THE LADIES FAVOURITE, EXETER, 1845.

In what purported to be a humorous peep into the future, a not-altogether-literate, rail correspondant who signed himself  'W.', whose long letter was published  on May Day 1845 in The Exeter Flying Post, wrote:

"Now let us see how the Exeter and Plymouth gets on - I passed over the Line last week, and was surprised to find the works in such a forward state - why, my dear Sir, we shall soon, aye, in a few months, be "on the Rail" and I and you shall be able to say to our dear one -

"Come, come with me and trip by the Sea."

"Put on your bonnet my dear, where's the Satchel - Mary, cut some Sandwiches, and give me the Cherry Bounce - there, - it's all right - away we go across the river in the passage boat, out in a twinkling at the Staion. St. Thomas - into the Rail Carriage, and away - away - away - how beautiful the water looks in the Bright Sun, look at Powdeham Castle my dear, and the dear Deer - then see - there's Dawlish - yes indeed, and only fancy James, we are actually passing through the Sea - well, we are arrived at Teignmouth, - let's take a walk on the Beach - how pretty Shaldon looks, and the Ness - there, they are pulling in the Sprat Seines, do let us go on to these Shady Rocks - so we will love and there take a Sandwich, and drink all friends round St. Peter's - Isn't it time to dress for dinner love - I think it is dear, but I could stay here all day, - we'll come again next week won't we.

"My dear Mr. Editor this is a fairy tale, but a True one, ad we shall all, yes all,  from the lowest to the highest among our fellow Citizens be enabled to realize it.  I am sure such a Rail as this is sure to pay "Cause why" Yes, "Cause why" - do give it up - because it will be the "Ladies favourite," - and only get their support, and everything prospers." 

I was attracted to this 'voice' which is  presented as that of the average Exeter citizen of his time, an early type, perhaps, of Charles Pooter.  Our citizen has  a dear one, a son, James,  and a, long-suffering I suspect, housemaid, Mary.  In the event  he would have to wait a year before making his trip to Dawlish and, if he had invested in the South Devon Railway, would later have suffered from the failure of Mr. Brunel's atmospheric propulsion experiment.   

Cherry Bounce, I learn, is still going strong. It is cherries laid down in brandy. I must try some.

The passage boat:  For Exonians, all journeys from St. Thomas Station had to start with a river crossing.

All friends round St. Peter's:  Meaning 'all our friends in Exeter'.  St. Peter's being, as we all know, our cathedral.  

GO-GO-YOU BEGGARS!, SALCOMBE REGIS, 1845.

 "Not an hundred miles from the delightful vicinity of Salcombe Regis, a rev. gent., after preaching a sermon to the Friendly Society, was to be seen, standing, with hurdle in hand, superintending the rural sports of Whit-Monday and dispatching the young urchins for a prize with the following exhortation - "Go - go - you young beggars, if you break your necks the doctor's here to mend them." Afterwards figuring in the capacity of ring keeper, master of the dancing ceremonies, course clearer for the wheel-barrows, and assistant to certain ladies whilst running for a bonnet, and last, though not least, was busily engaged in putting money into a tub of water, for the young 'uns to extract therefrom with their mouths, during which operation one of the competitors was nearly stifled by keeping too long under the water. The whole was finished up with a fight, to the evident satisfaction of that stately personage who adorns the white gown on a Sunday morning and according to his own account is the only person in the parish suited for the cure of souls." 

This is an attack on the jolly rev. gent. by The Western Times of 30th May, 1845,  not, as these days one might imagine, a laudation, the clue to which is the white gown that he wears of a Sunday.  He is clearly a beastly Puseyite wearing the much despised, by The Times, surplice.  As such nothing he says or does can be to his credit. 

This year the celebrated Country Fair at, still delightful, Salcombe Regis (16 miles to the east of Exeter)   will be the afternoon of 29th May.  (there's tradition for you!)  There will be none of the events of 181 years ago, no ladies running for a bonnet, no healthy sports, but lots of fun and, for the active, usually, at least a coconut shy.

