# Tibbie Tamson

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{{Short description|British folklore}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
thumb|300px|Tibbie Tamson's grave on Foulshiels Hill, near Philiphaugh
 
'''Isabella Thomson'''<ref name=bm>''The Border Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly'', Volume 13 (1908), 178</ref>  (d.1790), usually known by the dialect form of her name '''Tibbie Tamson''', was a [Scottish](/source/Scotland) woman who lived in the royal burgh of [Selkirk](/source/Selkirk%2C_Scottish_Borders) in the [Scottish Borders](/source/Scottish_Borders) during the 18th century. Her isolated grave is a notable landmark, located on a hillside approximately 1.5 miles north of Selkirk at {{gbmapping|NT436296}}.<ref name=canmore>[https://canmore.org.uk/event/713939 Tibby Tamsons Grave], Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland</ref>

== Death and burial==
Few facts are known about Thomson's life. There is a local tradition that Thomson, who lived in the Kirk Wynd in Selkirk, was a poor woman of weak intellect<ref name=bm/> who was treated with contempt in the town.<ref>[https://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/gutenberg.org/4/7/8/0/47800/47800-8.txt "...the victim of religious despair...in a pious frenzy she took her own life..."], 1913, "Highways and Byways in The Border Illustrated", Andrew Lang & John Lang</ref> She is said to have been accused of stealing a length of yarn,<ref name=Hogg/> and was summoned to the [sheriff court](/source/sheriff_court) to face trial for the crime of petty theft. She took her own life and in common with others judged to have committed the crime of ''[Felo de se](/source/Felo_de_se)'' her corpse was given to the burgh constable to be buried in unconsecrated ground.<ref name=Hogg>Garside, P.D. (editor). In {{cite book|last=Hogg|first=James|authorlink=James Hogg|title=The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner|orig-date=1824|year=2002|publisher=[Edinburgh University Press](/source/Edinburgh_University_Press)|isbn=978-0-7486-6315-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0PYlm9IOXycC&pg=PA252 |accessdate=12 May 2013|at=Note 171(a)}}</ref> At this period in Scotland as in [England](/source/England), suicides were often given a 'profane' burial unless family or friends were able to arrange interment secretly.<ref name=houston211>Contrary to popular belief, in both countries 'profane' burial was not actually specified by law, which only specified forfeiture of a suicide's property, but was often carried out as a matter of custom. See Houston, R. (2010). ''Punishing the Dead?: Suicide, Lordship, and Community in Britain, 1500-1830'', Oxford UP, p.211</ref>  Accordingly she was placed in a pauper's coffin of [deal](/source/Scots_pine), which was dragged out of the town while her neighbours threw stones and insults,<ref name=Hogg/> and was buried on Foulshiels Hill at the point where the Selkirk commonlands joined the estates of Bowhill and Philiphaugh.<ref name=canmore/> This practice of the burial of those guilty of ''Felo de se'' at the meeting of parish or estate boundaries was found elsewhere in rural Scotland, with a well-known fictional example in [James Hogg](/source/James_Hogg)'s ''[Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner](/source/The_Private_Memoirs_and_Confessions_of_a_Justified_Sinner)'' (1823). Amongst other points, burial within boundary areas negated the issue of a community having to get permission from a landowner.<ref name=houston218>Houston (2010) p.218</ref>

thumb|left|Remains of inscription: "I THOMSON / FS 1790"

At some point after 1790 a rough stone was placed on the grave with "''I H / I THOMSON / FS 1790''"<ref name=canmore/> or "''H.L. I.T. F.S. 1790''" carved on it ("Here lies Isabella Thomson for suicide [or 'Felo de se'] 1790").<ref name=bm/> Thomas Craig-Brown, in his two-volume ''History of Selkirkshire'' (1886), stated that the stone had been placed there by Michael Stewart, a [dyker](/source/Dry_stone) in the service of the [Duke of Buccleuch](/source/Duke_of_Buccleuch), who "reopened the grave that he might repair the indecent haste shown at her burial. In the woman's pocket he found one penny and one farthing."<ref name=brown>Craig-Brown, T. (1886) ''History of Selkirkshire'', v II, 174-175</ref>

The 19th century essayist [John Brown](/source/John_Brown_(physician%2C_born_1810)) said that the "grave [was] known and feared the country round",<ref name=brown109>Brown (1871) "Minchmoor" in ''Spare Hours'', p.109</ref> while in more recent times it has been described as "a memorial to the worst excesses of small-town unkindness".<ref name=omand227>Omand, D. (1995) ''The Borders Book'', Birlinn, p.227</ref> Each year as part of their traditional [perambulation](/source/Beating_the_bounds) of Selkirk's commons, members of the Selkirk [Common Riding](/source/Common_Riding) Organisation pass by the place and in modern times place a wreath at the grave in remembrance of her.<ref>[http://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/news/local-headlines/framed-in-time-1-221220 "Framed in Time"], 14 October 2010, thesouthernreporter.co.uk</ref>

==See also==

*[Jay's Grave](/source/Jay's_Grave), an example of "ignominious" burial from [England](/source/England)

==References==

{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamson, Tibbie}}
Category:History of the Scottish Borders
Category:People from Selkirk, Scottish Borders
Category:18th-century Scottish people
Category:1790 deaths
Category:Year of birth unknown

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tibbie Tamson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibbie_Tamson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibbie_Tamson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.