NOW FOR GALLANT MILITIAMEN! DAWLISH, 1874

Now for a tale of gallant militiamen!  In June 1874 about 750 Volunteers of the First Devon Militia gathered at Dawlish   The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette of 5th June reported their arrival:

"It would be difficult to find a more pleasant or appropriate spot for an encampment than that which has been selected for the First Devon Militia at Gatehouse near Dawlish.   The men, - those who found their way to the depôt at the appointed time, - arrived at the camp about a quarter to ten o'clock on Monday night.  Everything had been arranged for their reception, and it was lucky that this was so, because the march from Exeter, coupled with a long walk previously had told upon a  considerable number of them.  We heard of an instance, in which a man walked all the way from Barnstaple,  and of others in which men had tramped from Sidmouth previous to the march to the camp, and if this be true we do not wonder at their having been 'done up' on reaching the latter place. However, with a few exceptions, the men seemed nothing the worse for the journey on Monday and none of them, we believe, were incapacitated from joining in next morning's parade."

The effort these Volunteers made shows considerable 'guts and determination'.   Barnstaple to Dawlish must be about 50 OR 60 miles.  Sidmouth to Exeter and then to Dawlish is all of 30.   Think of those hours of  marching carrying kit and wearing ammunition boots!   Like our Reservists today, these were, largely unsung, the gallant defenders of our nation doing their bit for the security of the kngdom.      

SIDMOUTH TO EXETER AND BACK, CROSS COUNTRY, 1805

From The Exeter Flying Post, Thursday 10th October 1805:

"Monday last Thomas Pinn, a carpenter of Sidmouth,  engaged for a wager of five guineas, to run from that place, to the castle yard, in Exeter, in five hours, a distance of 32 miles, over hilly country;  he started precisely at six o' clock in the morning, and arrived at the castle gate, in this city, ten minutes before eight, performing the first 16 miles in one hour and fifty minutes and returned again to Sidmouth, three quarters of an hour within the time allowed; a number of bets were depending on the event."

Hardly a record by today's standard! (two-hour marathons and all that!)  but what a triumph it surely was for young (?) Tom Pinn - and what a glorious run that must have been,  in the month of Trafalgar too, along the coast and over the commons, Sidmouth to Exeter and back again and five golden guineas - no problem!

NOT HELPING THE POLICE, EXETER, 1845

Towards midnight on Wednesday 11th June, 1845,  a policeman, James Beer, was on duty in Exeter.   He found two men fighting in Coombe Street, and he took them in charge.  One of these was a soldier;   both the combatants were roaring drunk.  James Beer sent another policeman off with the civilian and he followed with the other, the soldier.  They were on their way to the police station house.  Half way along South Street the soldier lay down on the ground, kicked out violently with his spurs and refused to go any further.  A crowd of fifty or sixty gathered and instead of aiding the police it interfered with them. The police were called murdering rogues and blackguard rascals by the people.

The following Saturday two of the crowd, Thomas Raddon and William Soper, were brought before the Justices  at the Exeter Guildhall  charged with interfering with and not rendering that assistance which all persons are bound to do, on being called on for that purpose by the police. The defence claimed that the watch (police) conducted themselves improperly and used more violence towards, and treated their prisoner in a way they were not justified in doing.      Raddon and Soper, however, were found guilty and fined.

It seems that, in Exeter in 1845, it was considered a chargeable offence for a citizen not to have helped the police in the execution of their duties.  Not such a bad idea perhaps?! 

Source:  The Exeter Flying Post, 19th June, 1845      

NORTHERNHAY, EXETER, 1845,

From,  The Exeter Flying Post, 3rd April 1845:

"We notice , with much pleasure, that the Improvement of Northernhay has been commenced in good earnest, and that the most active endeavours are making to render this beautiful Walk one of the principal ornaments and attractions of our City.  There are few places which can boast of a more admirable locality for healthy recreation than Northernhay affords to the Inhabitants of Exeter, and we wonder that it should have been so long neglected.  As a Promenade it will be peculiarly interesting, not only to our Fellow Citizens, but to the many Strangers who delight to pay "Semper Fidelis" a visit in the Summer Season.   The lofty Trees, whose umbrageous foliage adds a charm to the spot, form a prominent scene in every view of the Metropolis of the West, and the passing Traveller admires the interest thus imparted to the scene.   Nor must it be forgotten that Northernhay is associated with thoughts of the "Olden Time" - those Castle Walls which there look down upon us are the mute records of former ages - the memorials of days long past - the silent emblems which remind us of gallant and noble Ancestors, whose names and brilliant deeds are imperishably written in the Annals of Old England.  We are sure it must be gratifying to all to find that such a spot will now be effectually rescued from that neglect which has so long been manifested  towards it."

