Sarah Jacob (12 May 1857 – 17 December 1869)
[ Accessed 1 April 2016] was a
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, of or about Wales
* Welsh language, spoken in Wales
* Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales
Places
* Welsh, Arkansas, U.S.
* Welsh, Louisiana, U.S.
* Welsh, Ohio, U.S.
* Welsh Basin, during t ...
child, one of the best-known of a number of so-called
fasting girl
A fasting girl was one of a number of young Victorian era girls, usually pre-adolescent, who claimed to be able to survive over indefinitely long periods of time without consuming any food or other nourishment. In addition to refusing food, fasti ...
s of the 19th century in the United Kingdom and United States.
Biography
Sarah Jacob was born at Lletherneaudd, near
Pencader, Carmarthenshire
Pencader () is a small village in Carmarthenshire, Wales, in the community of Llanfihangel-ar-Arth. It is located around 3 miles (5 km) south-east of Llandysul and 6.5 miles (10 km) south-west of Llanybydder, in the valley of the Gw ...
, the daughter of a farmer. Among her family, she was known by the pet name "Sal". From the age of ten, she was said to have gone without food for long periods but without any apparent effect on her health. Her parents began to receive visitors and to display the child to them, claiming that she had not eaten for many months; by the time she died, she was said to have gone without food for a total of 113 weeks. When the news of her supposed fasting reached the national press, an article on the subject was published in ''
The Lancet
''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication.
The journal publishes ...
'', and eventually a team of four nurses was sent to the house to observe her and see whether she was secretly eating and drinking. They began their observations on 9 December 1869, and the girl died just over a week later. During the period the nurses were present, no one attempted to feed her. An autopsy performed after her death found generally healthy anatomy and fat tissue, as well as feces low in her intestines, indicating that she had been consuming food up until the start of the observation period.
Criminal charges and conviction
In July 1870, Sarah's parents, Evan and Hannah Jacob, were brought to trial at Carmarthenshire Assizes, accused of
manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...
. They were monoglot Welsh speakers, and the court proceedings had to be translated for them. They pleaded not guilty, but were convicted and received prison sentences.
Fictional portrayals
The life and death of Sarah Jacob have been featured in various works of fiction, including the Welsh-language novel ''Sarah Arall'' (1982)'','' by Aled Islwyn, and a play by
Gwenlyn Parry
William Gwenlyn Parry (8 June 1932 – 5 November 1991) was a Welsh dramatist, the author of several plays in Welsh, including ''Saer Doliau'' (1966), ''Ty ar y Tywod'' (1968), ''Y Ffin'' (1973), ''Panto'', ''Sal'' and ''Y Tŵr'' (1978).
Early li ...
, entitled ''Sal''.
Emma Donoghue
Emma Donoghue (born October 1969) is an Irish Canadians, Irish Canadian novelist, screenwriter, playwright and literary historian. Her 2010 novel ''Room (novel), Room'' was a finalist for the Booker Prize and an international best-seller. Donog ...
's 2016 novel, ''
The Wonder'', and
the film of the same name based upon it, take much of their inspiration from the Sarah Jacob case.
References
Further reading
*Robert Fowler. (1871)
''A Complete History of the Case of the Welsh Fasting-Girl'' London: Henry Renshaw.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Sarah
1857 births
1869 deaths
19th-century Welsh people
19th-century Welsh women
Child deaths by starvation
Welsh children