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
Link