Neglect?  It is  May, 2021 and the unpainted iron gates,  the blocked access, especially the access to Rougemont Gardens, the disused, locked-away, decaying bandstand, the ugly steel fencing, the tatty notices on the notice boards, (why notice-boards in a park?) the grafitti on the castle walls, on the benches and elsewhere, the pointless steel gates blocking Athelstan's tower  the many sensible regulations that nobody enforces, et cetera, might suggest that it is time the City Council thought hard and did something to  sort out and smarten up the Gardens before the many Strangers who delight to pay "Semper Fidelis"  a visit in the Summer Season are with us again.

AN EXETER INDIVIDUALIST, 1855.

Henry Hill was a watchmaker and, according to the Flying Post, was a walking public nuisance.  He had been up before the magistrates at Exeter Guildhall many times for indecent behaviour, causing annoyance to householders and for assault.   "The idiosyncracies which he was proved to have exhibited at intervals at times were,"  according to the newspaper, "of the most ludicrous, and at times unseemly, description and such as hardly any mortal in his sober senses could possibly be guilty of.   One of his more harmless escapades was that of dressing himself in a woman's shawl, straw hat, and freemmason's apron, and in such grotesque attire making public appearance in the streets, going from public-house to public-house, at once the butt and clown of a multitude of boys and idlers who were not loath to follow in his wake.  Another development of his eccentricities  exhausted itself in the smashing of his bedroom windows;  and a third in conduct of an indescribably filthy character."

In July 1855 the magistrates sentenced Henry Hill to prison with hard labour for a month, a tough sentence perhaps, although we are not told what was the nature of his indescribably filthy conduct.  They also required of him "sufficient sureties that he would keep the peace for the space of six months.   They feared he was irresponsible for much of his conduct, and hoped that something would be done towards the effectual prevention of further annoyance to the public." 

I have a fond image of poor Henry Hill passing along the city streets with his shawl, his straw hat and his freemason's apron  (nothing else?)  like a kind of cross-dressed, Exonian Pied Piper followed by that multitude of boys and idlers.  It all sounds rather jolly but it didn't pay to defy the conventions in early Victorian Exeter.

Source:The Exeter Flying Post, 19th July, 1855.

IN THE STOCKS, EXETER , 1830.

In 1830 people were still being punished by being locked in the stocks in front of Exeter's Guildhall.   

It is impressive that the reporter of the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette news-item, below, seems to have assumed that his readers would be able to recognise a reference to Samuel Butler's Hudibras, and to the enchanted castle (the stocks) famously illustrated by Hogarth.   The paper of Saturday 2nd January describes how:

"An irregular called Wingfield, having only one arm, for the loss of which he receives a pension from which he derives his support, was on Saturday placed in Hudibras's enchanted castle, in front of the Guildhall, in default of payment of a fine for drunkenness, which had been attended with much abuse and some damage.   Having remained two hours in durance, the veteran, to prove how shameless he could be, volunteered a third hour, and actually remained a considerable part of it, the officers superintending the punishment, being unable to put any check upon so singular a propensity.   Some passers by inconsiderately gave the fellow money, with which he expressed his determination to have another debauch."

Mr. Wingfield sounds to me a typical old soldier or perhaps sailor.  He had the fatalistic sense of humour of a hardened warrior. 

Today, nearly two hundred years later,  the stocks are out of fashion but the shameless irregulars are still to be found in front of Exeter's Guildhall,  likewise those passers by who inconsiderately give them money.  That's what is called tradition!

THE NEW LIFEBOAT, EXMOUTH, 1867

On Friday, 3rd May 1867, the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette reported:

"The launch of the new lifeboat Victoria, took place on Monday....The crew consisted of twelve men (all belonging to the town and not coastguatds) by whom the boat was launched in capital style, and afterwards taken some distance out through the passage.  The customary drill or exercise was got over in quick time, and the boat was found to be a very powerful one.  She was afterwards capsized, and her crew treated to a ducking in the water.  The mode of capsizing was merely the crew standing on the gunwale, and swaying her till she turned over.  She righted immediately, and was afterwards hauled up and placed on her car in the boat house."

