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The Search for the Remains of George Vason by Richard Gosling
George Vason (1772-1838), a bricklayer from Nottingham, travelled to the Pacific as part of a scheme promoted by the London Missionary Society to establish missions in Tahiti, Tonga and the Marquesas Islands with the objective of ‘civilising’ the inhabitants. Vason ‘went native’ in Tonga, learning the language, adopting Tongan clothing, marrying a Tongan woman and becoming heavily tattooed. He returned to Nottingham died in 1838 and interred in the Mount Street Burial Ground in Nottingham. The burial ground was cleared in advance of road construction in 1938 and the human remains were reinterred in the General Cemetery. Richard provides a detailed account of how he went about finding the location of Vason’s grave in the Mount Street graveyard (now partially under the Grosvenor Casino on Maid Marian Way!) and the whereabouts of the mass grave in the General Cemetery. It is a fascinating story.
Nottinghamshire is an often unappreciated English county, most unfairly dismissed by that renowned wit and scholar, Jeremy Clarkson, as "a non-county, like Staffordshire - just there to fill the gaps." The Nottinghamshire History website attempts to counter ignorance like this by making accessible a wide range of books and articles reflecting the rich and fascinating history of this part of the midlands.
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