300-year-old love message written with hair on display at Museum of London

CAIRO – 17 February 2022: A report published by the Daily Mail website revealed that a 300-year-old sheet embroidered with a love letter written in human hair, possibly taken from a severed head, will be displayed in the Museum of London in central Britain, where Anna Maria Radcliffe decorated the sheet in memory of her husband James, who was beheaded for treason in year 1716.

Third Earl Derwentwater and grandson of Charles II was 26 years old when he was executed for his participation in the first Jacobite Rebellion, a story immortalized in Sir Walter Scott's 1817 novel, Rob Roy.

The bed sheet was decorated with roses, leaves and a large heart-shaped garland. "Dear Lord's bed sheet in the Tower of London, February 1716" was written on the bedsheet, according to the British Daily Mail website.

Experts believe that the hair Anna used could have come from her or her husband, or that the tufts of hair could be a combination of the two. She was allowed to take charge of her husband's corpse, including his severed head, after his execution on February 24, 1716, giving her the opportunity to cut his locks as a souvenir.

Beverly Cook, curator of London Museums, said, "This embroidered bed sheet is such an unusual item that it would have taken months or years to create. This artifact speaks to Anna's care and devotion and her wonderful personality and determination to protect the memory of her husband long after his death."

"It is just one of the many personal stories in the exhibition that reveal the impact of public executions on the lives of Londoners over the centuries - A city that witnessed the brutal deaths of so many ordinary Londoners to some of the most famous causes in history," Cook concluded.