The body is that of 67-year-old Anna Catharina Bischoff, who was born in 1719 in Strasbourg, France, and died in 1787 in Basel. She is believed to be Johnson’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother, according to researchers who had been testing her body since 2015 and announced their findings on Thursday.
The mummy was buried in the family tomb of Isaak Bischoff, a hospital director in 17th-century Basel, in the city’s Barfüsser church. Its identity had eluded researchers for decades.
Anna Bischoff is believed to have died of mercury poisoning, a common treatment for syphilis in her time. The high concentration of mercury in her body is what preserved it enough for it to be exhumed and studied.
How Anna Catharina Bischoff may have looked.
SRF
The link to Johnson was established after researchers traced Anna Bischoff’s family tree using DNA extracted from her corpse. They discovered she was a descendent of Johann Froben, a printer in Basel at the beginning of the 16th century. Bischoff had seven children, two of whom reached adulthood, and one of her daughters married a baron by the name of Pfeffel von Kriegelstein. That baron is part of a direct line of descendants in Johnson’s family tree.
Referring to the fact that Anna Bischoff is believed to have served as a nurse to syphilis patients, Johnson tweetedExternal link upon learning of the link, “Very excited to hear about my late great grand ‘mummy’ – a pioneer in sexual health care. Very proud.”
The UK Foreign Secretary is related to Anna Bischoff through the lineage of his father, Stanley Johnson, according to the BBC.
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
This content was published on
Around 50 caravans belonging to members of a travelling community attempting to enter canton Valais in southern Switzerland without prior warning were blocked by police.
Swiss consumer spending rises in March despite tariff uncertainties
This content was published on
Global financial turmoil and uncertainties surrounding trade tariffs have not yet had an impact on consumer behaviour in Switzerland, where spending rose strongly in March.
Swiss road safety group warns of e-scooter dangers
This content was published on
Accidents involving electric scooters often result in injuries to the head, face or upper body, the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention BFU warns.
This content was published on
The number of eggs consumed in Switzerland last year smashed the annual record, according to the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG).
This content was published on
Switzerland emitted 40.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents in 2023, 1 million tonnes less than the previous year. Overall, emissions were 26% lower than in 1990.
Swiss soldiers take part in military exercise in Austria
This content was published on
The Swiss army has organised a military exercise in Austria, involving 1,000 militia soldiers. The aim is to strengthen the country's defence capability.
Switzerland records below-average number of avalanche deaths
This content was published on
Ten people died in avalanches in the Swiss Alps last winter, according to the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF). This is below the average for the past 20 years.
This content was published on
The Swiss population is expected to grow to 10.5 million by 2055, mainly due to immigration, according to the latest forecast by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).
WMO climate report: warmest year and record rainfall in Europe in 2024
This content was published on
Europe faced a stark east-west climate divide last year: it was too wet in the west and too dry in the east, according to a new report.
Trump tariffs: 95% of Swiss SMEs don’t plan to move to US
This content was published on
According to a survey, 95% of small and medium-sized industrial companies (SMEs) in Switzerland are not planning to relocate to the United States in the near future.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Basel police archives reveal lives of past city residents
This content was published on
Nazi sympathisers, a brothel owner, a political refugee and an independent young woman – all feature in Basel’s archive of immigration police files.
This content was published on
The Valley of the Kings is like a Holy Grail for Egyptologists. Situated on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor, it is the burial site of many pharaohs and members of royal families or powerful nobles of the Egyptian Empire. It was here, in 1922, that the most famous discovery in the history…
This content was published on
Museums the world over still display archaeological treasures that sometimes are not legally theirs. While governments wrangle over their rightful ownership, looters continue to plunder sites to feed a prospering black-market. Now, an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times is trying to set up “WikiLoot”, a way of crowd-sourcing information on looted antiquities via…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.