ROBERT & SUSANNAH MERRIT
The death of newly-wed Robert and Susannah Merrit, the bride's sister, Eliza Tiley, and their two friends Martha Carter and Josiah Derham is recorded on an obelisk in the churchyard of the parish church of St John the Baptist in Devizes.
All five friends went out in a boat on a pond called Drews near the town on the evening of Sunday, June 30th, 1751. A breeze blew up, the boat capsized, and all five were drowned. The people of the town erected the monument to the tragedy by public subscription to mark the final resting place of the five friends and "as a solemn monitor to young people to Remember their Creator in the days of their Youth" - lest the message should be lost, it was put more forcefully by the addition of "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy".
THE MISADVENTURE OF RUTH PIERCE
The Mayor and Corporation of the town chose to "avail themselves of the stability of this building" when presented with a market cross by the Prime Minister Henry Addington "to transmit to future times the record of an awful event which occured in this market place in the year 1753, a salutary warning of improperly invoking divine vengeance or of calling upon the holy name of God to conceal the devices of falsehood and fraud." The town worthies then recorded the circumstances of the death of Ruth Pierce.
Ruth, from Potterne, came to the market on January 25th, 1753. Here she agreed with three other women to purchase a bag of wheat, each agreeing to pay their fair share of the purchase price. When the money was counted and found to be short, one of the women suspected Ruth of the misdemeanour and demanded the missing money from her. Ruth was adamant that she had paid her full share and, not once, but twice declared her wish to be struck dead if she had not. To the consternation of the crowd drawn by the quarrel, Ruth promptly expired in the market place and was found to be clutching the missing money in death.
