CROMWELL’S HEAD.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 269, 3 January 1929, Page 1

CROMWELL’S HEAD.

STILL PRESERVED IN LONDON. A correspondence regarding tlhe facial appearance of Oliver Cromwell recently ran in the columns of the Sunday Times, London, having been initiated by a gentleman who wished particularly to learn the truth about the shape of the Protestor’s nose. Later Evelyn L. Few wrote an follows: “None of your correspond - ents seem to know what the ‘Embalmed Head of Oliver Cromwell’ is in existence and in the possession of ths family of the late Horace Wilkinson. I have • myself seen it on more than one (occasion. It is never publicly shown, but as a friend of the Wilkinson family I have taken people to see it from time to ttme. Cromwrell’s hair never turned white. The browichestnut hair is still seen and the growth of beard on the chin, as for the last few month% he went in fear of his life and refused to be shaved. Ail the documents about this relic are with the head, and some time next year I am hoping to be allowed to arrange for a lecture on the subject, when they will be read in full and pictures of the head shown. The head fell down from Westminster Hall 25 years after it had been there, and was taken homfe by a sentinel. It shows the iron spike on which it had been put, as it broke off below the head. It shows also two cuts where it was hacked off at Tyburn, which fits in with the historical accounts of the time.”