NORNY AND SOUDNY, EXETER, 1842

The Western Times of 8th January 1842 published a spurious letter from 'one of the pretty servants of Southernhay'.   The background events seem to have been true enough.   Someone in Southernhay had been stealing watches.   The Southernhay servants were suspected.  The thief turned out to be a housemaid whose master dismissed her but did not bring her to court.  The other servants in Southernhay were said to be furious and some bright spark at The Times contrived this 'complaint' and presented it to the readership as a genuine letter-to-the-paper. 

Sir,  

"- Sarvis be no harytig and them as lost their karytur lost ther aul.  Sir Pleas to Contredik that I tuk the gentylmens wach - I Wundur the poleiss did not bring the nasty Ussey b Four the Wurshipfool justics Binch & exposed her person to the wid Wurld for the Benny Fit of wee pore inocent Sarvants to Soudnay wot be most presumshusly suspekted in the dirty bisnis.   Muster F-----, esqr noss hoose wikid survunt it was for he turned her to doors instantanous and wi doant he cum fowurd lik a gvntylman and releave us pore suspektid innosense from the degraydid suspektification.  

"ANNE HOUSEMAID                                         

"Sectry of the feemail Sarvant Assocyvashion,   Soudney."

*

I blog this silliness chiefly because of 'Soudny'.   This is the first time I have seen the contraction 'Soudny' for Southernhay although 'Norny' for Northernhay was common and not just for the dialect speaking Exonians.  I like to think of Exeter people speaking and writing of Soudny and Norny.  We seem to have lost something jolly!

I have noted before how disgraceful was the manner in which the literate mocked the illiterate in Victorian England.  This 'liberal' newspaper, The Times, was the worst offender.

It took me a while to read 'harytig' as 'heritage', if indeed that is what is meant.

A SCRAM'D HAND, TOPSHAM, 1842.

The Western Times of the first of January, 1842 published this letter to the editor from an 'old subscriber' who 'gave his name and address':

"A short time since a young woman of Topsham, who had for some time been suffering from (what  her mother called) a scram'd hand so bad that she could not work; she got a recommend to the Hospital  -  when she had been there a short time her hand became well;  at the end of three weeks she was discharged, and went home, when on her arrival at her mother's house her hand became in the scramed or contracted way again;  the good folks of Topsham said she was overlooked, and advised her to one Fouracres, of Budleigh, a wise man, who it is said can do the wonderful; the mother and daughter went to him  -  the old man at first refused to act for her, saying he had not done anything in that way for some time, but by the importunity of her mother the old man gave her something to give her ease.

"The girl returned home and her hand got righted, but she still felt dreadful prickings like those of needles.  She went to Mr.Tothill, of Topsham, who extracted the astonishing number of ninety-five needles, of various sizes,  from her hand, and there are still more to be felt in her arm.

"I have seen the needles, and you, sir, may see them also   by going to Mr.Tothill, surgeon,, Topsham, who kindly showed them to me.  But how came they in her  is what we should be glad to know;  Mr. T. says she must have swallowed them  -  if so, "would they have found their way to her hand, and all gone the same way?"  The mother says she is sure she never did swallow them.  The needles are very black, but not rusty  -  some are large stocking needles.  

"I should like to know what you think of so (to me) an mysterious affair."

*

I can't find scram'd, scramed in any of my dictionaries.    Its meaning would seem to be stiffness rather than contraction.  It would seem the word was well used, maybe still is, as a dialect word in Devon.

The whole story seems preposterous but there must have been some substance to it.  If it had been April the first not January one might dismiss it outright.

This letter, however,  demonstrates again how persistent in Devon was the belief in witchcraft, black and white.  I find it fascinating that the good folk of Topsham in 1842 believed this young woman had been 'overlooked',  which word here means 'looked upon with the evil-eye,  bewitched,  - and therefore could best be cured by a 'wise man'.  What's more, 'the good folk' knew where there was such a wise man,  Mr. Fouracres, albeit superannuated, in Budleigh Salterton who could 'do the wonderful',  - a long way to go for an uncertain cure.

As for the ninety-five needles in the young lady's hand,  black but not rusty, and the few more in her arm, they are to me, as they were to The Times' correspondent,  'so an mysterious affair'. 

A BIT OF THE MARVELLOUS, EXETER, 1841

"We are told that there is now living in Bartholomew Street, in this city, an old midwife, upwards of ninety years of age, who has actually assisted at the birth of eleven thousand children.   Our informant says that she has carefully registered the names of the mothers."  

