Bisley Boy

The story of the Bisley Boy became more widely known due to the writings of Bram Stoker, he of Dracula fame. After having heard of the myth, he did some digging and, convinced of its accuracy, dedicated a chapter of his book "Famous Imposters" to "The Bisley Boy."

According to legend, the then-Lady Elizabeth was sent to Overcourt House in Bisley to get away from the plague that was overtaking London. While there, 10-year-old Elizabeth was taken ill. The king, who was passing by, sent word that he would take the opportunity to visit his daughter, but before he could arrive, Lady Elizabeth died of fever. Fearing the wrath of the King, her governess and other servants decided to replace the dead royal daughter with a girl from the local village, but they were unable to find any that shared Elizabeth’s physical appearance. Distraught and terrified of the fiery temper of the King, they decided to use a young boy who had been a playmate of the Lady Elizabeth; he was the right age and similar in colouring and appearance. They dressed him in her clothes, and this is when the deception began. The King, who was just passing through, did not stay long and had not seen his daughter in a while. The plan had worked so well that they decided to keep the ruse up, and the King was none the wiser to the plan.

A little more than three hundred years later, the Reverend Thomas Keble spoke of the remains of a girl’s body in a stone coffin that had been found at Overcourt; he claimed the body was dressed in the remnants of Tudor finery.

Bram Stoker named many reasons why he believed the story had credibility. Some of these were:

· Elizabeth’s secretive nature

· Elizabeth’s refusal to marry

· A change in writing styles between the letters Elizabeth wrote her stepmother, Catherine Parr, before and after the time she spent at Bisley

· Elizabeth’s huge stock of wigs—he theorised they were to cover male baldness

· Elizabeth’s refusal to see other doctors—he cites occasions when she was ill and her doctor was unavailable; she refused to see any other

· The strict instructions left stating that no postmortem should be carried out after her death.

The story was mostly received negatively when Stoker’s book was published, with The New York Times calling it "tommyrot" in its review, but the myth persists today.

Sources:

Famous Imposters, Bram Stoker, P.283

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