Who Was Doctor Ran1

7/28/2019 Who Was Doctor Ran1

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Who was Doctor Rant?

(Some ideas as to who may have inspired Dr Rants burial)By Matthew E Banks 2013

Among other strange things connected with churches and graveyards is the practice

of burying the dead in an upright position. Of this there are many instances onrecord.1 This is something that M R James would certainly have been aware of since

he had a long held fascination with church architecture. As Eddie Brazil illustrates,

church architecture was a passion of James:

He was adept at using the very fabric of the church as triggers in his stories.

Tombs, stained glass, wooden carvings and even Bibles are employed to trap

those who would unheed the warnings and so leave themselves open to

vengeful horrors from beyond the grave.2

Whilst listening toA Podcast for the Curious forThe Tractate Middoth it struck me

that no-one had tried to find out who had inspired the burial of Doctor Rant. It iscertainly one of the most peculiar burials that James used within the confines of his

stories and certainly one of the most visual. Looking in the three volumes that contain

story notes [Casting the Runes M Cox, 1987,A Pleasing Terror, 2001, Count Magnus

& Other Ghost Stories, 2005] not one of them had any mention as to why Rant was

buried the way he was or who inspired James to write the strange burial. The only

time that Doctor Rant is discussed is when Mrs Simpson tells her family story to Mr

Garret and describes the bizarre way that her uncle was buried:

( )Mrs. Simpson, who had not yet resumed her work, and was looking at the

fire thoughtfully, I shall tell you the story. You will please keep it to yourself,

if you dont mind? Thank you. Now it is just this. I had an old uncle, a Dr.Rant. Perhaps you may have heard of him. Not that he was a distinguished

man, but from the odd way he chose to be buried.

I rather think I have seen the name in some guidebook.

That would be it, said Miss Simpson. He left directionshorrid old man!

that he was to be put, sitting at a table in his ordinary clothes, in a brick room

that hed had made underground in a field near his house. Of course the

country people say hes been seen about there in his old black cloak.

( )He was a clergyman, though Im sure I cant imagine how he got to be

one: but he did no duty for the last part of his life, which I think was a goodthing; and he lived on his own property: a very nice estate not a great way

from here. He had no wife or family; only one niece, who was myself, and one

nephew, and he had no particular liking for either of us( )3

Although this does not tell us much, it does give us a hint as to where to search. While

it is impossible to state with any certainty as to the likely inspiration for the burial

scene, I would tentatively suggest that there are four people whose burials may have

influenced James in the writing of Rant.

Mike Taylor and Will Ross in theirPodcast to the Curious2 suggest that William

McKenzie - a renowned railway engineer and gambler born in 1794 - might be James

inspiration. He died in 1851, leaving his younger brother an estate of 341,841.

According to Ross and Taylor, local legend has it that McKenzie lost his soul to the


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Devil in a game of cards and so to cheat him out of his soul, McKenzie allegedly had

his body seated at a table with a winning hand of cards in his hand. His logic being

that if he looked as though he were alive, the Devil could not claim his soul. Elliot

Davies reports that the spirit of McKenzie has been seen and like Rant, caused death:

Such a sighting reportedly tookplace one Sunday night in the autumn of1871. Walking down Liverpools Maryland Street, respected doctor Lionel

Harland heard footsteps approaching. Emerging from the gloom ahead of him

he saw the foreboding figure of a tall man in a top hat and a flowing cape. (

)..this particular gent gave Dr. Harland the willies. He recognised him as

none other than McKenzie; a man hed known years ago ho had died twenty

years previously. ( )McKenzies face glowed as if lit by fiery embers, whilst

his eyes were black and lifeless like spent coals. It literally scared the good Dr

to death. Hed suffer a fatal heart attack later that night.4

Jacqueline Simpson and C.E. Ward in their respective essays in defence ofThe

Tractate Middoth in issue 8 ofThe Ghost and Scholars Newslettersuggest, MadJack Fuller. He certainly would have been someone that M R James may have heard

about, not only being a Sussex legend but also from his time at Eton as well as both

were educated there.

Fuller was born in 1757 and went on to attend Eton School in 1767. He had a varied

career and retired in 1812, having the previous year, had a pyramid mausoleum built

in the churchyard of Church of St. Thomas Becket in Brightling, Sussex where he

was interred after his death in 1834. Local legend had it that he was buried in his top

hat and full dress, seated at a table with a glass of wine in hand. Jacqueline Simpson

has correctly pointed out that this legend did not see print until the 1920s. 5

Simpson mentions Robert ChambersBook of Days(1861, vol 1, pp804-808) statingthat he: mentions several men who left instructions that they should be buried at

some favourite spot on their estates6 and goes on to say None of these, however, is

in an underground brick room.7However, recent newspaper reports have brought to

light a third contender; Sir James Tillie, a noted Cornish eccentric whose story James

may have encountered, and who also features inBook of Days.

