HOLY SOIL, TEIGNMOUTH, 1843.

A letter to the Editor of The Western Times  of 16th December 1843 from F. Rice,  the Independent minister at Teignmouth,  described how the Rev. Walter Brunt, the curate at West Teignmouth and an ardent disciple of the Tractarian school of theology, tried to forbid him, F Rice, from walking across the Anglican churchyard:  

"Until within the last few years there was a public foot path through West Teignmouth churchyard, which, for convenience sake, some of the Independent dissenters availed themselves of to go to their chapel on Sundays; and since the public path was stopped, they have, till now, continued to go through the yard without hindrance, when the gates were open.

"In common with others, I did the same, unmolested, till the 15th inst. but on the morning of that day the curate saw me pass through the yard, and enquired who I was, and was told the Independent Minister.

"In the afternoon a message was brought me from the sexton to this effect - that the parson had ordered him to prevent me from going through the yard any more!! the pretext for this being that the ground is consecrated!!

Probably, sir, it may be necessary to re-consecrate the holy soil, or if not, to perform  some ceremony in order to remove the pollution which it has received from the heretical feet of the teacher of a 'conventicle.' 

How devoutly is it to be wished that this intolerant priest would pause awhile when he next reads the following petition in the liturgy - From all uncharitableness,  Good Lord deliver us.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

F. RICE."  

The next Sunday when F. Rice crossed the churchyard again, the curate came out,  he must have been watching for him, and followed him into the street.  The priest argued that the minister was a trespasser.  F. Rice felt he needed to write an account of their meeting to The Times again.  These petty squabbles were hardly edifying!

The Puseyite, Rev. Walter Brunt MA,  lasted less than another year in Teignmouth.  He became the curate at Helston where, in November 1844, he became famous for fifteen minutes when the complaints of his Cornish parishioners and the consequences thereof hit the national press.

I think and hope that a 'holy soil' story like this could not be credited today.  It is surely progress much to be applauded that much of the silliness, as it seems now to the vast majority of citizens, of the Victorian Christian churches, orthodox or dissenting, has disappeared like the snows of yesteryear and it was a tough struggle for freedom of thought which should be remembered and taught in our schools with many a hero fighting against gammon and Bible tyranny.

Our leaders are cowards. There is still a lot of gammon about!  Islam in particular  gammons a lot of people.  It is a faith that is tyrannical and threatens all of us.  It prescribes all our our liberties and our leaders choose not to speak of it.  They do not speak out for the largely secular society that they represent and that wants none of the nonsense.  They are too fearful to act against the sillinesses, injustices and worse that Islam and perhaps other religions imply even though they recognise them.

PRIZE FIGHTING, EXETER, 1843.

 "We regret to see the brutal practice of prize fighting resorted to in this city, by the following statement of the contest between Mr. Long Cornish and Mr. Whiteway.

(From a correspondent.)

"The fancy of the neighbourhood have for the last week been on the qui vive, in consequence of a rumour that an affair was to come off between Long Cornish, a slaughterman, and the champion of the Butcher-row, and a man named Whiteway, who next to St. Crispin has been regarded as the patron saint and champion of the snobs.

"The origin of the fight appears to have been a squabble among the principals at the late wrestling match at the Mount Radford Inn, when Cornish being under the influence of Sir John Barleycorn,  Whiteway gave him a thrashing; but Mr. Long Cornish being a glutton in these things, the friends of both men endeavoured to get up an affair for ten pounds aside,  which it was stated was the amount for which they were to contend.  The thing was kept as snug as possible, in order to prevent the interference of the beaks, and on Sunday it was rumoured that those who were at Countess Wear Bridge, on Monday morning at ten o'clock, would be near the scene of action.

"The road from Exeter to Countess Wear Bridge was crowded, not only by pedestrians, but by almost every description of vehicle.  At the time appointed, both men arrived, Cornish and his friends in two flys; Whiteway and his friends came on foot.  About half past ten the ring was formed, in a marsh adjoining the bridge, and it was computed that there were not less than two thousand persons present.

"Whiteway was the first to enter the ring, he appeared in excellent spirits - but had too much flesh, his age too was against him, he being 47, and Cornish only 35 - but notwithstanding he was the favourite.  Cornish shortly after entered, attended by Tom Lane as second,  Jem Evans as bottle-holder.  Whiteway was seconded by Shapley.

"At a quarter to eleven, both men being ready, Whiteway addressed the spectators by saying 'that as it was to be a fair stand up fight, he hoped that no one would interfere, and that if either man went down without a blow,  the other should be at liberty to jump upon him.'  The company seemed pleased with this arrangement from the cheering with which it was received.

"The men then set to, and as soon as Whiteway came within reach, Cornish (who is left handed) hit him a most tremendous blow on the right cheek and he went down as if he had been shot.  He recovered and came again to the scratch to be served the same in the next round.  Twelve rounds were fought, in every one of which Whiteway was regularly knocked down by Cornish;  there was no wrestling or attempt at anything of the kind.  It was a regular give and take affair.

