2023

NZ6611 : George Watson memorial

taken 1 year ago, near to Commondale, North Yorkshire, England

George Watson memorial
George Watson memorial
A chance to return to Ravensgill Beck to search for the memorial inscription on a rock to George Watson, an employee at the brickworks who, in 1872, took his own life “in a state of temporary insanity”, to use the language of the time.

I had failed on my previous visit. It was further up the beck that I thought.

Watson worked at the Commondale Pottery, finished his shift as usual, but went missing for several days before his body was found in the beck.

A simple inscription is carved on a rock which looks like could be frequently submersed by the flow in the beck hence is a bit worn. But I understand it says:

“George Watson
FELO.DE.SE.
HOMINIS ES ERRARE”

The Latin needs a bit of explaining.

‘Felo de se’ is an archaic legal expression meaning ‘a crime committed against oneself’, i.e. suicide, which was decriminalised in 1961.

‘Hominis es errare’ is a phrase from a speech by the Roman philosopher Cicero:

Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare,

which translates as ‘It is for every man to err, for none but a fool to persevere in error.’

So ‘Hominis es errare’ is generally translated as ‘To err is human’.

Sources are included my blog LinkExternal link

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Mick Garratt and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Rivers, Streams, Drainage People, Events Primary Subject: Memorial other tags: Memorial Stream Beck Inscription Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Inscription [2] ·
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NZ6611, 32 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Mick Garratt   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Sunday, 8 January, 2023   (more nearby)
Submitted
Tuesday, 10 January, 2023
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NZ 6635 1153 [10m precision]
WGS84: 54:29.6862N 0:58.6276W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NZ 6636 1153
View Direction
North-northwest (about 337 degrees)
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Image Type (about): close look 
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