I ask myself how an hundred was pronounced.  

THOUGHT-PROVOKING HAPPENINGS, EXETER, 2026.

Yesterday I personally experienced four thought-provoking happenings that seemed to me to be uncannily related.  These were:  the  television broadcast of the, May 9th, Victory Parade in Red Square, Moscow,  the results of the Exeter City Council Elections with Labour battered but still clinging to power, the too numerous turn-out for the Exeter Pride Procession into Northernhay Gardens, and this passage from an eighteenth century literary work which I just happened to be reading in the afternoon:

" O Pharnabazus, I must confess that the very circumstance which is the cause of so much mirth to the gentlemen that accompany you, is the reason for my fears.  On one side I see gold, and jewels, and purple in abundance; but when I look for men, I can find nothing but barbers, cooks, confectioners, fiddlers, dancers, and everything that is most unmanly and unfit for war.

"On the Grecian side I  discern none of these costly trifles; but I see iron that forms their weapons, and composes impenetrable arms.  I see men that have been brought up to despise every hardship and  to face every danger that are accustomed to observe their ranks, to obey their leader, to take every advantage of their enemy, and to fall dead in their places rather than to turn their backs. 

"Were the contest about who should dress a dinner, or curl hair with the greatest nicety, I should not doubt that the Persians would gain the advantage; but when it is necessary to contend in battle, where the prize is won by hardiness and valour,  I cannot help dreading men that are inured to wounds and labours, and suffering; nor can I ever think that the Persian gold will be able to resist the Grecian iron.

"Pharnabazus was so struck with the truth and justice of these remarks, that, from that very hour, he determined to contend no more with such invincible troops; but bent all his cares towards making peace with the Spartans, by which means he preserved himself and his country from destruction." (my emphasis.)

 l leave readers to find, or not to find, connections. 

Source: Thomas Day, The History of Sandford and Merton, 1783.

SOUL DEBASEMENT, EXETER, 1845.

"SARAH THOMAS, a diminutive girl, who said she was sixteen, and who from her appearance might have been younger, was charged by Hamlin with creating a disturbance in the streets, on the previous Satuday night.

"The defendant was one of that too numerous class, who infest our streets, and though so young in years seem to have got rid of all the modesty of her sex.

"We would adduce her to those to those well meaning individuals who are in the habit of subscribing their money to christianize savages, thousands of miles off, as an instance of how much profligacy, vice, and irreligion, how much ignorance and soul debasement may be found in our streets, and at our own thresholds.

"Hamlin said that very early on the Sunday morning about half past one, he heard a great noise in the Cathedral Yard, and found Thomas there crying murder and saying she had lost her bonnet. He took her into custody, but on her depositing seven shillings at the Station house, she was suffered to depart.  In her defence she said with great coolness, a gentleman had given her some money, and afterwards wanted it again, she refused to give it up, he knocked her down three times , took away her bonnet and she cried murder; she had left her father's home a week.

"A letter from her father was put in expressing a wish that she might be severely punished, her conduct was so bad.  It was stated in court, that the conduct of the father was likewise so bad that it was not to be wondered his child had become so thoroughly demoralised.

"The decision was postponed, as the bench intended to make enquiries."

*

It would seem from newspaper reports that, in Exeter, there was no shortage of little girls on the streets and in the parks who survived by, one way or another, persuading 'gentlemen' to part with shillings.  I surmise they were very often 'modest' enough not to deliver what the gentlemen were seeking which seems to be the case here with little Sarah Thomas whose gentleman wanted his money back.  

It is of course scandalous that the constable and the court showed little interest in the soul debasement of this gentleman who, if we believe Sarah's evidence, knocked her down three times and stole her bonnet.

Hamlin was a constable so well know to its Exeter readers that the newspaper needed only to refer to him as Hamlin.

Adduce: is being used correctly here to mean to bring forward for consideration.  The Times, though a liberal newspaper, clearly has noticed that there are savages and infidels enough in Exeter and considers that charity should begin at home.

