THE accompanying photographs of Benjamin Atkins and Elizabeth his wife, each aged 101, are from a negative taken by the Rev. J. R. Smith, and kindly lent by him. In March, 1889, Mr Amyot of Diss was so good as to send me photographs and some particulars of this old couple. The man died on May 9th ; and on August 2nd Dr Barnes of Eye, in Suffolk, kindly drove Mr Amyot and myself a distance of seven miles over to Brockdish to see the survivor. Both she and her husband had taken to bed at the beginning of the winter, rather for the warmth than from inability to get up, and she was still there ; a pale, thin, healthy woman with good features and healthy complexion, brisk in movement, quick of hearing, with good sight, very good appetite and digestion, daily action of bowels, pulse 80, arteries firm, breathing quick (40), perhaps increased in rate by the excitement from our visit ; heart's sounds natural, teeth all gone ; a good covering of grey hair on the head ; entirely without ailment except that she is troubled with frequency of micturition, often getting out of bed for the purpose and, on this account, getting very little sleep. Mentally she is in her dotage and could give scarcely any account of herself. She often indulges, her attendant says, who is worn out by her ministrations, loudly in language which is far from the most becoming, and which appears formerly to have been by no means habitual to her.
She has been twice married, lived forty years with her recently deceased husband, and had four children, who are all alive. Had been an industrious, good kind of woman, a spare eater, much more so than now, used to take a little beer or wine, but none latterly, never had any illness so far as the attendant, who had known her well for forty years, is aware ; was rather short and thin, but robust, strong and active.
The Rev. F. R. Smith, the curate of Brockdish, informed me that the following are copies from the parish register of Syleham, in Suffolk : "Elizabeth Barber, daughter of George and Sarah Barber, baptized Feb. 1, 1789." – "Elizabeth Barber married to George Duncombe 30th June, 1816." – " Married to Benjamin Atkins Sept. 30th, 1849," the last from the Brockdish register.
Mr Smith remarks that her birthday was always kept on the 6th January, and that it is therefore probable that she was a year old at the time of her baptism, as it is scarcely probable that the ceremony would have taken place when she was only three weeks old. He adds that her niece always heard that she was born in 1787.
Mr Smith further told me that Benjamin Atkins, whose baptism was dated May 11, 1788 1, was of moderate height, was toothless, had good sight, hearing indifferent ; good appetite and digestion, had been three times married, first to a woman older than himself, on the second occasion to one younger, and lately to one of the same age ; that he used to go about and get up his potatoes till last winter, when he and his wife, as before mentioned, being poor, took to bed as the best mode of keeping themselves warm. A week before his death he took the holy communion, entering heartily into the service. Three days before death his appetite failed ; but, with that exception, he seemed well up to the day of his death.
1 The entry to this effect in the register of the parish church of Bressing is attested by the rector of the parish: — "Benjamin Atkins used to say that he remembered his mother telling him that he was born on Whitsunday. Now in the year 1788 Easter-day was March 23, therefore Whitsunday would be May llth. If B. A. was not baptized on the day of his birth he must have been a year old on May 11, 1788." F. R. S.
