Note 157 — A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY
Reading edition
Dr. John Gardner, a well-known character, erected his tomb in the churchyard of St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch, some years before his death, and inscribed it:
Dr. John Gardner’s Last and Best Bedroom,
but finding that he was assumed to be already dead, and that his practice as a worm-doctor in Norton Folgate was declining, he interpolated the word “intended” thus:
Dr. John Gardner’s Intended Last and Best Bedroom.
A correspondent of Notes and Queries, Aug. 25, 1860, wrote: “I remember him well; a stout, burly man with a flaxen wig: he rode daily into London on a large roan-coloured horse.” It was said that he was buried in an erect position by his own wish. Gardner’s tombstone is still carefully preserved, and is a curiosity of the Hackney Road, whence the inscription can be read through the churchyard railings. It now runs:
1807 Dr. John Gardner’s Last and best Bedroom Who departed this life the 8th Of April, 1835, in his 84th year. Also are here Interred two of His Sons and Two of His Granddaughters.