The peace of the cathedral yard  in Exeter is still frequently disturbed.  I witnessed it yesterday evening.  Nobody, it seems, is ever taken into custody.  Is this to progress or to regress?     

 

Source: The Western Times, 10th May, 1845.

A JUMPING SON, EXETER, 1845

It was Good Friday, 1845 when the Trinitarians beat their bounds  "with great glee.  

"At the foot of  Colleton Row, the parish boundary stretches into the river Exe - we saw no less than three of the trinitarians, stripped of their upper garments, leap into the silver stream, and swim to the shore - as a testimony of the extent of their boundaries.

"Some of the leading men, and the late misleading parson accompanied the procession.

"At the Shilhay bridge, which unites the quay with the shilhay, the boundary commissioners mounted the central pier, on the upper side, and jumped into the turbid waters of the muddy leat.

"One of them, a grey headed man, who had all is clothes on, was followed by his jumping son of about 14 years of age,  The party reached terra firma by the dipping steps." 

*

Trinitarians: were Exeter citizens of the lost parish of Holy Trinity Church, Southgate, (later and until recently the White Ensign Club in South Street)  some of whom, to establish their parish boundary, were prepared to go swimming with all their clothes on, or at least, their trousers.

The late misleading parson: was, I think, the young Reverend Joseph Corfe, a zealous supporter of Bishop Henry Phillpotts and something of a Tractarian and therefore not loved by The Western Times. 

The dipping steps: so called because the water-sellers filled their barrels at that place and carried, on primitive donkey-carts, water into the city.

No less than three!  Tut-tut!

I like the word glee. ( I like it better than ghee!) We don't hear much about it these days. The word relates, I read, to glitter and gleam. One can never get enough of it!

Source: The Western Times, 3rd May 1845.          

A DISORDERLY APPRENTICE, EXETER, 1845.

 "CHARLES HART, a rather undersized lad of 17, but who had the appearance of being what his master described him, 'a sassy chap' was charged wiith a violent assault on his master, Mr Richd Down, of the firm of Down and Woodman, coach builders.

"Mr Down stated that on the previous afternoon, the defendant, who was his apprentice, was ordered to clean a carriage.  He had absented himself without leave, and on his return he gave him a 'cuff' which was returned with a black eye.

"In his defence, he stated that he ran home with his tea can, was not absent a quarter of an hour, that his master began to knock him about, and not well knowing what he was doing, he and accidentally struck him in the face.  The defendant smiled at his ingenious defence, but was told by the magistrates it was no laughing matter.

"Mr. Down being asked as to his general conduct, stated it was very bad, and he was ordered to be imprisoned two weeks hard labour as a disorderly apprentice, and fined 2s 6d for the assault, and in default of payment a further imprisonment for two weeks."

*

A cuff:  A blow with the open hand. The Times puts the word in inverted commas, perhaps thinking it to be slang, but it is a highly respectable word, to be found in Hamlet, deriving from the Anglo-Saxon word for a glove.  I was not there but I am inclined to believe young Charles' version of events, i.e. his master began to knock him about.

A sassy chap;  The lexicographers think sassy, a dialect version of saucy, originates in the United States (or else in Sierra Leone!) but perhaps, like loon for the Great Northern Diver, it is a Devon dialect form that crossed the Atlantic long since.  1845 is a bit early for Mr, Down to be reading Westerns.

We are not told if Charles Hart, seventeen, undersized and with a mighty punch, before the Bench but still smiling, found the half-crown, plus costs, to prevent his sentence being doubled, but I hope he did.

Source: The Western Times, 19th April, 1845.

 

SABLE GARMENTS, EXETER, 1845.

  J. SOLOMON and Co.,  City Tailoring and Oufitting Establishment at at 193, High Street Exeter,  is once again advertising its wares, this time in the Western Times, of 5th April 1845.  This time the citizens of Exeter are being invited to buy new clothes for the Spring.  J. Solomon's versifier has been working hard and has produced four excruciating stanzas by way of advertisement of which these are the second and the last:

"I love, Oh! I love to trace

"The crocus and the primrose face

"Whilst feather'd songsters joyous ring

"Their merry notes to welcome Spring;

"And verdure green adorns the earth,

"Thrice welcom then , to you I sing,

"First flowers of the genial Spring.