Born in 1645 and is described as an extraordinary man of dubious character.8He

married the widow of Sir John Coryton (who he allegedly murdered), which made

him a rich man and was latterly investigated by James II. He built Pentillie Castle in

Saltash, Cornwall in 1698. When he died in 1713 it was stipulated in his will that he

should not be buried, but instead be placed in a chamber under his folly, dressed in his

finest clothes, bound to a chair, surrounded by his books, wine and pipe so as he could

await resurrection.

For three hundred years the mystery of Tillies final resting place was open to

conjecture and rumour. However, in 2012, following renovations of a mausoleum in

the grounds of Pentillie castle, the mystery has been solved. Following excavations in

the mausoleum floor, archaeologists found a brick-built roof and further investigation

found a structure underneath which contained human remains. The locations for both

tombs are similar in as much as Rant is buried in a field on his estate like Tillie, but

where Tillie has a mausoleum hiding the location of his grave, James does not

mention as to whether Rants tomb had a similar superstructure. There are various


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magazines and periodicals that talk of Tillie and his burial, all of which James could

have read including: The Plymouth and Devonport Guide (1828),Devonshire and

Cornwall illustrated(1832), The Parochial History of Cornwall(1838), The Saturday

Magazine (1840) and The Western Antiquary (1884). This selection is far from

exhaustive, but goes to show that after a hundred years after his death, Tillies burial

was still being written about and discussed. For example, in 1853, in Williss CurrentNotes: A series of articles on Antiquities there is a heated letter disputing how Tillie

was buried. This controversy had long been a subject of debate as twenty-one years

earlierDevonshire and Cornwallreported:

( ) from the strange circumstances related by Hals, the Cornish topographer, respecting the

interment, in the grounds here, of the above-mentionedSir James Tillie.His burial-place isdistinguished by a small tower, erected on a conspicuous eminence at a short distance from

the mansion, northwards; and which hill, according to Lysons, he used to

call Mount Ararat. Gilpin, in his " Observations on the Western Counties,"

characterises Tillieas " a celebrated atheist of the last age;" and states, that, " in ridicule ofthe Resurrection, he obliged his executors to place his dead body, in his usual garb, and in his

elbow-chair, upon the top of a hill, and to arrange on a table before him, bottles, glasses,pipes, and tobacco; and, in this situation, ordered himself to be immured in a tower of such

dimensions as he prescribed, where he proposed, he said, patiently to wait the event.All this

was done, and the tower, still enclosing its tenant, remains as a monument of his impiety andprofaneness. The country people shudder as they go near it:

'Jteligio pavidos terrebat agrestes

Dira loci;sylvam, saxumque tremebant.' "*

Gilbert and Drewe, in their recent " History of Cornwall," say,"Nothing can be more false

than this account of the body being placed in a chair, with a table laid out before it, with

bottles, glasses," &c.; and that, "on the contrary, the body was placed in a coffin, and

deposited in a vault."fHals, however, who was a contemporary with Tillie, has stated

circumstances which partly correspond with the statement of Gilpin; and, in conclusion, says,"I hear lately, notwithstanding his promise of returning in two years' space to Pentyley,

that Sir James's body is eaten with worms, and his bones, or skeleton, fallen down to the

ground from the chair wherein it was seated, about four years after it was set up."

Vide " Observations," p. 234. The Latin quotation may be thus translated;

. . The fear-struck hind, with superstitious gaze,

Trembling and pale, tli' unhallow'd tomb surveys,

And half expects, whilst horror chills his breast,

To see the spectre of its impious guest .

t The authors further state, that " the last will and testament of Sir James Tillie has latelybeen examined by his heirs at Doctors' Commons; and in this document it is observable, that,

so far from his principles being atheistical, they breathe throughout a disposition fraught withthe utmost submission to the will of Divine Providence, and a perfect confidence in the

wisdom and mercies of the Creator."9

The interesting thing here is that it mentions that the local people were scared to go

near Tillies tomb, believing that his spirit roamed free. This could be seen as

comparable to what Mrs Simpson says of her uncle: Of course the country people

say hes been seen about there in his old black cloak.10 It is also interesting to note

that while Tillie initially left his estate to his nephew, it later passed to John Tillie

Coryton, who in 1809 had a considerable portion of the old mansion demolished and

erected a gothic building for his own residence. Is this why Doctor Rant went tomurder his nephew, because he was going to alter his home?


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Furthermore, Tillies religious beliefs were brought into question with periodicals

stating that he was a celebrated atheist and that his chosen method of burial was to

mock God, although this later turned out not to be true. Could James have used this

question of faith as part of the character of Ranta clergyman who was actually an

atheist, whose burial was to mock Godagain taking Tillie as his inspiration? It is

this speculation and circumstantial evidence that leads me to venture that Tillie is, ifnot completely, the inspiration for Rant. Of course there are considerable differences

between Tillie and Rant, the biggest being that legend has it that Tillie was brought

food and wine for two years after his death until his servants could stand it no longer.

Another difference is that that they were dressed differently; one dressed in ordinary

clothes, the other in his finest, but this could be James just reversing that aspect.

