At the end of the 19th century, 12-year-old Sarah Jacob became a national phenomenon. People from all over Britain travelled by train to Pencader in Carmarthenshire and walked two miles to reach the farm of Llethr-neuadd to see her.
Dressed like a bride in silk as she lay on her bed, with a wreath of flowers on her head, visitors would marvel at the alleged miracle before them. It is said that one visitor remarked: "Her eyes shone like pearls, as alert as my own… She had rosy cheeks and looked like a lilly amongst thorns."
Sarah Jacob was known as the 'Welsh Fasting Girl' and appeared to have not eaten or drunk for nearly two years. At a time when the religion-versus-science debate raged and Darwinism was challenging traditional beliefs, people of the Victorian Age really believed that they were witnessing a miracle through young Sarah and that the 'great doctor' or God would look after her. But her short life came to a sad end.
Read more: The Welsh woman who stole £2m from would-be husbands then faked her own death
Her story, amongst many others that fell under the fasting phenomenon of the time, would inspire Irish-Canadian Emma Donoghue's novel, The Wonder, which has now been turned into a Netflix film of the same name and stars the likes of Florence Pugh and Ciarán Hinds.
Although based in rural Ireland, the novel and film follow the story of a young girl named Anna who is said to have lived for months without food while tourists descend on her village to witness her sensational survival. Evidently, the story of Anna is not too dissimilar to the story of Sarah in Carmarthenshire.
Sarah Jacob was born on May 12, 1857, on Llethr-neuadd farm just outside Llanfihangel-ar-Arth in the county. She was one of seven. Her parents, Evan and Hannah Jacob, held respectable positions in the rural community, with her father having been the deacon at the local chapel.
According to manuscripts obtained by the National Library of Wales, her parents were "kind and good" and that Sarah was "very fond of her parents". She attended a school in Pencader and it is said that she was of "above ordinary intelligence", who spoke good English and was deeply religious.
But at the age of nine in February 1867, Sarah fell ill with convulsions of some type. She suffered seizures before falling unconscious for a month. It is said that the local doctor, Henry Harries Davies, could not diagnose her illness.
Sarah was confined to her bed and by October of that year, she did not eat or drink. Her parents vowed that they would not force her to eat. Defence notes later used in court and obtained by the National Library of Wales concluded that her parents seemed upset about their daughter's illness, and did not seek any publicity regarding her fasting.
The local vicar, Evan Jones, wrote about the fasting in a letter to the newspaper, the Welshman, in February 1868, in which he called on doctors to investigate the case. Her story quickly spread and by the summer of that year, newspapers were full of the miraculous story of a girl who had not eaten or drunk since October 10, 1867.
Visitors would flock to see her and bring her gifts and money. With her case now attracting more and more interest, the vicar and a doctor decided that a watch over Sarah would take place. It would last a fortnight, but while her father Evan Jacob agreed to the watch, the watch did not last both day and night resulting in unclear findings.
Although strangers continued to flock to the farm, and this time in even larger numbers, others suspected fraud. Some believed that her sister was feeding her, passing food from her mouth whenever they kissed. While on the other hand, some believed that Sarah fed herself, climbing out of the bed when the rest of the house was asleep.
Dr Phillips of Guy's Hospital in London decided to organise another watch. This time, six nurses were brought in to mount a 24-hour watch on young Sarah. Her position became untenable - if she had previously been able to slip out of bed at night or embrace her sister, this was now impossible.
The nurses were instructed not to treat or help her, but simply to watch and make notes in their diaries as a way to verify her claims that she didn't eat or drink. If Sarah was to ask for food, they were to give it but otherwise they were to do nothing. The 12-year-old girl did not ask for food and ten days later on December 12, 1869, Sarah died from starvation.
It was rumoured that Queen Victoria had planned to visit the young girl, but was prevented from doing so by her advisers. News of Sarah's death dominated billboards as far as London, with headlines such as 'Read all about it - Welsh Fasting Girl Dies'.
According to the manuscripts obtained by the National Library of Wales, an inquest was held on December 21, 1869. John Phillips, one of two surgeons who performed the post-mortem examination, testified that she died from "exhaustion from lack of food. No food whatever was found in her stomach and no liquid in her bladder... the evidence shows no other cause than the want of food and drink for eight days". Although claims suggest that the autopsy did find food in her stomach.
It was decided to prosecute the adults who had allowed her death, including her parents and the doctors who had supervised surveillance over her, for unlawful killing. Carmarthen magistrates criticised the doctors for their foolish behaviour, but her parents were sent to stand trial for "having feloniously killed and slain one Sarah Jacob". Her parents were found guilty of manslaughter, with Evan Jacob sentenced to a year of hard labour in Swansea jail and his wife Hannah jailed for six months.
In 1873, the eating disorder anorexia nervosa was formally named by Sir William Gull for the first time. The Western Mail's Country and Farming editor, Steve Dube, from Carmarthenshire included a chapter on Sarah's death in his book, This Small Corner.
In the book, Mr Dube wrote: "It is an absolutely tragic story. Sarah was a very religious child who read the Bible. She fell ill with scarlet fever and never recovered. There was a Welsh tradition of leaving money gifts on the bed after visiting a sick person and there was a suggestion that the family was doing it for the money.
"After Sarah died there was uproar in the press of the day, including the Western Mail, who couldn't understand how there was more interest in whether Sarah could survive, than whether she was getting the nutrition she needed.
"Sarah's post-mortem revealed she had traces of food in her stomach, so she could have easily slipped out in the night to eat undetected. Sarah's parents, but not the medical people, were convicted of manslaughter and they were sentenced to hard labour."
If you're worried about your own or someone else’s health, you can contact Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity, 365 days a year on 0808 801 0433 or beateatingdisorders.org.uk
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