"For Spring, then, make a glorious start,

"By calling in at SOLOMON'S fam'd Mart,

"His bounteous Stock of Varied hues,

"A leisure hour will well amuse;

"His prices will increase the fame,

"Which swells his glory and his name:

"Whilst England will triumphant ring.

"With SOLOMON'S's Fashions for the Spring." 

But our Orpheus knows that, also in Arcadia, Death is lurking, He adds a stanza to cheer up the bereaved under the title:

 MOURNING, , &c.

"When death dissevers a domestic tie,

"This mart your sable garments can supply,

"With that attention which we ever show

"To gayer features of our fam'd depot.

"Five hours of time is all that we require

"To measure and to make a suit entire;

"Or if you wish with ready-made to meet,

"As many minutes will the clothes complete."

A three-piece mourning suit cost one pound, sixteen shillings.

Five hours of time  to make a three-piece suit conjures up an image of  tailors, mostly Jewish, sitting cross-legged in a row working their needles on jackets like trousers from dawn to dusk.

CORKCUTTING, EXETER, 1845.

The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette of 5th April 1845  reported how the Magistrates at the Exeter Guildhall were obliged to consider the following:

 "Jon Stockham, a master corkcutter, charged Samuel Tozer, a small lad, his apprentice, with having neglected his work.

"It appeared that he was expected to cut 16 gross of phial corks in a day, and on a day named he had only cut 8 gross.

"In answer from an enquiry from the Bench, the master stated that the hours of the trade according to the indenture were from six in the morning to nine at night.

"Mr. Justice Kingdon said, an indenture from six to nine was in these times an absurdity, and no Magistrate would think of interfering to enforce it,

"Mr. Justice Harris and Mr. Justice Davy, who were on the Bench, also expressed their surprise at the number of hours required, and desired to have the indenture produced, for which purpose the case was adjourned to Saturday"

*

Corkmaking must have been miserable work.  It seems the corkmaker sat at a table and made corks one by one using special knives and punches.  A gross (is it still widely known?) is 144, which means that little Samuel  Tozer was required to produce 2,304 corks every long working day. 

One has the impression that some of these Victorian Exeter indentures had continued unchanged from the Middle Ages.

HOOKING THE BRAT IN, EXETER, 1845

 "At the committee meeting, [of the Exeter Humane Society] held at the Globe Hotel on Monday last, Harry Leeke Gibbs, Esq., in the chair, rewards were distribute to several persons for having at their risk of life and health, plunged into the water to save persons in danger of being drowned.

"The Chairman in distributing the awards, expressed regret that the funds of the society did not enable the committee to give more - ten shillings was the maximum sum awarded, and in that case the recipient, George Soper, had saved a couple of children belonging to a navigator, whose hair breadth escape we recorded at the time.

"In some instances the recipients had plunged into the river at the coldest season of the year: in one case the gallant fellow (Scoynes) had plunged through the ice, and shown not only a gallant impulse, but pluck and fortitude in carrying it out.

"It is a pity that the society is not better supported, in order that these rewards might be given with greater effect. Some honorary distinction should, if possible, accompany the recognition of these acts of heroism in humble life - the society feels this - but have not the funds.

"One case, rejected, was an application by an old man for a reward for having saved a boy at the Shilhay leat, by putting out his walking stick and hooking the brat in.  The old gentleman was informed that he had done no more than his duty, and that the application did him no credit, for if he had not stretched forth his stick he would have been a very wicked old man indeed.  He admitted the force of the objection, and retired somewhat chopfallen."

*

The Globe Hotel  was in the cathedal yard next to St. Petroc's church.

Here is George Soper again from Exe Lane, receiving ten bob, but no silver medal, from the Chairman of the Exeter Humane Society. Perhaps only in London were medals awarded.

Ten shillings was the average weekly wage of a workman in 1845 and so not to be despised.

