John Kane (1746 in Ireland – 1799 in

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

) was an 18th-century actor and comedian of considerable distinction who died in 1799, with his death involving a poisonous plant, perhaps hemlock or ''

Aconitum ''Aconitum'' (), also known as aconite, monkshood, wolfsbane, leopard's bane, devil's helmet, or blue rocket, is a genus of over 250 species of flowering plants belonging to the family (biology), family Ranunculaceae. These herbaceous perennial ...

''. Like the majority of his profession at the time, he moved around the country performing and spent a lot of his time in England. The playbill for the Buxton Theatre from 25 August 1792 shows that he was playing the 'Old Cockney' character in a farce called ''Romp''. It was while fulfilling an engagement at the Buxton Theatre that he died. According to popular folklore Kane had a large appetite and particularly enjoyed roast beef with

horseradish sauce Horseradish (''Armoracia rusticana'', syn. ''Cochlearia armoracia'') is a perennial plant of the family Brassicaceae (which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, cabbage, and radish). It is a root vegetable, cultivated and used worldwide as ...

. In 1799 in Buxton, whoever prepared the dish for Kane had accidentally gathered ''

Conium maculatum ''Conium maculatum'', commonly known as hemlock (British English) or poison hemlock (American English), is a highly poisonous flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, native to Europe and North Africa. It is Herbaceous plant, herbaceous, wi ...

'' (the European species of hemlock) instead of wild horseradish. His grave can be seen at the rear of St. Anne's churchyard in Buxton. Because of his fame during his lifetime and distinction of his having literally 'eaten himself to death', the gravestone has become a listed monument.

References

1746 births 1799 deaths 18th-century Irish male actors Irish male stage actors Irish emigrants to Kingdom of Great Britain Deaths by poisoning {{Ireland-actor-stub