Biddenden Maids cake and newspaper cutting, England, 1801-1900, result 1 of 1

Biddenden Maids cake and newspaper cutting, England, 1801-1900

Elisa and Mary Chulkhurst (1100-1134) were conjoined twins named after their home town of Biddenden, in Kent, England. They lived for 34 years joined at the hips and shoulders, until one of the twins died. The other refused to be separated from her dead twin saying “As we came together we will go together” and died six hours later. The twins are said to have left land to the Church, the rental income from which was to be used to purchase food for the poor to be distributed on Easter Sunday. Cakes bearing the image of the twins were also to be distributed. Today, cakes are distributed to the elderly on Easter Monday.

Image and original data from Wellcome Collection