Friday Phantoms

The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street is the named used for the Bank of England. The bank was originally established in 1694 and moved to its present position in Threadneedle Street, London,  in 1734.

The Bank and its surroundings are haunted by two spirits. The first is another "lady" of Threadneedle Street and maybe she is responsible for the nickname applied to the bank. Here is her story. Philip Whitehead was a clerk working at the bank and to all appearances he was smart and a diligent worker. His sister Sarah would often pop in and visit him. However Philip took to forging bank notes to fund a better lifestyle for himself. It was inevitable that this would be discovered and he was arrested in 1811. His offence was considered to be treason and , having been found guilty, he was hanged early in 1812. One wonders how they managed it but Philip’s friends concealed the knowledge from the devoted Sarah, she knew nothing of her brother's  arrest and execution as she had been taken to stay in a house in Fleet Street.  They must have made sure she was fully occupied and distracted during that time. Despite their precautions, Sarah turned up at the Bank after a couple of months asking to see her brother and a clerk who did not know who she was blurted out the entire story to her. This had such an impact on her that she became completely unhinged. She would arrive at the bank each day, sometimes two or three times, asking for her brother, telling everyone who would listen that she knew he was still working there. To the staff she became "The Black Nun" because she wore a heavy black dress and a black crepe veil which more often than not covered her face.

A print of Sarah Whitehead

The Bank Directors, taking pity on her, made sure she was frequently provided with sums of money because of her misfortune.

Sarah became convinced that the bank was actually stealing money from her and became loud and abusive and she would hurl insults at the staff. Baron Rothschild was once accosted by her and she called him a thief and a robber, proclaiming for all to hear that he had defrauded her and she wanted her two thousands pounds returned. He gave her half-a-crown from his pocket and told her to go away and not bother him again. She accepted it and went on her way.

Years passed the governors got tired of her daily appearances and her disruption of bank procedure and so they offered her a sum of money on condition she stayed away never to return to the bank again.

Was Sarah really mad? Perhaps not, she had the sense to take the £50 they offered (equal to around £42,000 today - a fortune in those times) signed the agreement and was never seen at the bank again during her lifetime. Her death seemed to break the agreement because it was not long before staff were reporting seeing her in the bank on a regular basis.

Although nearly two centuries have passed, people walking down Threadneedle Street at night have been approached by a woman dressed all in black and this is no silent phantom. She asks them ,very politely but sadly -" Have you seen my brother ?" As people open their mouths to answer her she disappears before their eyes.

The second ghost is that of William Jenkins who was a clerk at the Bank for nine years. Jenkins was a giant of a man standing seven feet and six inches. When he died “of a decline“ his friends, fearing that his body would be stolen by body snatchers or bought by surgeons who were interested in his enormous height  (they had started offering large sums of money for him even as he was dying), approached the Directors of the Bank and asked special permission to bury his body in the Bank's garden courtyard. After all, what place could be safer. Jenkins was said to have been considerably disturbed in his mind as he lay dying from the fear that his body would be dissected or disinterred from its grave. The Directors gave permission and Jenkins was buried very early one morning before business at the bank began.. When excavations were carried out in connection with building work on the bank between the two world wars, a lead coffin, measuring roughly seven feet and six inches was discovered below the old garden court. It was found on the 2 August 1933 . It was buried at a depth of eight and a half feet

Photograph of the actual coffin

and bore a metal place inscribed Mr. William Daniel Jenkins, died 24 March 1798 aged 31..

The coffin was re-interred at Nunhead Cemetery, Peckham London where it was placed in the catacombs. His giant ghost is still seen to this day walking the corridors of the bank. Maybe he was not happy at his last resting place being disturbed but an Act of Parliament made it impossible to replace his remains in the Bank gardens.

 

Seen in The Daily Mail this morning:-

Nursery Rhyme for our times.

Rock-a-bye baby on the laptop
When the screen goes the disk it will flop
When the mouse breaks the software will fall,
And down comes the hard drive, data and all.

     ~ written by Christine Kelly.