Erection date: 2/8/1998
Mydiddee
A native of Tahiti. Sailed to England with Captain William Bligh in HMS Providence. Died in Deptford, 4th September 1793.
Stranger with solemn step approach and know,
A fav'rite son of nature sleeps below.
From that fam'd queen of southern isles he came,
fair Otahytey, fir'd by British fame:
And Providence each deep safe wafted o'er,
Yet only gave to hail the promis'd shore;
For here could life alas! no more supply,
Than just to look around him and to die.
Edward Harwood, surgeon of the Providence.
Caroline's Miscellany has an excellent post on Mydiddee. We hope she won't mind if we quote her: "Bligh paid for Mydiddee's funeral and tombstone, but the memorial was never erected. That was finally put right on 2 August 1998 when the current memorial stone was dedicated in St Paul's churchyard by the Bishop of Polynesia, in the presence of Bligh's great-great-great grandson. The project had been led by Timothy John Waters of the Pitcairn Island Study Group and Father Peter Fellows, who quickly raised the £500 for the stone." What we find astonishing is that it apparently took Timothy Waters only one month from conception to erection! He should run project management training courses.
Site: Mydiddee (1 memorial)
SE8, Deptford High Street, St Paul's Churchyard
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
