Hi Listers, Earlier this month, Mike GOULD, mentioned that 'George GOULD died in Litton in 1857 of "Scrofula" (TB). He was only 24 years old and a shoemaker by trade'. I remembered from my schooldays being taught about a supposed cure for scrofula which was called 'touching for the king's evil'. I've just read that King James II 'touched several for the evil' on his visit to Bristol in August 1686. Source -- Bristol Past and Present Vol III (1882) by J.F. Nicholls and John Taylor A web page about this old custom is here: King’s evil and the royal touch http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/techniques/kingsevil.aspx Josephine