"After the second round it was evident that Whiteway had no chance; on two occasions when Cornish laid himself open, his opponent neglected to take advantage of it.  On time being called after the twelfth round, Whiteway's second gave in for him, and Cornish was declared the victor.

"The fight lasted about a quarter of an hour, and the work that was done in the time amply made up fot the short space that it occupied.  The knowing ones appeared to be taken in by the result."

Countess Wear would seem to have been a popular location for such events. 

This account is written in true Pierce Egan 'Boxiana' style  (he was still alive.  He died in 1849) with some  lovely cant words;  the fancy, snug, beaks, bottle-holder. 

A snob was universally understood to mean a shoemaker ( St. Crispin was a shoemaker.) and nothing else.

John Barleycorn, here created a Baron, was and remains, as every schoolboy and girl knows,  the personification of whisky and beer.

Source: The Western Times,  16th September 1843.

A BOY IN A BAG, EXETER, 1843.

 "A man has been observed on the streets, soliciting charity, with a bag on his back, from the mouth of which protruded a human head.  

"On Friday evening he was taken to the station house by one of the police, who found the bag to contain a young man about 18, crippled in both his legs and arms, whom he carried about to excite compassion.

"On being taken before the magistrates he was ordered to make himself scarce."

Which is all we are told by The Western Times  (9th September 1843)  of this horror story from mid-Victorian Exeter. 

This young man recalled to me the heart-rending, Ozymandias-reciting character, Harrison, played by Harry Melling in the Coen Brothers' Buster Scruggs.

It is amazing how little compassion the Exeter magistrates found for this wandering mendicant and the crippled teenager in his bag whom I suspect they saw as being less than human.   The man seeking charity was presumably told to pick up his bag and walk out of town.   The magistrates would no doubt have argued that they were only carrying out a prime duty, (neglected now?) to keep undesirable strangers from the streets of Exeter.

    

A CHASE IN A SULKY, EXETER ST. THOMAS, 1843.

"There was considerable consternation in St. Thomas parish, on Saturday, in consequence of one Mr. Salter, an omnibus proprietor, having been suddenly seized with a desire to emigrate.  The desire came upon him with all the force of monomania.

"He packed up his traps suddenly; he departed hastily, forgetting that there are some civil obligations which he ought to have discharged, one of which was the rent to his landlord, Mr. Nicholas Tuckett.

"Many other persons professed to have reminiscences of his abode in the district, in his patronage of their ledgers; but no one thought of arresting the progress of the infatuated man, and bringing him to the cloth, as it is called, before he might have enrolled himself as a citizen of the repudiating republic on the other side of the broad Atlantic.

"But it must be a sharp mad-man, or a brisk rogue, that can out-run Mr. Nicholas Tuckett;  he determined to see the mad-man before he got on board, to see if medical aid would reduce the symptoms of monomania, & leave him to reflect a little before he  took the rash step of bolting from his country with the goods of his neighbours.

"Mr Tuckett made for Ilfracombe as fast as a fleet horse and a light sulky would take him. On arrival he found there was a ship ready to depart for America.  He planted himself between that ship and the town.  The infatuation of the intending emigrant was , however, extreme; and as persons labouring under monomania exhibit a great deal of cunning, he had sent a scout forward to see if any of his anxious friends might be waiting to dissuade him from the precipitate step he was about to take.

"The scout reported that Mr. Nicholas Tuckett stood in the way.   Three several dodges were made by the monomaniac to get past, but to no purpose, and in one he was intercepted with a whole cartload of goods, and Mr. Nicholas Tuckett, by the summary jurisdiction which he assumed to have, did get out of him the whole amount of his rent due, returning to him on some principal which we do not comprehend, £5 as a testimony, it is to be presumed, of his gratitude to him for having been caught."  

This, typically verbose, Western Times' (1st September,1843) report of a citizen, the owner  of an omnibus!,  packing up his traps (trappings) jumping on a ship bound from Ilfracombe to The States and leaving his debts behind him, records a form of action which must have been very tempting to many in Victorian Exeter.  The decision to make a new life in what was still a very young world must have been exhilirating.   Of course a man could get to Australasia by simply killing a sheep but that was less fun.  I find myself taking sides again and wishing the brisk rogue, Mr. Salter, all good fortune in his new life.

Sulkies are called sulky because they are driven by sulky persons who do not wish to oblige their fellow men by finding them a seat.  There were, apparently, French carriages, v. Lawrence Sterne, called désobligeants on the same line of thought.  Sulkies were/are super fast!  

   

THE TERMINUS, EXETER, 1843

 In August,1843 the contract had been signed and sealed for the building of the terminus of the Bristol and West Railway and work had begun at the Red Cow to build what would eventually become St. David's station.  The Western Times of 28th August foretold the future:

"With regard to the undertaking itself, the citizens of Exeter will not, we feel assured, offer any useless or uncalled for opposition to it.  Railroads must sooner or later traverse the entire length of the island - "the tight little island" -  and the favoured spots at which the Termini must eventually be fixed are the limits of the land.  We have formed an exaggerated estimate of the benefit of having the terminus permanently here, as no doubt the Plymouth people do at the prosepect of seeing it there. 

