 

2nd Burroughs, Sunrise Visitor's Center

Echoes of the Ancient New Testament Cities: Capernaum

Matthew J Elliott 

Ruins of Capernaum (Wikipedia)

Capernaum has always been one of those cities that have left me with more questions than answers. When I began planning this series, I didn't even list this location as a possibility to research. There were several other cities that I thought had more value or purpose to them. Truthfully, the only reason Capernaum was added to the list was because I wanted a few cities that Jesus focused on during his three-year ministry. 

By the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus had already been baptised by His cousin, overcome the temptations in the wilderness, gathered some of His earliest followers, and even 'crashed' a wedding in Cana. Those are all monumental aspects of the progression Jesus made in His ministry, but Capernaum was the launching pad for everything else. The gospels return to this location on several occasions, and it serves as the base for most of His early ministry. 

One of the more interesting discoveries I made when researching Capernaum was that there were only around 1,500 people living there during the time of Jesus. As a child, I always imagined the place Jesus used as his base of operations was much bigger. It was the place several of the disciples called home, or at least they were in the community working on their fishing boats. So, why not, right? 

While the population of Capernaum was small, it sat near some important trade routes around the Sea of Galilee. Fishermen from all shapes of life, tax-collectors, and weary travelers passed through the area all the time. It may seem strange that Jesus chose a pretty small fishing town as the base of operations for a movement that would eventually rival the Roman Empire. If I have learned anything through my personal journey with this series, though. It is that God often uses the smallest details: the overlooked clay jar, the house of a simple fisherman, the unwanted, to bring the biggest impact. 

Few cities in history witnessed more miracles than Capernaum, but at the same time few cities saw the other side of the story as well.  I mean, take a look at Matthew 11:23-24, the city was rebuked and compared to the land of Sodom, and not in a good way. Aside from that rebuke, though, Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law, a paralytic, a servant, and even cast out a demon. Some even say that the daughter of Jairus was healed here as well.  Many of the resources I found even claim the city was more exposed to Jesus’ ministry than any other community. 

Rendering of Peter's Possible Home (RedeemerofIsrael.com)

The ministry of Jesus is only the foundation of the cake, so to speak. After the resurrection, we all know that Peter became one of the most prominent leaders of the early church. What some may not know is that there is actually Archaeological evidence that suggests that Peter’s home was remodeled into a gathering place for believers throughout the first century. I cannot say that for certain, but even the idea of something like that suggests that Christians met for several years after Jesus ascended.

As the ministry of the early church continued to take hold, believers spread far beyond Jerusalem into cities, villages, and ports throughout the Roman world. Many of the smaller cities during that time became homes to clusters of believers who continued to share the gospel. Places in Galilee became important symbols of the kind of community that thrived amid the pressures the bigger cities endured. 

The more I looked into places like Capernaum, the more I began to realize something.

It was never the size of the community that mattered. It was the hearts of those who walked its streets.

Capernaum was not Jerusalem, Rome, or Alexandria. It was a fishing village. Yet God chose that fishing village as a launching point for events that would change history forever.

Researching Capernaum has reminded me of the reason I started this series in the first place. Truthfully, it reminded me why I write the stories that I write. It was never about giving readers a year's worth of content or simply filling pages with meaningful stories. Nor has it been about getting the biggest reaction or finding my way onto a bestseller list. It has always been about how much the smaller things matter. In my stories, I write about the little people, the one-off stories, like Onesimus in Finding Philemon, and even the little places that stay with you long after you read about them.

Think about this for a moment: Capernaum was a village of roughly 1,500 people, yet it became the place where Jesus chose to launch much of His public ministry. It witnessed miracles, disciples being called, lives being changed, and perhaps even some of the earliest gatherings of believers after His ascension.

More than 2,000 years later, we are still talking about it.

Maybe that is the real lesson of Capernaum. God has never needed a large stage to accomplish something extraordinary.

~ Biography ~

Matthew James Elliott (M.J. Elliott) is a passionate writer who loves to encourage and inspire others. He served in various ministry roles for over 15 years, which gave him a unique perspective on people and Biblical History. Matthew holds a degree in Biblical Studies from Oklahoma Wesleyan University, with a focus on Pastoral Care, Christian Education, and Worship.

