This month the Panacea Museum in Newnham Road in Bedford, celebrates the arrival of a very important artefact; a fine Regency cradle which came to Bedford in 1924.
On May 15, 1924 The Panacea Society took possession of the cradle, which was made in 1814 at a cost of £200. This sum (about £10,000 today) was provided by supporters of Joanna Southcott for her unborn baby, who they believed would be the new Messiah.
The Panacea Society followed the teachings of Joanna Southcott, 1750-1814, who was considered a Modern Prophet by her supporters. Southcott began receiving visions and voices from God around 1797 and acquired over 100,000 followers. She was from Devon, later moving to London as her prophecies became more well-known.
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Early in 1814 Joanna announced she was pregnant with the child Shiloh, a promised messiah mentioned in the Bible. She was examined by several doctors who confirmed the pregnancy. Southcott’s followers collected funds for a cradle and infant clothes, believing the child would be born on Christmas Day. No baby arrived, and two days later she died. Her followers kept her body warm for three days before acknowledging her death; an autopsy found no baby. Southcott is buried in St John’s Wood cemetery in London.
Southcott’s followers came to believe the child had been born in spirit form. Later, members of the Panacea Society came to believe that this spirit was within their leader Mabel Barltrop.
The cradle is made of satin-wood with gilded detailing, made by Seddons of Aldersgate Street, London. The inside is lined with blue silk and the sheets and coverlets have gold and silver embroidery and fringing. There is a mechanism that allows the cradle to rock within a square frame. The canopy is decorated inside with a pattern of morning and evening stars and on the top is a golden dove holding an olive branch. Beneath the canopy can be seen an embroidered crown, and the letters for ‘Shiloh’ in Hebrew.
In 1860 the cradle was in the possession of a Mr W. A. Howes, who donated it to the Royal Salford Museum. In 1924, the Panacea Society received the cradle on permanent loan. Southcott’s teachings were central to the beliefs of the Panacea Society. They sought out relics from Southcott to keep at their headquarters in Bedford, including the cradle and baby clothes, her headstone and her Box of Sealed Prophecies.
The Panacea Charitable Trust displays the cradle in the Panacea Museum, where it remains on loan from Salford Museum & Art Gallery.
MAY’S E-EDITIONS
Beds Bulletin Borough edition May 2024
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Beds Bulletin County edition May 2024
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Kempston Calling May 2024
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