This 300-Year-Old Love Message Was Embroidered By James Radclyffe’s Wife Using His Hair After He Was Beheaded

People cope with grief in countless different ways after losing a loved one. But, after Anna Maria, the Countess of Derwentwater, lost her husband in 1716, she expressed her emotions in an exceptionally rare way.

James Radclyffe, Anna’s husband, was the third Earl of Derwentwater who, at just twenty-six, aided the very first Jacobite rebellion.

The Jacobites were led by Charles Edward Stuart, who hoped to regain the British throne of his father. And James fought alongside the other rebels in the 1715 Battle of Preston.

But, their effort was ultimately unsuccessful, and nearly one thousand and five hundred Jacobites were captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London– including James.

Then, on January 24, 1716, he was doomed to a brutal fate. That day, James was sentenced to death for treason and beheaded.

Anna was devastated by the tragic loss but was still allowed to take responsibility for her husband’s body following the execution– which included James’ severed head.

And this provided Anna with the unique opportunity to save some locks of her husband’s hair as a keepsake.

Moreover, she decided to use this hair to create an eerie yet touching memorial.

Museum of London Docklands; pictured above is the sheet that Anna embroidered with her husband’s hair

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In fact, Anna took the linen bedsheet that James had slept on while imprisoned and embroidered a heartbreaking inscription on it using human hair.

“The sheet off my dear, dear Lord’s bed in the witched Tower of London. February 1716. Ann C of Darwent = Waters,” the inscription reads.

The sheet was also decorated with flowers, leaves, and heart bands in linen thread– suggesting that the linen likely came from Anna and James’ home since prisoners were forced to furnish their own living quarters.

Keeping the hair of deceased loved ones in a memorial ring or locket was a common practice during this time. But Anna’s choice to use hair as a thread was incredibly original.

And now, the three-hundred-year-old inscribed bed sheet will be on display at the Museum of London Docklands starting this October.

The sheet will be a part of the new exhibition entitled Executions, in which the history of those who faced public execution in London will be explored via objects, stories, and legacies. Finally, Beverley Cook– the exhibition’s curator– revealed one more fascinating tidbit about this bedsheet. The inscription contained hair from two different people.

“Anna Maria used two distinct hair colors– one fair and the other much darker– interwoven to make a thicker, longer, and more workable thread,” Cook began. “It’s possible this hair came from herself and her husband.”

To learn more about this chilling piece of history, you can purchase tickets to the Executions exhibition by visiting the link here.

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