In contrast neither McKenzie nor Fuller seem to appear in guide books6 or have as

much written about their final resting places as Tillie does. Further to this both Fuller

and McKenzie have inconsistencies that detract to their possible influence on James

writing. Despite local legend, it was not until seventeen years after McKenzie was

buried that the pyramid was built on top of his grave which negates his influence. As

for Fuller, his legend did not see print until afterThe Tractate Middoth was written

and the legend was discovered to be a myth when renovations in 1982 proved that he

was buried in the traditional manner.

It is also plausible that James may have come across Tillie on one of his excursions to

Cornwall. We know that he visited the Bensons at Lis Escop, Truro in December

1882 and six years later in 1888 when he stayed at St Ives. Again this is speculative,

but there is one burial that James would have heard about without fail and that is the

burial (or non-burial) of Sir John Knill.

Knills Steeple dominates the St Ives skyline and can be seen as far away as CarnBrea. When James visited St Ives in 1888 with his friend George Duckworth they

stayed with the Stephen family at Talland House in St Ives and could not have failed

to have seen the steeple. As an antiquarian, I would suggest that James may have

enquired about the steeple and learnt about its history. Matthews guide for 1884 has

this to say about the steeple and the tradition that goes with it:

This is a name of a conspicuous granite obelisk, and from that of the hill

on which it stands. John Knill was mayor of St. Ives in 1766, and though a

man of excellent character, slightly eccentric. He built this obelisk with a view

to be buried in the vault which it contains, but his body was interred

elsewhere. However, certain droll ceremonies which he directed to beperformed here every five years, take place regularly.

At his death Knill gave his body to the anatomists for dissection, in London;

he also left certain property to the vicar, mayor, and collector of St. Ives, and

directed that every five years 10 should be expended on a dinner, and that

ten virgins dressed in white should walk in procession with music, from the

market house to the monument, around which the whole party was to dance

singing the hundredth psalm; 1 was given to the town fiddler, and there were

also legacies for the oldest widower and widow in the parish. This quintennial

commemoration is made the occasion for a good deal of jollity, in which the

entire population joins, indeed the whole proceeding is quite mirth-provoking;

nor is the least laughable part of it the air of martyrdom visible on the faces of


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the unfortunate vicar and mayor, as they sedately waltz around on the upper

step of the monument, hand in hand with the ten very young virgins and the

venerable representatives of widowhood

From Knills Steeple the view of the Bay, with Godrevy, St. Agnes Beacon,

and Carn Brea, is very fine. 11

Of course, neither Knills Steeple or his death hold very little in common with Doctor

Rant and his brick room in a field. The closest by far in terms of similarity and

notoriety is Sir James Tillie. There is the possibility that all these characters

influenced James in his writing of Rantstomb or as Reverend F Wagstaff states:

Of oddities connected with funeral ceremonies, apart from any peculiarity in the place

of burial, the catalogue is endless.12

NOTES

1:Nottinghamshire Guardian Friday March 3

rd

1882. P3. Rev. F.Wagstaff. Odd Hourswith Odd People.

2: http://www.harrypricewebsite.co.uk/Borley/ModernBorley/jamesborley.htm

1:James, M.R. Joshi,S.T.ed. Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories. The Tractate

Middoth. Penguin Classics 2005.P147-148

2:http://www.mrjamespodcast.com/2012/04/episode-11-tractate-middoth/

3:http://www.spookyisles.com/2012/06/the-great-pyramid-of-liverpool/

4: Pardoe, R ed. Simpson, J. In defence of The Tractate Middoth The Ghosts and

Scholars Newsletter Issue 8 September 2005. P23-25

5:http://www.pentillie.co.uk/





8: James, M.R. Joshi,S.T.ed. Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories. The Tractate

Middoth. Penguin Classics 2005.P147-148

9: Britton, J & Wedlake Brayley, E Eds. Devonshire and Cornwall. 1832. P137

10: James, M.R. Joshi,S.T.ed. Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories. The Tractate

Middoth. Penguin Classics 2005.P147

11:http://west-penwith.org.uk/ivesm3.htm#knill

12: Nottinghamshire Guardian Friday March 3rd 1882. P3. Rev. F.Wagstaff. Odd

Hours with Odd People.
http://www.mrjamespodcast.com/2012/04/episode-11-tractate-middoth/http://www.mrjamespodcast.com/2012/04/episode-11-tractate-middoth/http://www.mrjamespodcast.com/2012/04/episode-11-tractate-middoth/http://www.spookyisles.com/2012/06/the-great-pyramid-of-liverpool/http://www.spookyisles.com/2012/06/the-great-pyramid-of-liverpool/http://www.spookyisles.com/2012/06/the-great-pyramid-of-liverpool/http://www.pentillie.co.uk/http://www.pentillie.co.uk/http://west-penwith.org.uk/ivesm3.htm#knillhttp://west-penwith.org.uk/ivesm3.htm#knillhttp://west-penwith.org.uk/ivesm3.htm#knillhttp://west-penwith.org.uk/ivesm3.htm#knillhttp://www.pentillie.co.uk/http://www.spookyisles.com/2012/06/the-great-pyramid-of-liverpool/http://www.mrjamespodcast.com/2012/04/episode-11-tractate-middoth/


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Who Was Doctor Ran1