It is perhaps noteworthy that the chairman seems to have felt that it was only necessary for the Humane Society to consider the heroism of persons of the humbler life. To reward courageous, respectable people with shillings would not make much sense.

Chopfallen (chapfallen) is hardly used these days but it has a long pedigree.  It occurs in Hamlet.  Crestfallen is even earlier.

Being myself an old man, I wish I were in a position to point out to the chairman of the Exeter Humane Society that he did not need to to treat the old gentleman, who hooked the brat out of Shilhay leat, so discourteously.  I should like to know the details.  Did the old fellow perhaps run towards the drowning child?  What was his state of health?  The least the chairman could have done was to commend his action.  Some of us, old men, find it difficult to tie our shoelaces, never mind lean out over a river and hold out a walking stick and rescue people.  I would not be surprised if, in his own way, this old man demonstrated pluck and fortitude like the best of them. God stand up for old gentlemen!

Source: The Western Times, 26th April, 1845,

GATHERING PRIMROSES, EXETER, 1845.

 "A gallant instance of intrepidity and courage was displayed on Wednesday se'nnight, by Geo Soper of Exe-lane.  Walking on the banks of the river, on the Exwick side, he saw two children who had just rolled into the water from a steep bank, and at once plunged into their rescue.

"Although it was ten foot deep at the spot he succeeded in getting them both out.  The children who belonged to a navigator, working not far off, had wandered away to gather primroses and rolled into the deep water.  The father expressed his gratitude.  We have no doubt that the Humane Society will give a more substantial acknowledgement."

*

This brief recognition of George Soper's saving two young lives implies that George was a swimmer. If so he was in a minority.  In 1845, few could swim, and learning to swim was problematic.

The grateful navigator on the banks of the Exe had brought his children, (very young I imagine) to his place of work.  (The railway presumably) I wonder how common that might have been.  Poignant that two infants(?) gathering primroses on the banks of the Exe on a bright(?) spring day might have drowned if intrepid George had not turned up. 

The Royal Humane Society was already well established.  It had been handing out silver medals since 1775, the year after it was founded.   (Grace Darling received a gold one.) Oliver Goldsmith was a founding member.  It has been 'Royal' since 1787.  I hope George qualified. 

Source: The Western Times, 12th April 1845

WORSE THAN ORPHANS, EXETER, 1845

 An appeal, dated March 20th, 1845 and published for a while in all the Exeter Papers but here specifically in The Western Times of 5th April 1845, under the title: TO THE CHARITABLE AND HUMANE.  A CASE OF GREAT DISTRESS, reads as follows:

"The bereaved Children of Mr. J. C. DUSOIR, late a Schoolmaster, of New Buildings, Gandy-street, Exeter,  (a Girl 14, and a Boy 10 years of age) have suddenly been deprived of both their Parents and a Home!

"Their FATHER, (who is thought to be in France,) left his dying wife and helpless OFFSPRING without resources, or any means of subsistance whatever.  The Children have been genteely brought up, and are now, by the death of their Mother, utterly destitute.

"Under such distressing circumstances this Appeal is made to the sympathy of the benevolent in their behalf, for the means of supplyimg the immediate necessities of these worse than ORPHANS, and to provide for placing them out in life."

*

Joseph Charles Dusoir seems to have been a thoroughly bad character.  He had been living in Exeter for at least eleven years.  In 1834 he gave evidence in the case brought by Mr. Abraham, a gentleman who had been assaulted at the Agricultural Dinner.  To my mind the manner in which he addressed the court on that occasion defines him as a smooth-speaking, cherry-lipped poisoner.  He lied (this is my opinion) at every opportunity in order to undermine Mr. Abraham's case and to ingratiate himself with the magistrates.  At that time he was described as the Conductor of a Select Boarding School at 1, St. David's Hill.  At the time of his deserting his dying wife and his children he was working as a schoolmaster at the New Buildings, 1, Gandy St.  Presumably he did not leave empty-handed.

