Harrison in 1881: the couplet is absent from the earliest records
retrospective response
On: In eighteen hundred and eighty-one
Source quotation · William H. Harrison, Mother Shipton Investigated (London, 1881), chapter V, pp. 42–43, to “by Mr. Charles Hindley.”
The three earliest records in the British Museum Library, in relation to Mother Shipton, agree closely with each other, and none of them contain the lines printed on page 13, in my first Chapter, ending with the too celebrated couplet:—
“The world to an end shall come,
In eighteen hundred and eighty one.”
The lines in question, and the notorious prophecy about the end of the world, were fabricated about twenty years ago, by Mr. Charles Hindley.
Mother Shipton Investigated · William H. Harrison, Mother Shipton Investigated: The Result of Critical Examination in the British Museum Library, of the Literature Relating to the Yorkshire Sibyl (London: W. H. Harrison, 1881). Internet Archive scan mothershiptonin00harrgoog (Google digitization), page images inspected: pp. 42–43, from “The three earliest records” through “by Mr. Charles Hindley.”. The couplet is kept as two printed lines; line-end hyphenation joined; whitespace normalized.
Source reuse and transcription
Nineteenth-century publication, public domain in the United States.
Community response to this revision: 0
Published revision history
2026-10-05T15:53:51+00:00
The three earliest records in the British Museum Library, in relation to Mother Shipton, agree closely with each other, and none of them contain the lines printed on page 13, in my first Chapter, ending with the too celebrated couplet:—
“The world to an end shall come,
In eighteen hundred and eighty one.”
The lines in question, and the notorious prophecy about the end of the world, were fabricated about twenty years ago, by Mr. Charles Hindley.
Notes and Queries reports Charles Hindley’s admission that he fabricated the rhyme
retrospective response
On: Published in 1448, republished in 1641.
Source quotation · Editors of Notes and Queries, “Notices to Correspondents,” 26 April 1873, p. 355, reporting a letter from Charles Hindley of Brighton; complete item.
Mother Shipton’s Prophecies (4th S. x. 450, 502; xi. 60).—Mr. Charles Hindley, of Brighton, in a letter to us, has made a clean breast of having fabricated the Prophecy quoted at page 450 of our last volume, with some ten others included in his reprint of a chap-book version, published in 1862.
Notes and Queries, 26 April 1873 · Notes and Queries, 4th series, vol. XI (London), 26 April 1873, p. 355, “Notices to Correspondents,” the item “Mother Shipton’s Prophecies (4th S. x. 450, 502; xi. 60),” complete. Internet Archive periodical scan sim_notes-and-queries_1873-04-26_11_278, page image inspected. Italics and small capitals rendered plain; whitespace normalized.
Source reuse and transcription
Nineteenth-century publication, public domain in the United States.
Community response to this revision: 0
Published revision history
2026-10-01T14:02:23+00:00
Mother Shipton’s Prophecies (4th S. x. 450, 502; xi. 60).—Mr. Charles Hindley, of Brighton, in a letter to us, has made a clean breast of having fabricated the Prophecy quoted at page 450 of our last volume, with some ten others included in his reprint of a chap-book version, published in 1862.
Zion’s Watch Tower on the 1881 hopes built on the rhyme
interpretation
On: In eighteen hundred and eighty-one.
Source quotation · Unsigned article “The Year 1881,” Zion’s Watch Tower, May 1881, p. 5 (reprint [223]); one paragraph, complete.
“The Second Advent Church” people, and many in other denominations, interested in the Lord’s coming and expecting him in the flesh, have turned their attention to 1881, and feel confident that they will see Jesus with their natural eyes this year. Their hopes are based partly upon an old rhyme called “Mother Shipton’s prophecy,” which concludes thus:
“The world unto an end will come,
In eighteen hundred and eighty-one.”
and partly upon the teachings of “The Great Pyramid” of Egypt, whose “Grand gallery” measures 1881 pyramid inches. This “Grand gallery” is supposed to symbolize the gospel dispensation, and its 1881 inches are supposed to teach that the gospel dispensation will be 1881 years long, and a further reason for belief in 1881, is that so many other people are expecting something. (Not a prophetic period can be claimed, as they are all past.) Now to us, these things seem a poor and weak foundation for the hopes built upon them. Our belief that the Lord is present, is based on the “more sure word of prophecy” to which Peter said, we would do well to take heed.
Zion’s Watch Tower, May 1881 · Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence (Pittsburgh), May 1881, unsigned article “The Year 1881,” issue p. 5 (reprint pagination [223]), one paragraph from “The Second Advent Church” through “we would do well to take heed.” Witness: the Watch Tower Society’s later reprint typesetting, Internet Archive item magazines-zions-watchtower-and-herald-christ-presence-1881, leaf 49, page image inspected. Italics rendered plain; the quoted couplet set as two lines; whitespace normalized.
Source reuse and transcription
Nineteenth-century publication, public domain in the United States. The reprint reproduces the 1881 text.
Community response to this revision: 0
Published revision history
2026-10-01T14:02:23+00:00
“The Second Advent Church” people, and many in other denominations, interested in the Lord’s coming and expecting him in the flesh, have turned their attention to 1881, and feel confident that they will see Jesus with their natural eyes this year. Their hopes are based partly upon an old rhyme called “Mother Shipton’s prophecy,” which concludes thus:
“The world unto an end will come,
In eighteen hundred and eighty-one.”
and partly upon the teachings of “The Great Pyramid” of Egypt, whose “Grand gallery” measures 1881 pyramid inches. This “Grand gallery” is supposed to symbolize the gospel dispensation, and its 1881 inches are supposed to teach that the gospel dispensation will be 1881 years long, and a further reason for belief in 1881, is that so many other people are expecting something. (Not a prophetic period can be claimed, as they are all past.) Now to us, these things seem a poor and weak foundation for the hopes built upon them. Our belief that the Lord is present, is based on the “more sure word of prophecy” to which Peter said, we would do well to take heed.