Not much new here , I have blogged the 1867 lifeboat before, except I felt I should share the delightful  image of the twelve good men, all belonging to the town of Exmouth, standing along the gunwale and swaying themselves into the channel!

 

THE LIMITS TO FREE SPEECH, EXETER, 1711

" Exeter, Aug.3.  This Day John Burridge, a Ship-Master of Topsham, was indicted and tried at the Assizes held here, for speaking very dangerous and opprobrious Words against the Government; and among other Things, for asserting That the Right of Electing the Kings and Queens of the Kingdom was in the People; That it would not be well with England, till the Government was as it is in Holland,  In the Trial it did appear, he had said in publick Company, That Dr. Sacheverell was a Rascal and a Villain and that all who voted for him were also Rascals and Villains.  Also he said That the present Parliament was chosen by the Mobb, and consequently were a Mobbish Parliament.

"The matter of Fact being clearly proved against him, and nothing appearing in his Vindication, he was found Guilty by the Jury, and Fin'd by the Court 100l. (one hundred pounds - a huge sum!) having been tried before Mr. Baron Price."

We are in the reign of Queen Anne.  John Burridge, ship-master of Topsham, one might assume, was a Whig and a Dissenter.   The Tory Party had, in the election of the year before, won a landslide victory.  Henry Sacheverell was the most popular man in England and he had helped the Tories to power with his fiery, high-church sermons.  The Exeter jury clearly had no doubt that there are limits to free speech.   They, and the Tory judge, Baron Price, knew dangerous and opprobrious words when they heard them.

Source: Newcastle Courant, 27th August 1711.  

AN INUNDATION, EXETER, 1810.

Tuesday 20th November 1810,   the floods came to Exeter.   There was a high wind and the river ran high.  Three vessels of large burden were thrown completely onto the  Quay and on their way, from Honiton to Exeter, the  Monmouthshire Militia, were obliged to wade through water up to their necks.   Up to their necks!?   I should have liked to have seen that!  But I suspect newspapermen, then even more than now, did not let the truth get in the way of good copy.

The best story though is of what happened to the Clarence coach from Plymouth to Exeter when it reached Alphington:

"the waters being higher than the horses they all swam with the coach against a strong current, but the postilion , losing his seat, clambered up a hedge, the two leading horses immediately began to turn, which the coachman perceiving, descended from his seat and cut off the harness, being up to his chin in the water;   four of the horses swam off but the other two were drowned.   Six passengers, after struggling with the water, got on a hedge, and from thence reached a neighbouring house, the inhabitants of which immediately gave the distressed passengers an asylum for the night.  Another passenger, a stout black man, taking a diferent course, remained under an high hedge  nine or ten hours, till he was released the next morning.  The empty coach was carried back a considerable distance by the stream, and stuck in a hedge."

The Plymouth road through Alphington must have been no more than a deep Devon lane which had filled to become a veritable river.   I hope the stout black man came to no harm.

Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal,  23rd November, 1810

LUMPERS AND SNODDERS, EXE ESTUARY, 1864

 An inquest was held on Saturday 4th September 1864 on Thomas Ratcliffe, a lumper.  A lumper, the word is new to me, is a good dictionary word for a labourer who loads and unloads cargoes.  

On the previous Wednesday, Thomas Ratcliffe was working on board the Tonio, an Italian vessel lying in the Bight.  He was in the hold fastening  down the sacks of corn which were being hoisted on deck.   "One of them, however, was not firmly secured by the 'snodder' and when nearly on the deck slipped away and fell on the poor fellow." 

I can't find the word 'snodder' in any dictionary of mine.   It is perhaps related to snood and perhaps hence means a loop of cord,  Whatever it is, the sack of corn was not firmly secured by it,  and Thomas Ratcliffe was fatally crushed.

"He was removed to the Devon and Exeter Hospital, where he died on Friday,  Verdict  'Accidental Death'"

Source: The Exeter Flying Post, 7th September, 1864

MERRIMENT IN THE GUILDHALL, EXETER, 1864.

