A family in Surrey has kept a bread roll for over 120 years as an heirloom linking them to a relative who was imprisoned over a century ago.
Joseph Harrison was released from Wandsworth Gaol back in 1889 after a short time behind bars. He was locked up after taking part in the country’s anti-compulsory vaccination programme and later failing to pay a fine for not inoculating his daughters against smallpox.
The bread roll in question formed part of his breakfast on the last day of his incarceration. Mr Harrison chose to keep it as a reminder of his prison time and dried and preserved the roll in a paper bag kept in the chimney breast of his home.
Now his 92-year-old grandson, Terry O’Kelly from Abinger in Surrey, has come forward to share his story of one of the world’s oldest pieces of bread. Speaking to the Leatherhead Advertiser, Mr O’Kelly said: “I remember when I was a kid, if other members of the family were coming over, he would get up there and get this brown paper bag out and show it to them.
“He was very proud of it, although he never spoke about his time in prison. All his life he was involved with the anti-vaccination campaign.”
The existence of the bread roll re-emerged when its original owner’s grandson showed the item to Liz Hamilton, the Abinger parish magazine editor who is also the current inhabitant of Mr Harrison’s former home.
Ms Hamilton explained that the bread looks just like “a piece of stale bread from a week or two ago”, adding that it’s hard to believe its true age.