The Passing Bell
The Passing Bell was so named from being tolled when any one was passing from life. Hence it was sometimes called the Soul Bell, and was rung that those who heard it might pray for the person dying, and who was not yet dead. We have a remarkable mention of the practice in the narrative of the last moments of the Lady Katherine Grey (sister of Lady Jane Grey), who died a prisoner in the Tower of London, in 1567. Sir Owen Hopton, constable of the tower, “perceiving her to draw toward her end, said to Mr. Bockeham, ‘Were it not best to send to the church, that the bell may be rung?’ and she herself, hearing him, said: ‘Good Sir Owen, be it so;’ and almost immediately died.”—Ellis’s Original Letters.