Whats the origins of the saying Lincolnshire yellow belly?
Why are folks from Lincolnshire called Yellow Bellies? Here are a list of possibilities, but no one seems to know for sure… The name came from the custom of Lincolnshire people hanging “belly” bacon for so long that it turned yellow. People living in the fens often caught malaria or ague from stagnant water, which turned their skin yellow. Opium taken to relieve malaria and other disorders also turned people’s skin yellow. Wildfowlers (not flowers!) became covered in yellow clay of the fens as they stalked their prey. A Lincolnshire farmer with an ugly 28-stone daughter offered would-be husbands a dowry of as many gold coins as it would take to cover her belly. The fenland administrative Warpentake of Elloe was called in bygone times “Ye Elloe Bellie” as bel was German for low-lying. This was often corrupted into “Yellow Belly”. Drivers of the Lincoln-to-London stage coaches wore yellow waistcoats and were nicknamed Yellow Bellies by London Cockneys. Legend had it that if shillings w
