The Old General - 2
Introduction
The photograph on this page of The Old General - 2 by John Sutton as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
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The Old General - 2
Image: © John Sutton Taken: 19 May 2010
When I walked or cycled past The Old General on my way to school, I assumed with the certainty of youth that the statue above the porch was of some obscure military man of no conceivable interest to a pacifist sixties teenager. The truth is much more interesting http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/articles/tts/tts1926/itinerary1926p9.htm (and scroll half-way down the page). Benjamin Mayo, who died in 1843, was a poorhouse boy who became a popular local character, an eccentric who considered himself second only in importance to the Mayor. An epitaph in the General Cemetery read "Benjamin Mayo, commonly known by the name of The Old General, died in Nottingham Union Workhouse 12th January 1843, aged sixty-four years. A few inhabitants of this town associating his peculiarities and eccentricities with reminiscences of their early boyhood have erected this tablet to his memory." The pub has been closed for some time, and the old boy boarded up, so I was pleased to find him on show on this visit to my childhood haunts.
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Image Location
Latitude
52.969066
Longitude
-1.173868