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Wednesday, 25 June 2014

Postman's Park

This sunny afternoon occasioned a summit of BritCits trustees in the vicinity of Postman's Park in the City of London.

A bit of an oasis amid the hubbub, Postman's Park hosts the delightfully-named Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice, which commemorates ordinary folk who gave their lives to save others (e.g. William Drake 'lost his life in averting a Serious Accident to a Lady in Hyde Park'; Henry James Bristow, aged eight, 'saved his little sister's life by tearing off her flaming clothes but caught fire himself and died of burns and shock'). All using charming Victorian typeface and diction. It occurred to me that both saved and saviours have now passed from this earth, yet their deeds are immortalised in this tranquil place.

We came across this gem :


 John Cranmer, a 23-year-old clerk from Cambridge, 'was drowned near Ostend whilst saving the life of a Stranger and Foreigner'. 

https://twitter.com/BritCits wonders whether, in 2014, 'foreigner' would be replaced with 'migrant'. Would the act of heroically saving a migrant still be worthy of a plaque?

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