History On My Doorstep

ONE of the many advantages of living in central London, at least for those of a historical bent, is that it is almost impossible to walk anywhere without coming across something of historical significance.

Yesterday I was enjoying the morning sunshine when I decided to cut through Bunhill Fields, a former cemetery used mainly for Nonconformist burials.

Among the famous people interred at Bunhill - thought to be a corruption of Bone Hill, the name given to the area after cartloads of bones were dumped there following the closure of a charnel house at Old St Paul's in 1549 - is Daniel Defoe.

The author of Robinson Crusoe, and literally hundreds of other books and pamphlets, was christened Daniel Foe, but added the De to give suggestions of an aristocratic background.

When he died in April 1730 aged about 70 - his exact date of birth is unknown - Defoe was apparently on the run from creditors and was living in obscurity.

Indeed such was his obscurity that his gravestone apparently bore the name Dabow, thanks to a mistake by the monumental mason.

Despite the increasing popularity of Robinson Crusoe in Victorian times, the grave fell into disrepair, until a campaign by the newspaper Christian World raised more than £150 (about £100,000 in today's money, using average earnings*).

The money was used to raise this memorial

The inscription refers to "DANIEL DE-FOE"

*Source: MeasuringWorth.com