This brief report in The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette was not believed by its 'cotemporaries' and so the following week The Gazette felt obliged to inform its readership:

"In these days of refined taste, we can scarcely venture upon a bit of the marvellous, however true, without chapter and verse being demanded for our authority; and as it is our wish to be kind and obliging to our cotemporaries,....we beg to inform them that the midwife alluded to is Mts. Elizabeth Hole, now residing in Bartholomew street, who is still upon the books of that excellent institution, the Exeter Lying-in Charity, as the senior Obstetric,  and our medical informant tells us that he has heard the old lady say that seven or eight years since, in the month of January, she attended 39 women, who gave birth to 40 children; and that, on one occasion, in 14 hours she assisted at 8 births!

"We cannot vouch for the truth of these statements , but the incredulous now have the means of inquiring for themselves; and we further understand that Mrs Hole does nor consider her case to be at all marvellous, for she says that her predecessor in the Lying-in-Charity (Mrs. Weekes) beat her by odds, having assisted at 12,633 births; and that the first and the last attended her funeral - the one being an old man upwards of 60 and the other an infant carried in arms.

"Mrs Hole is not of that advanced age mentioned in our last, but is between eighty and ninety years of age." 

*

 Mrs. Elizabeth Hole and Mrs. Weekes clearly had very long working lives.  It would seem that Mrs. Weekes' midwifery had lasted more than 60 years and that she was still working until shortly before her death. The 'marvellous' statistics could well be true.   

Many another poor old Exonian must have worked literally until she or he dropped. 

 I have the feeling Mrs. Hole was no Sairey Gamp.  She sounds very efficient, delivering babies day and night, no doubt, and keeping a record of the thousands of mothers she had assisted.

Cotemporary looks like a typographical error but it is a good dictionary word.

Source The Exeter and Plymouth Gazetter, 2nd and 9th January, 1841 

ROUGH JUSTICE, EXETER, 1841.

 The schooner, the Lady Wright, arrived at Exeter Quay on Thursday 11h November, 1841 with a cargo from Alicante and when the Exeter lumpers (dockers) and pilots got chatting to the crew, they were told a tale of how Mr.Wright, the captain, had behaved with savage cruelty to his cabin-boy, the 14 year old, Henry Payne, 'an acute and intelligent lad'.

The story quickly spread around the Quay and came to the ears of Mr. Sharland, wine merchant, who thought it right to put the matter into the hands of the lawyer, Charles Brutton who took up the case 'with great good feeling' and brought it to court, the Exeter Police Court, at the Guildhall, the following Monday and Captain Wright's cruelties were recounted by young Henry and by other members of the crew, Richards and Ray, and were thus reported in The Western Times of 20th November 1841:

"The boy Payne was employed  on board as cabin-boy and cook.  The first assault on the boy was soon after they were out of sight of land, then the captain, for some trifling neglect, beat him with a rope's end most cruelly.

"The boy also detailed a number of other instances in which the captain had punished him with a severity vastly disproportioned  to the trivial nature of the offence.  In fact, the captain's conduct had inspired him with so so much dread, that on one occasion, when the boy, while the vessel was in harbour at Alicant, had got tipsy with some wine that had been given to him, and fearing the threatened punishment, he jumped overboard, and would have been drowned had he not been rescued by the exertions of Richards.

"It happened on another occasion that the captain caught the boy asleep during the period of his watch which was from one to three in the morning.   For this offense he was slung up by the heels - the boy stated for 5 to 10 minutes - the ropes being belayed to the bulwarks, and while thus suspended, about a yard from the deck, so that neither his arms nor his head could touch, the captain flogged him with a rope's end in such a manner as to raise large weales in several parts of his body as thick as a man's finger. 

"The witness, Richards hearing the boy screeching from below, went on deck to see what was the matter, but was told by the captain that ' if he interfered, he would run a handspike through his b-----y guts.'.  In addition to this infliction, the boy was not allowed to go below from that hour till half past 11 the following night, making altogether nearly 24 hours."

*

The captains's 'punishments'  were defended in court by Mr. Drake but the Exeter magistrates decided that nothing could justify  the cruelty of the last assault and they therefore fined Captain Wright fifty shillings and costs.  

This judgement made me think of the justice administered by the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance in Chapter 4 of Don Quixote of La Mancha for nothing more is written in the newspaper about the future of  Henry Payne and the other crew members who gave evidence.  They presumably were bound to go back to sea with wicked Captain Wright and one shudders to think what shenanigans went on the next time the Lady Wright was 'out of sight of land.' 