The Western Times published this:  The man who has absconded is the same who, at the dinner of the Oddfellows Society, spoke so feelingly of Oddfellowship producing good husbands, good fathers and good members of society. 

He was thought to have travelled to France but, whether he did so or not, he was very soon employed in London by a bank from which he stole a very large amount in money and bills and was thought to have fled to France yet again.  Amazingly, according to The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette of 30th December 1848, he already had another wife and more children whom he abandoned!   

The Exeter Appeal initially raised  £82 which was deemed unsufficient money for the purpose,  A second appeal was made.  Citizens were very generous,  Their  names appeared in the newspapers. In a city where there were homeless orphans in every corner, the fate of the two Dusoir children struck a chord.  It was, perhaps, the fact that they had been genteely brought up that raised the money.  The Victorians fully accepted that one should treat equals equally and unequals unequally. 

The daughter, Maria Harriet Dusoir, died of consumption aged 17.  By then she had attained a situation as a governess and according to her death notices was an amiable young lady who was highly esteemed and deservedly regretted.

I hope the little boy fared better.

(Addendum:  The Western Times, of 12th April 1845, reported: "The greatest credit is due to Capt. Tanner for his humane exertions.  He has succeeded in placing the boy with Mr. Quicke, the schoolmaster, who has taken him on the most liberal terms...")

 

 

 

THIMBLE RIGGERS, EXETER (ST THOMAS), 1845.

"Three thimble riggers, who had been given in custody at the fair in St. Thomas, on Tuesday night, were brought before Mr. Gordon, at the Castle, the next morning.  Mr. G. W. Turner attended on their behalf, but the magistrate dismissed the case.

"He said he could not punish them without punishing, with equal severity, the simpleton of a countryman who had been so foolish as to play with them.  

"This young man, a bright specimen of 'yokel' intelligence, had only been saved from losing all his money by the kind interference of two Exeter young men who said that "as he wasn't up to the town, they feared he would get into mischief."

"The defendants went out rejoicing at their lucky escape: the countryman struck with amazement, not knowing what to make of it."

*

This is another example of how many of the city-folk of Exeter regarded their 'simple' country neighbours.  There are countless stories of rustic simpletons getting into mischief  beacause they are not up to the town and the newspapers seem to revel in telling them.  In dismissing this case Mr. Gordon, the magistrate, might be thought to be to be as one with his fellow citizens.  These days it is not a crime to be simple.  It is, as the Shakers say, a gift.  

Thimble rigger has become thimblerigger.  The ancient game, played with three small cups or thimbles and a pea or a button, is invariably connected with cheating and sleight of hand although, if the pea is not 'palmed' it is up to the rigger's dexterity to make a profit.  The fact that there are here three thimbleriggers implies that accomplices were somehow skewing the game..   

Yokel says Eric Partridge in Origins, is a word "difficult to explain, the dialect sense 'woodpecker', even if green, being unsatisfactory.   The 1845 Times clearly considers it slang.

Source:  The Western Times, 29th March 1845.

"A MOST AWFUL OCURRENCE," EXETER, 1845.

"A most awful occurrence took place in the Penitentiary in this city on Monday morning, by which five young women, inmates of the establishment, met with a death as horrific as it was untimely.

"It is the custom, when any male persons enter the establishment, for the inmates to be removed out of sight - a precaution considered to be a necessary portion of the discipline to which this unfortunate class of persons are subjected before they return to honest courses.

"On this occasion, Messrs. Garton and Jarvis having been called on to repair a stove, Mr. Garton had to pass through a laundry in which the inmates were working.  They being directed to 'clear',  immediately went to an open closet in the yard, and to the number of eighteen were huddled into it.

"The door was hardly closed upon them when the floor gave way, and they were all precipitated into a cesspool, of the existence of which the the inmates of the establishment were ignorant.

"The screech  and yell of consternation which was instantly set may be more easily imagined than described; and contrasting as it did with the merry bells ringing to greet the arrival of the Sheriff,  it had a sudden and fearful effect upon the household.

