Sarah Jacob was born on 12^th May 1857 in Llanfihangel ar Arth,near Pencader, Carmarthenshire. One of seven children from a farming family, Sarah’s situation was outwardly unremarkable for the area and time. However, In 1867 she became ill and started to have seizures which caused her to become ‘bed-bound’. During this period she ate very little and by October that year, she appeared to be accepting no food or drink at all.

According to reports, she was attended by a local doctor who, along with her parents, was reluctant to send Sarah to hospital. She was described as ‘a very healthy child, and of remarkably prepossessing appearance, with large dark eyes, dark hair, plump and pinky cheeks, and lips as red as vermillion’. This was in spite of appearing to survive without food for two years. As news of the mystical ‘fasting girl’ spread, visitors came to witness the miracle and Sarah was ‘dressed…up fantastically with trinkets and with trappings, and about her plump white neck a victorine with a wreath for a change, with books and flowers strewn about the coverlet. She talked prettily, read earnestly with a musical voice, and composed poetry with marvellous taste, which she recited to wondering and admiring visitors, to whom it was boldly propounded by the parents that the girl – still a fine, plump, handsome child – had not tasted food for two years, and even went into hysterical fits whenever food was mentioned in her presence. Yet her eyes were bright and sparkling, her pulse healthy and regular, her lips as red as ever, her cheeks wore a pinky hue which women ambitious of perfect facial beauty might envy, and her hair – of which there was a rich profusion – was garnished with ribbons and blossoms, that gave to the melancholy-looking head lying on the white pillow an attractive appearance that won upon the sympathies of her visitors…’

This decoration and fetishisation of a young, starved girl is perhaps an early example of a culture that has continued through the centuries, with reports from the time of pervasive interest and invasive examination.* It was also implied that Sarah’s parents profited from her illness, with visitors having left gifts of money and books at her bedside. She was closely observed by religious and medical men for many months before a group of four nurses from Guy’s Hospital, London were sent to monitor her behaviour in shifts covering 24 hours at a time. From 9^th December 1869,they observed how ‘the child grew weaker and weaker, and yet not a morsel of food, nor a drop of stimulant! The watchers remained remorselessly at their post; and medical men came in and out of the dying girl’s chamber, and spoke calmly and analytically of her “altered appearance,” and of the “heightened pulse,” and of the “flushed face,” and of the “peculiar appearance ” of the little creature’s eyes’.

It seems impossible to imagine how or why parents, villagers and medical professionals were able to watch Sarah slowly starve to death to maintain the illusion of the ‘fasting girl’, yet on 17^th December 1869, after 8 days without food or water, Sarah Jacobs died. A post-mortem revealed that she had been receiving nourishment before the nurses arrived (rumoured to have been passed via her sister when they kissed). Her parents, Evan and Sarah were found guilty of manslaughter at Carmarthen Assizes, while the case against the medics was notably dismissed.**

Sarah Jacob is buried at St. Michael’s Church yard near Pencader, Carmarthenshire.

Ganed Sarah Jacob ar y 12^fed o Fai 1857 yn Llanfihangel-ar-arth, ger Pencader, Sir Gaerfyrddin. Yn un o saith o blant o deulu o amaethwyr, digon cyffredin i bob golwg oedd sefyllfa Sarah yn yr ardal yr adeg honno. Fodd bynnag, yn 1867 aeth yn sâl a dechreuodd gael trawiadau ar y galon a achosodd iddi fod yn ‘gaeth i’w gwely’. Yn ystod y cyfnod hwn ychydig iawn yr oedd yn ei fwyta ac erbyn mis Hydref y flwyddyn honno, roedd yn ymddangos nad oedd hi’n derbyn unrhyw fwyd na diod o gwbl.

