Cadaver effigies are difficult to date unless there is clear evidence of the specific person commemorated, which is not the case here. The hairstyle shown is the short, cropped style to the second quarter of the fifteenth century, but no precise date can be given. Most cadavers are individually designed so comparison of one example with another is often of little help. However, there are a small number of examples for which the pose and drawing of the transi bear a strong generic likeness, perhaps suggesting that a single mason or workshop produced them. The key characteristics are the pose with the left arm hanging straight by the body and the right arm holding part of the shroud across the genitals, the cropped hair, the prominence of the ribcage and the V-shaped bones in the neck. The Southwark cadaver bears all these features. The pose as well as the hairstyle is mirrored by cadaver effigies at at Fyfield (Berkshire) to Sir John Golafre (d. 1442) (Fig. 4) and Fulbourne (Cambridgeshire) to rector John Careway (d. 1443) (Fig. 5), as well as two extant and one lost transi  figure, all of which are uncertain of attribution and cannot be firmly dated. The example at Southwark must be from the same era, but for whom it was originally carved will doubtless remain a mystery.

Sally Badham