"I'll run a handspike through your bloody guts!"  is as good a salt-sea oath as one could hope to hear on a summer's day.

A PINT OF BEER PER HEAD, EXETER, 1841

"We have much pleasure in stating that the inmates of the St. Thomas Union Workhouse were yesterday regaled with an extra allowance of meat, vegetables, &c. and with a pint of beer per head to commemorate the birth of the Prince of Wales.  The old boys gave a hearty cheer on drinking his Royal Highness's health.  

"In the evening a general dance took place,  old John Hannabus doing the musical upon his veteran fiddle; matters of this sort must be spontaneous to be worth anything, and a hint from Lord Courtenay and Wm. Kingdon Esq.,  the High Sheriff of Exeter, put the Union officers upon the alert to carry out the suggestions so kindly given.

"The boys and girls partook of tea and cake in the evening, and were very happy, almost to the degree of thinking themselves Princes of Wales.  Among other toasts the following was given, 'May there be a little prince born every week,'  which sentiment we hope the worthy Clerk will forward to the Secretary of State."

*

This 'little prince'  was born to be Prince of Wales for some 60 years, before he became King Edward Vll.  During that time he bedded one queen and at least half a hundred 'mistresses' and goodness knows whom else!   He was, despite, or perhaps because of, his sexual adventures, a very popular monarch.

 I doubt if any of the little workhouse boys thinking themselves almost Princes of Wales in Exeter in 1841 had quite so much fun in life but then they did partake of tea and cake on Albert Edward's birthday.

Old John Hannabus had been scraping his fiddle at Exeter celebrations, mostly at Mount Pleasant, for 30 years.  I note, from the internet, that there are still Hannabuses about.  What a splendid family name!  

I suppose, strictly speaking, the baby had not yet been presented as the Prince of Wales, but then, who cared or cares?

"Doing the musical!" is a darling turn of phrase.

It's sweet to eat

some extra meat

and a free beer never fails

but then to partake 

of tea and cake:

God bless the Prince  of Wales!

Source, The Western Times, 13th November 1841.

MR ROBERT SWAIN, EXETER, 1841.

 On Monday 4th October, 1841, Mary Anne Short, a servant of Mr. Moon of Northbrook Farm, was tripping along the footpath through the fields on her way to Exeter when she was met by wicked Jabez Orchard, a lad who had only been let out of gaol the week before.  Jabez was.... "in company with four others of like bad character - who stopped her,  when Orchard seized her round the waist, and ill used her, - threw her down, and endeavoured to to rob her of her shawl,  which was torn, and only saved by the firm manner in which it was fastened on her person."  

Mary Anne was only saved  from goodness knows what fate by two men from Topsham who intervened and secured Orchard.  He was summarily brought before magistrates at the Castle and was imprisoned for three weeks.

This above was reported in The Western Times of  9th October, 1841.   One of the interventionists  is never mentioned again but the next Saturday The Times'  Topsham correspondent reported as follows:

"The person who last week took into custody Jabez Orchard, for the assault on Ann Short, the servant of Mr. Richard Moon, of Northbrook, is Mr Robert Swain of this town.

"The conduct of this individual deserves the greatest praise, when it is considered he had to contend for nearly  an hour with five notoriously bad characters, and succeeded  in capturing and lodging in gaol the one who had thus so ill-treated an unprotected female.

"Mr. Swain has been prevailed upon to undertake the duties of a constable, and was sworn into office on Friday last, by the Magistrates, at the Castle of Exeter."

Well, there you are now!  - no sending Mr Swain to Police College to learn Sociology, Kindness &c.  He had handled Jabez Orchard and four other bad characters and , without delay, he had then been head-hunted and sworn into office.

It is no doubt most often more odious than odorous to make comparisons,  -  but I find it fun!  

I watched last week on YouTube a hilarious clip of three, fat U.S, policewomen trying  for five minutes to secure one young American, no doubt a bad character, and failing dismally.

I saw, moreover, lately, two, lovely, young, petite policewomen, patrolling Exeter, laughing and chattering to each other  just like, it seemed to me, two delightful, innocent maids from school.

Well now:  -  if I were tripping over the fields and Jabez Orchard and his gang chose to rough me up,   I think I'd rather see Robert Swain of Topsham town coming over the horizon than any of the aforementioned.