Chelsea festival 2006

In June 2006 Jelena Bekvalac and Tania Kausmally presented a talk at Chelsea Old Church as part of the Chelsea Festival.

The talk concentrated on the osteological discoveries from 290 burials excavated within a small area of the Chelsea Old Church cemetery carried out in 2000 by the Museum of London Archaeological Service (MoLAS).

‘A History of Chelsea - in Bones’ was addressed to a mixed audience to those who had an interest in Chelsea, the past and what the skeletal remains could reveal about some of the people who had lived during the 18th and 19th century in the parish of Chelsea.

Probably the most colourful family history was gleaned from records relating to the Hand family who laid claim to being the creators of the Chelsea Bun and ran the famous bun house frequented by royalty.

The presentation was followed by the opportunity for people to have a closer observation of some of the skeletal material in order to appreciate at first hand some of the processes and diseases discussed in the talk.

The presentation provided an overview of the period with an insight into the osteological analysis of the 198 individuals and some of the results pertaining to the age, health and life histories of these individuals.

Particularly fascinating were the insights gained from documentary sources relating to the 25 known named individuals. Amongst them was William Wood, the butcher and Beadle of the parish who died at the age of 84 in 1842 and was the only individual to have a death certificate since all deaths after 1838 had to be registered.