Lost History – the curious case of Old Tom Parr
In the centre of the south transept of Westminster Abbey, a small white marble slab covers the remains of Britain’s alleged oldest man. Thomas Parr supposedly lived until the unimaginable age of 152 years and 9 months. His quiet, rustic existence in verdant medieval Shropshire might have spanned the reigns of ten kings, but after visiting London for the first time in 1635, his fragile constitution quickly deteriorated and his abnormally extended life abruptly came to an end. Post-mortem analysis over the subsequent centuries has obviously discredited the claim of his uniquely advanced age, but Old Tom Parr still holds an intriguing place in British history.
Supposedly born in 1483, to husbandman John Parr, Thomas took on his father’s trade and ploughed and scythed the fields surrounding the village of Winnington, eight miles east of Shrewsbury. Excluding some rather racy romantic liaisons (he got married aged 80, paid penance for an affair aged 100 and got remarried aged 122), the circumstances of Tom’s remarkable longevity appear to have been reliant on a wholly inane set of domestic and dietary habits. If at all true, this may prove good news for those who prefer sylvan tranquillity and agrarian routine to a citified sense of success and all the gruelling competitiveness that lifestyle necessitates.
According to the poet and pamphleteer John Taylor, the Earl of Arundel was touring his estates in Shropshire when he heard of the local elder whom Taylor describes as a “monument” and a “miracle of nature”. Following his meeting with the old man, Arundel led a procession to London where he intended to present this living relic of a bygone time to Charles I.
Tom’s pioneering dotage had already garnered him national fame, but I doubt he had ever received as much attention as he did on his way into London. Taylor wrote, “they came in such multitudes to see the Olde Man, that those that defended him, were almost quite tyred and spent, and the aged man in danger to have bin stifled; and in a word, the rabble were so unruly, that Arundel was in doubt he should bring his Charge no further; (so greedy are the Vulgar to hearken to, or gaze after novelties.)”. Upon arriving in London, the King was thrilled to question a common subject with a longer experience of his realm than anyone he had ever met. Charles supposedly said, “you have lived longer than other men. What have you done more than other men?” Parr replied, “Sire, I did penance when I was one hundred years old.”
The devout King’s admiration for Tom resulted in luxurious banquets and fetes, occasions that the old man was far from accustomed to enjoying and evidently, from enduring. He suddenly died only a few weeks after getting to London on the 13th November 1635 and was interred at the King’s request in Westminster Abbey. The famous physician and first documenter of blood circulation in the human body, William Harvey, conducted a post-mortem examination on Tom to determine the causes of his rare senility. He concluded that Tom’s health flourished due to the consumption of “sub-rancid cheese and milk in every form, coarse and hard bread and small drink, generally sour whey….on this sorry fare, but living in his home, free from care, did this poor man attain such lengths of days.” Modern interpretations of Harvey’s examination rightly question the veracity of his reported age. Harvey’s claim that Tom’s organs were in perfect condition have led contemporary doctors to assert that Olde Parr was probably no older than seventy and that his blindness and deafness aided the promulgation of his myth for his was unable, or maybe unwilling, to tell the dull truth of his story.
Thomas Parr was not the only claimant of extraordinary longevity in UK history. Thomas Cam who died in 1588 affirmed he was 207. Chesten Marchant, Joseph Surrington, Thomas Damme and Thomas Newman all posited that they were older than 150. And, Yorkshireman Henry Jenkins declared under oath at the Chancery Court in 1667 that he was one hundred and fifty seven “or thereabouts”.
In early times, when folklore and hearsay abounded more fantastically; when the disciplines of developed science were less available or entirely misunderstood, many untrue accounts of natural occurrences were established, but there are certainly secrets to accessing a longer life span that we can learn from the past. Tom’s modest needs and unadventurous behaviour (barring his geriatric trysts) afforded this lowly parishioner a richer treasure than most monarchs have ever possessed – an abundance of time. Even if he was a wily charlatan, no older than sixty-five, Tom Parr lived lengthily enough to provide valuable insight. This quote regarding the means to long life was attributed to Parr: “Keep your head cool by temperance and your feet warm by exercise. Rise early, go soon to bed, and if you want to grow fat [prosperous] keep your eyes open and your mouth shut.” It turns out TS Eliot was wrong to write, “old men ought to be explorers”, had Tom stayed where he was, he may have lived to meet a later king.