Matthew is married and has three wonderful children who bring him immense joy and inspiration. One of his favorite things to do with them is to share stories they can someday learn from. When writing a story, he aspires to minister to others with love, equip them with encouragement, and use the gift God has given him as a writer to help readers experience God in a real and meaningful way.

Find Matthew on Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, BookBub, and His Website. He has written Devotionals, An Episodic Series, Novellas, and Commentaries for The Gospel Daily.

~ Highlighted Release ~

It has been a while since I highlighted this release, but I am moving Finding Philemon to my REAMStories author page where all of my followers there can read it for free. Between now and the release of my upcoming Novel, A Broken Embrace, two episodes a week are being released there. If you want a reminder, I will be announcing the discounted price in my monthly newsletter.

Are you ready to dive into a captivating series that delves into the journey of a young runaway slave who discovers God in his quest for redemption? Finding Philemon is exactly that kind of series. Come along on this unexpected journey as Onesimus faces the haunting demons of his past and witness his story unfold before your eyes in this first-hand account of someone many know little about.

Throughout this journey, Onesimus will encounter life-changing events that will transform the depths of his heart and aid him in discovering the redemption that only God can offer. Experience the raw emotion humanity often overlooks when learning how to understand the impact real-life struggles can have on our lives.

Andrew Ure by Nancy J. Farrier

The month of October is often focused on the odd and disturbing. I happened to stumble across the historical account of Andrew Ure and thought the story would fit well within the oddities of the month.

Welcome Library, London    

Andrew Ure, born in Glasgow, Scotland, achieved great success in many areas. He became a physician and served as an army surgeon, but his great love was chemistry and physics. He served on the Faculty Board at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow and was well loved for his interesting lectures. He spoke often on chemistry and mechanics. He also had a love of geology and was considered an expert from the number of texts he devoured and the information he absorbed.

Louis Figueir (author) 

One of Ure’s fascinations had to do with the reanimation of the body after death. He began some experiments which he later incorporated in his lectures. In 1818, he lectured on the galvanic experiments he’d been conducting. He brought in the body of a murderer and thief, Matthew Clydesdale to demonstrate his findings. Clydsedale had been executed by hanging and left hanging for an hour. Ure wanted to demonstrate the by stimulating certain nerves with voltage he could bring the person back to life.

These experiments were allowed at that time on the bodies of condemned murderers who had been put to death. The thought of the day was that these men were further tormented for their crimes by being experimented on and that would be all right. 

Early depiction of Frankenstein

When Ure sent voltage through the body, Clydesdale’s muscles responded with shuddering which looked to the audience as if he were shivering from the cold. Ure made the body do different movements by touching nerves in other areas. When he touched the hip, one of his assistant was nearly thrown to the floor by the violence of the muscular reaction. He was also able to manipulate the facial expressions, giving the impression Clydesdale was experiencing emotion. Many of the onlookers had to leave the room they were so horrified.

Mary Shelley
By Richard Rothwell 

One of the interesting side notes I read while studying Ure, was that Mary Shelley heard of his experiments and was fascinated by the thought of reanimating the dead. This sparked her writing of Frankenstein, which released in 1818 about the same time Ure was doing the lecture on Clydesdale. Shelley’s book and Ure’s experiments caused quite a stir in that era. The original Frankenstein made no mention of using electricity to reanimate the body, but in her rewrite in 1831, Shelley added that part to the text.

Frankenstein frontispiece
By Theodore Von Holst 

The origin of life and scientific experiments have long been interesting to the public even to the point of excusing tests on the living in the name of science. Ure did not use the living in his demonstrations, only the dead, but some of his tests were horrific. He also inspired other scientists to experiment on animals and humans. Shelley’s depiction of Frankenstein brings out that nature of scientific curiosity and vividly describes human nature in the events that occur in her book.

Have you ever read Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein? What are your thoughts on experimenting with the dead? ((I realize that some people sign over their bodies before they die, but am referring to those who haven’t.) Have you ever heard of Andrew Ure? 

I am doing a giveaway of my book, Bandolero. To be entered, please leave a comment and your email on this blog before midnight. If you already have Bandolero, you may have another of my books.

Nancy J Farrier is an award-winning, New York Times best-selling author who lives in Southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats and dog, and spend time with her family. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.