Yn ôl adroddiadau, roedd hi dan ofal meddyg lleol oedd, ynghyd â’i rhieni, yn amharod i anfon Sarah i’r ysbyty. Disgrifiwyd hi fel ‘plentyn iach iawn, ac yn edrych yn rhyfeddol o ddeniadol, gyda llygaid mawr tywyll, gwallt tywyll, bochau pinc llawn, a gwefusau mor goch â fermiliwn’. Roedd hyn er gwaethaf ei bod yn ymddangos fel pe bai’n goroesi heb fwyd am ddwy flynedd. Wrth i’r newyddion ledaenu am ryfeddod y ‘ferch oedd yn ymprydio’, daeth ymwelwyr i weld y wyrth, ac roedd Sarah wedi’i ‘gwisgo’n bert gyda thlysau ac addurniadau, ac o gwmpas ei gwar roedd mantell ffwr a thorch am newid, a llyfrau a blodau ar wasgar ar draws cwrlid y gwely. Roedd yn siarad yn synhwyrol, yn darllen yn frwd â llais melodaidd, ac yn cyfansoddi barddoniaeth â chwaeth ryfeddol, a adroddai i’r ymwelwyr oedd yn llawn rhyfeddod ac edmygedd o wrando ar y rhieni bod y ferch – oedd yn dal yn ferch dlws, llond ei chroen, heb fwyta bwyd ers dwy flynedd, a hyd yn oed yn mynd i ffitiau hysterig pryd bynnag y soniwyd am fwyd yn ei gŵydd. Ac eto, roedd ei llygaid yn fywiog ac yn ddisglair, ei phwls yn iach ac yn rheolaidd, ei gwefusau mor goch ag erioed, ei bochau o liw pinc iach fyddai’n ennyn edmygedd menywod oedd yn dyheu am wyneb pert perffaith, ac roedd ei gwallt – oedd yn drwchus ac wedi’i addurno â rhubanau a blodau, yn rhoi gwedd dangnefeddus i’r pen bach yn gorwedd ar y gobennydd gwyn, oedd yn ennyn cydymdeimlad ei hymwelwyr…’.

Efallai bod yr addurno a’r dyrchafu hwn o ferch ifanc, newynog, yn enghraifft gynnar o ddiwylliant sydd wedi parhau drwy’r canrifoedd, gydag adroddiadau o’r cyfnod o ddiddordeb treiddiol ac ymchwilio dwys.* Awgrymwyd hefyd bod rhieni Sarah wedi elwa o’i salwch, gydag ymwelwyr yn gadael anrhegion o arian a llyfrau wrth erchwyn ei gwely. Roedd gwŷr crefyddol a meddygol wedi cadw golwg arni am fisoedd lawer cyn i grŵp o bedair nyrs o Ysbyty Guys yn Llundain gael eu hanfon i fonitro ei hymddygiad mewn sifftiau o 24 awr ar y tro. O’r 9^fed o Ragfyr 1869, roeddent yn dyst i’r modd yr oedd ‘y plentyn yn dihoeni a gwanychu fwy fwy bob dydd, ac eto nid oedd briwsionyn o fwyd, na llymaid o ddŵr wedi mynd heibio’i gwefusau. Parhaodd y gwylwyr yn ddiedifar yn ei gwylio, a daeth dynion meddygol i mewn ac allan o ystafell wely’r ferch oedd yn marw, a siarad yn bwyllog ac yn ddadansoddol am “y newid yn ei gwedd,” ac am y “pwls cyflymach,” ac am yr “wyneb gwridog,” ac am “ymddangosiad rhyfedd” llygaid y greadures fach’.

Mae’n amhosibl dychmygu sut na pham y byddai rhieni, pentrefwyr a gweithwyr proffesiynol meddygol yn gallu gwylio Sarah yn araf lwgu i farwolaeth er mwyn cynnal y rhith o ‘ferch yn ymprydio’, ac eto ar yr 17^eg o Ragfyr 1869, ar ôl 8 diwrnod heb fwyd na dŵr, bu farw Sarah Jacobs. Datgelodd post-mortem ei bod wedi bod yn derbyn maeth cyn i’r nyrsys gyrraedd (a’r si oedd iddi dderbyn bwyd gan ei chwaer pan oeddent yn cusanu). Cafwyd ei rhieni, Evan a Sarah, yn euog o ddynladdiad ym Mrawdlys Caerfyrddin, tra bod yr achos yn erbyn y meddygon, yn rhyfedd ddigon, wedi ei wrthod. **

Mae Sarah Jacob wedi’i chladdu ym mynwent Eglwys Mihangel Sant ger Pencader, Sir Gaerfyrddin.