"But neither at Exeter nor Plymouth is the railroad likely to terminate.  It must go to the far west; and some of us may yet live to see the day when the denizens of Land's End may book themselves at Mr. Botheras's - that was the name of the honest gentlleman who kept the hostelry whose sign is the Last and the First, when we visited the Land's End this time two years - and arrive in London the same day."

Thomas Dibdin, who had died young two years before, wrote "The Tight Little Island" of which the opening stanza:

"Daddy Neptune one day to Freedom did say/'If ever I live upon land,/The spot I should hit on would be little Britain.'/ Says Freedom, 'Why that's my own Island.'/  Oh! what a snug little Island,/  A right little, tight little Island!/ All the globe round, none can be found/ So happy as this little Island.

"This time two years,  for  This time two years ago, is neat.

NORTHERNHAY, A WINTER WONDERLAND, EXETER, 2024

Today the Northernhay Gardens are a winter wonderland with a light snowfall making all things in the Gardens magic.  But, thanks to Exeter City Council, none may enjoy the glory.  The Gardens are bought and sold.  The Gardens are a construction site.  Not even wearing a hard hat may the citizen or visitor or Exeter collegian enjoy the Gardens in the snow.

Never mind, coming soon is a tatty funfair turning all to slush and mud! 

A JOLLIFICATION, EXETER ST. THOMAS, 1843.

 The Western Times of 19th August ,1834, reported:

"The children of St. Thomas' Sunday and Parochial Schools had a jollification on Wednesday, the funds for which were provided by the orthodox in the parish, and dispensed under the superintendance of the Rev, Vicar Medley, who was at one time considered to be a great Puseyite, and may be so still if he have not gone further and set up a popery of his own.

"The children walked to church in procession, preceded by sundry flags, some of which had been worked by lunatics, or at least were had from the Lunatic Asylum.  Some of the flags bore devices; others were plain Union Jacks.  The first flag had a red cross, on a white ground, for its device, the cross being to typify the persecutions in which Mother Church is now placed.  Another flag bore the motto, "Feed my lambs."  Another bore the facsimile of Bishop Phillpott's mitre when his head is not in it.  The  prayers were read to the children at the church; then a portion of the scriptures; and they sang a hymn and separated.

"Having dined as they best might, the children re-assembled, each being provided with a goodly half-cup.  Being furnished with their pitchers, like Gideon's army, they formed into procession and now were lead round the main streets of the parish.  On arriving at the Anchor, they saluted the worthy host with three cheers as a censure on Father Matthew, & straitway went to Franklins, the residence of Thos. Snow, Esq., banker, where they were regaled with tea and cake, there being no stint; and the church bells ringing merrily while they were thus occupied.

"They then had a game of prisoner's base, the rev. gentleman taking one side, and the 'Squire of Franklins the other.  The 'Squire proved a better runner than the Parson, owing perhaps to the military training which he gets once a year, as Captain in the East Devon Invincibles; and as for the rev. gentleman, it did so happen that he was taken prisoner in the course of the game by one of the devils engaged in the Western Times office. We mention this fact strictly in confidence, because the youngster only confessed it in fear and apprehension that he should be turned out of his parson's school if it were known that he had published it.

"The sports concluded with the singing of the following ballad, which was written expressly to instil into the minds of children the disinterested love and affection which the church has always displayed towards them:-

"A BALLAD FOR THE PEOPLE.

"The good old Church of England,/Of our dear Father-land,/With her twenty thousand Churches,/How nobly does she stand!/She is not like a flower,/That lives but for a day,/Twelve hundred years, through smiles and tears,/She hath lasted on alway.

"The brave old Church of England,/She hath conquered many a foe,/She had Martyrs to her children,/A thousand years ago./She hath Princes more than I can tell,/Who by her side have stood/Like King Charles the blessed Martyr, and old King George the good.

"God bless the Church of England,/ The poor man's Church is she/We were nourished at her bosom,/We were fondled at he knee./ God bless the Church of England,/The good, the true, the brave,/She baptized us in our cradle,/She shall bear us to our grave.

"We ought to have said that cheers were duly given for the parson and squire. Many of the half pints we regret to say were broken."

Franklyn House is now an NHS hospital.  Thomas Snow, banker and wine merchant, lived on there until his death in 1875 but seems to have left little trace in St. Thomas.  He would have been a young man (27) in 1843.  

The verses have some great lines.  My favourite is: She hath lasted on alway.

I have many times played Prisoner's Base, some 75 years ago, in the gardens of Brucklay House, Liverpool.  I wonder if it is still played.

 It must be the East Devon Militia that is meant by the East Devon Invincibles?

I don't think the Church of England can even now claim to have had martyrs 1000 years ago but then, we are told, the Rev. Matthew Medley (I''m sure he penned the verses) may have set up a popery of his own.

Query: Which King George?

N.B: lead for led?  

Good to see the apostrophe in 'Squire! 

In the next edition of The Times appeared a parody of the St. Thomas Schools' Ballad composed by ONE OF THE PEOPLE. 

"The good old Church of England,/ Of our dear Father-land,/ With her rwenty thousand parsons,/ Impoverishing the land." 

And a further eight lamentable stanzas.