Grave Of Thomas Port, 12 Yards West Of South Porch Of The Parish Church Of St Mary

The grave of Thomas Port is located 12 yards west of the south porch of the Parish Church of St Mary in Harrow-on-the-Hill. It dates from 1838 and features a slate headstone. The inscription reads: "To the memory of THOMAS PORT Son of John Port of Burton-on-Trent, in the County of Staffordshire, Hat Manufacturer, who near this town had both his legs severed from his body by the railway train, with great fortitude he bore a second amputation by the surgeons and died from loss of blood, August 7 1838 Aged 33 years." The epitaph continues with a poetic tribute: "Bright rose the morn and vig'rous rose poor Port, Gay on the Train he used his wonted sport, Ere noon arrived his mangled form they bore, with pain distorted and o'erwhelmed with gore, when evening came to close the fatal day, a mutilated corpse the sufferer lay."