That got a mention on a programme not long back, and the origins are naval, and decidedly macabre.
NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH
Labourer Thomas Gates (a
Crimean War veteran who partook in the famous
Charge of the Light Brigade) found the head of Fanny Adams stuck on two hop poles, while he was tending to the crops. An ear had been severed from the head, which had two large cuts, from mouth to ear across the temple. Further investigation discovered the remains of the child; the head, arms and legs were separated from the
trunk. There were three incisions on the left side of the chest, and a deep cut on the left arm, dividing her muscles. Fanny's forearm was cut off at the elbow joint, and her left leg nearly severed off at the hip joint, with her left foot cut off at the ankle point. Her right leg was torn from the trunk, and the whole contents of her
pelvis and chest were completely removed. Five further incisions had been made on the liver. Her heart had been cut out, and her vagina was missing. Both of her eyes were cut out, and found in the nearby
River Wey. Most of her body parts were collected on that day but an arm, foot, and intestines were not found until the next morning. One foot was still in a shoe, and still clutched in one hand were the two half-pennies that Baker had given to Fanny. The breast bone was never found.
In 1869 new rations of tinned mutton were introduced for British seamen. They were unimpressed by it, and suggested it might be the butchered remains of Fanny Adams. "Fanny Adams" became slang for mediocre mutton,[27] stew, scarce leftovers and then anything worthless. The large tins the mutton was delivered in doubled as mess tins. These or cooking pots are still known as Fannys.
