Sarah Jacob (1857–69)

From a tenant-farming family in Carmarthenshire; known as the "Welsh fasting girl". Fell ill with an undiagnosed condition in 1867; in 1869 was reported to have refused all food and drink for sixteen months. The case was debated in the popular press and medical journals. An inquest concluded that she died of starvation following a period of close scrutiny from external observers, and that she had previously been secretly eating; her parents were convicted of manslaughter and accused of mounting a fraudulent deception.