The technical details of the householder franchise after the Great Reform Bill of 1832 were so complicated that 'Revising Barristers'  had to travel the country to sort out those property-owners who might vote and those who should be denied the franchise.   One such barrister came to the Guildhall in Exeter in September 1864.  The would-be freemen of Exeter, men only of course,  so valued the vote that they queued up to have their claims heard. There were so many nice cases waiting to be heard that chaos ensued at the Guildhall and  a police officer was summoned to keep the 'attendants' in order.

The case of Samuel White was seen to be problematic,  Samuel was twenty-five and single and had lived with his ratepayer father and so had been deemed to have a vote.  But now he was living and working in Bath and. the Liberals wanted to disenfranchise him as, in Exeter, a non-resident,   The Conservatives held that his work in Bath was only of a temporary nature and therefore he should still be counted as a resident.  Samuel's father had come to try to secure his son's vote.  He was questioned by the revising barrister.

"The Barrister, with the view of solving the problem, asked the father if the son had got any furniture and if he had did he take it with him?  Witness answered that the son had gone away without his clothes; which statement, as simply delivered, conveying the idea that he had gone away in a state of nudity, created, as may be supposed, roars of laughter and caused the question to be put "What clothes?"  Mr. Floud facetiously inquired if the claimant took his nightcap with him? which added to the merriment.  It appeared that the left off wardrobe consisted only of a coat and a pair of trousers.  The vote was expunged."

Source:    The Exeter Flying Post,  28th September, 1864

MRS. GUSCOTT AND THE CAT, EXETER, 1877

After 1840,  the year Queen Victoria granted to it royal status, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals became ever more busy in its good work.  Mostly it was the overworked horses and the neglected farm animals who benefitted from the society's protection but in 1877 Mrs. Guscott, a married woman living at Western's Court, Saint Thomas, appeared before the magistrates at Exeter Castle charged with hitting and stunning a cat with a broom.

"In defence Mrs. Guscott stated that she was preparing her husband's dinner, when the cat came in and took up a piece of meat and was making off with it, and she ran after the cat and struck it with a brush she had in her hand in order to make it drop the meat.  She only struck the animal once, and it would have recovered if it had been left alone."

Mrs Guscott must have been pretty nifty and  strong-in-the-arm to catch a cat on the run and stun it with a single blow.  What then became of the cat is not spelled out but Mrs. Guscott's last sentence makes me fear the worst.

"The Bench said that taking into consideration the facts as stated by the defendant the expenses - which were very heavy - woud be reduced to 10s;  the fine would be 1d." (one penny).   

Source:  The WesternTimes, 10th April 1877.

ON BEING ENGLISH!, EXETER, 1869.

The Exeter Flying Post of 13th January 1869 reported how the Mayor of Exeter called a meeting of his fellow-citizens "under the roof of our ancient Guildhall" to "concert measures for employing the poor and destitute children of the city during the winter evenings."  

The Dean of Exeter, no less, had said that the city streets were  "positively infested by a great number of unemployed, idle and excessively ill-conducted boys and girls."  and something needed to be done about it.  The Flying Post did not doubt the citizens of Exeter would be able to deal with the problem.  Englishness had something to do with it:

"The  gathering itself was peculiarly English.  Its spirit was English.  Its composition was English....All political, all religious differences are forgotten, and thinking only of the purpose of the hour, we meet together under the leadership of the Mayor to accomplish, by our own energy, an object that in every other country in Europe would be left, with a shrug of the shoulders, to the Government. This is the prerogative of an Englishman - the characteristic mark of an imperial race, - a race intended to govern and fit to govern - to do for ourselves what races of an inferior strength and of inferior intelligence, in their helplessness, leave to the Government."

THE CHURCH PASTORAL SOCIETY, EXETER, 1880

1879 was a tough year for the citizens of Exeter.  At the annual meeting of the Exeter Branch of the Church Pastoral Society, in February 1880,  the Chairman,  Mr. William Porter of Hembury Fort, a wealthy landowner, son of the Bishop of Belleisle and father-in-law to four Anglican parsons, felt he needed to find words to address the fact that the funds at the Society's disposal had decreased.    His audience, in the main, was of clergymen.  

He made reference to the unprecedented depression in trade, commerce and agriculture and particularly to the "falling off" that there had been in the last harvest "both in regard to the quality and quantity of the crops" and "the disease that had prevailed among the flocks."  

