A QUESTION OF DISCIPLINE, EXETER, 1896,

At an inquest on yet another drowned woman held at the Exeter Police Court reported in The Exeter Flying Post of 6th June 1896, there was a row between the Mace-Sergeant and the Coroner, thus:

"Mace-Sergeant Gillard was in attendance as Coroner's officer.  The Coroner said he had given the warrant to Inspector Wicks.- Gillard: He is out of town.- The Coroner: I don't care for that.- Gillard:  But I am here in his place. - The Coroner:  I can't allow you to appear here in the present state of affairs.- Gillard:  Very good, sir. - The Coroner:  The officer I gave the warrant to, Wicks; he is not here;  it is his duty. - Gillard:  Very well, sir, I don;t want to have an argument;  if you want to have Wicks I will go and look for him but he is is out of town, and I summoned the jurymen.  The Coroner: I don't care;  I gave the warrant to Wicks and gave him my instructions...."   And so on.

Inspector Wicks was not out of town he was in his lodgings in Sidwell Street and was soon winkled out.   Over the years you can still hear the not so dumb insolence, the surly voice of the bolshy mace-sergeant and the tremulous insistence of the Coroner.

The story of this trivial quarrel simmered on and was made much of by the City Council.   Most of them wanted to side with the mace-sergeant because he was their own man whereas the Coroner, perhaps, somewhat like Bernard Knight's wonderful 'Crowner John', was seen as the Queen's officer and an outsider. 

TOUCHSTONE of The Flying Post, however, had no doubt as to the rights of the matter.  The case was still being discussed by the Council a month later.   He wote in his column of 11th July 1896. 

"It is not a question of superior or inferior, or both losing temper.  It is not a question of animus or provocation.  It is simply a question of discipline - of respect for a high and ancient office,....Nothing can justify a subordinate returnng an insolent answer to a superior,  The relative position, too, of the two men now in question is not recognised by the majority of the Council.  It is not an altercation between those practically on an equality.  It is as though an Admiral and a petty officer, a General and a Corporal, or a Judge and an usher of the Court were concerned."