"Of course," he told them, "they did not know why all this was permitted, but for himself, he could not help thinking that, when God was pleased to bless them with prosperity, there was only an increase of drunkenness, luxury, self pleasure and those things only which pleased themselves, and that they did not give that glory to God that they ought to have done..... Under the circumstances, it might be necessary for them to look into themselves and see if this might not be the case.  But whilst they had this visitation from God, they must also look on the bright side of the picture and see how He had been pleased to bless our armies at the Cape and in India.  It shewed that He had not forgotten them. and the adversities that they had suffered at home might be a means of drawing them back to give glory and honour to His name. 

With regard to the diminution of the funds, he hoped and trusted, and, he might say he felt, that they ought to use every means in their power, by the exercise of discretion and self-denial, to make it up."

The logic of Mr. Porter's speech is that, in 1879, God was displeased with the nation, hence the poor harvest &c.,  but despite being displeased He was still rooting for our armies at the Cape and in India. - Well, maybe! 

Source: The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 13th February 1880.

SEDAN CHAIRS, EXETER ,1805

Few phenomena, perhaps, demonstrate the gulf between rich and poor in early nineteeth-century Exeter  as clearly as does the phenomenon of the Sedan chair.   The rich  of the city were literally the poor man's burden.  The wealthy citizen could hire two chairmen to carry him or her through the muddy, soiled streets to any destination in the city, to wait for him  and to carry him home again.   The old fare had been sixpence to any address within the city-walls at any time of day or night but by January 1805 the cost of a chair had doubled, in some cases quadrupled, and the system had become more flexible.  The tariff, however, lacked regularity.  The Exeter Flying Post proposed a system curiously similar to the taxi fares of today:

"It is therefore recommended....that the single fare be rated at 400 yards and be charged sixpence,  from that to 600 yards ninepence - 800 yards one shilling, and so on, adding threepence for every 200 yards: - that the charge for waiting be threepence for each quarter of an hour - and that if a chair be ordered after twelve o'clock, that the fare be increased one degree; that is to say, a sixpenny fare to be increased to ninepence; a ninepenny fare to a shilling, that of a shilling to fifteen pence, and so in proportion."

I find it hard to imagine these chairmen scuttling about the streets of Exeter perhaps counting their paces.  I gain the impression there were a lot of them.  Nothing is said in the Flying Post's scheme about the weight of the passengers.  One would expect the fat citizens to pay more than the thin.   The physical strain of carrying the chairs and their occupants must have been grievous.   I wonder how you 'hailed' a Sedan chair.   Did you stand at your door until one came by?  Did you send your servant out to find a muscular brace of chairmen?  

Source: The Exeter Flying Post, 10th  January,1805.      

THE OTTERY BONFIRE, 1858

 In the evening of 5th November, 1858, Mr. John Baker, a tradesman of Ottery, took his little daughter to the dancing-school and was walking back at ten minutes to six and stopped near the market-place to observe the Guy Fawkes Night celebrations.  He was therefore able, in January 1859, to give evidence in an Exeter court, to the Enquiry by a Committee of Magistrates into the disturbances that took place there.  

Mr. Baker said he had seen a double row of policemen walking up the hill abreast in military style. The policemen stood around the spot where the bonfire was made every year.  They had been ordered, the crowd believed, to make sure there would be no bonfire in the market-square:

"A few minutes after, I saw a bunch of furze lighted in the churchyard, thrown over the wall, into the market-place.  There was a scuffle between police and populace, the police attempting to put out the furze, and they succeeded in doing it.  Another bundle was lighted as before and handed over the churchyard wall with more care;  the police again attempted to put it out, but they could not succeed.  More bundles of furze were brought and put on the lighted bunch and it burnt. I did not see any more attempts to put it out;  wood was brought and the bonfire became as usual.  The police retreated to the corner... Matters took place then as ordinary.  There were squibs, Roman candles, hand-rockets, firing of cannons, &c., but not so many by one-fifth as I have seen before.  There were some tar-barrels. I have seen more people present on the occasion.  Three years ago there was a larger crowd;  that was to celebrate the battle of Inkermann. I have seen the tar-barrels rolled right down the hill."    

Source:  The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 22 January 1859.