"Rushing out to see what was the cause,  they were dicovered scrambling over each other in the horrid filth, some gasping for breath, others clinging to the floor or vainly trying to climb up to the top, and the weaker trodden down.

"They were drawn out as quickly as possible; but so instantaneous was the suffocation, that five were already dead."

*

These truly horrific deaths would make national headlines these days and would be given many columns in print.  Eighteen young women herded and locked into a building who fall through a rotten floor into a cesspit where five of them drown in ordure!  This story would  hit the papers and there would be demands for an enquiry, resignations, names of the 'victims', ages, expert opinions and so on.  In The Western Times of 22nd March 1845 we read only this short account.   There will be an inquest.  I shall look out for it.   

Open closet sounds like oxymoronic gobbledegook.  What could this place have been?  I suspect a lavatory.

The Penitentiary was, I think, in Bartholomew Street.  If so, it was a Church of England institution, essentially a prison to which you were 'recommended' by the magistrates, where fortunate persons hoped to save members of this unfortunate class of persons from sin through industry, that is to say, forced labour in a laundry.

This is one of the most disturbing reports that I have read.  It is alarming to think that if Mr.Garton had been permitted to walk through the laundry, the girls would have had a bit of fun and so, perhaps, would Mr. Garton. Instead of which.....  

I shall not sleep tonight.

 

"I'LL STAB YOUR GUTS OUT," EXETER, 1845.

Richard Parish was a lodging house keeper who was imprisoned for two years with hard labour for using a knife in a fight with a bricklayer, a navigator, named Henry Poole, and wounding him in the head.  The fight took place on the 7th March, was judged at the Spring Assizes and was reported in The Western Times of 22nd March 1845.

Parish and Poole had been drinking together at The Black Dog Tavern near Exeter's new Iron Bridge.  They had quarrelled bout the reckoning. Later, Henry Poole turned up at Parish's house, which was near St. John's Bow, which, being a lodging-house had a public room.  We learn from the report that the room where the fight took place had two tables and four chairs, a fire burning, two candles, one on the mantle piece and one on a table.  There were words between the two men which led to a fight which led to the stabbing.   One of the witnesses, Harriet Murphy, was sitting quietly by the fire making a cap when the fight took place.  She gave evidence: 'I was not much frightened till the blood spouted over me.'

Below is her account:  

"I saw the struggle which took place.  When prisoner came in he ordered Poole out, but the latter said "I don't want to go out in a hurry."  Then Parish said, 'If you don't go. I'll stab your guts out.'  They then began fighting, and continued so for a few minutes.  Mr. Parish had more beer in him than the other man.  Poole said, 'You must have been a rogue not to have rubbed out those two chalks at the Black Dog.'  After one of the rounds Poole was getting up, when Parish ran over to him and took his hand from his pocket and struck him on the head. Then Poole cried out, 'My God, I am stabbed.'  The blood then gushed out, and some flowed over a cap I was making...  Poole was on one knee when he was struck on the head.  I saw a cut in his head afterwards.

"Cross-examined.  I have lived three months in the house, and lodged there then, but had not received orders to leave it, except at one time, when I interfered with Parish about kicking his boy.  Mrs. Parish told me to take no notice of him.  He did not accuse me of living with another man, not being married to him.  I don't like Parish; I don't think anybody likes him; no body gives him a good name.  I cried 'murder' but no body takes notice of that - murder is often called there."

*

St. John's Bow was yet another church on the High Street. It was next to a 'bow', a covered way, like the one at St. Stephens, which crossed John St,. hurch and Bow were demolished in 1937 and there is now no trace of either,

The chalks at the Black Dog,  were, of course, records or tallies showing how much beer had been drunk.  I take Poole's words to mean that Parish had miserably failed to cheat the landlord of his due!

A navigator, here means a labourer, one who worked digging canals or building railways, a navvy.   

This whole scene seems to be wonderfully infused with Dickensian gloom.  Richard Parish , who kept a house where murder was often called and whom no body liked and who kicked his boy occasionally is a type we all know from the novels.   Harriet Murphy was probably a needlewoman by profession.  She was working with her needle, sewing a cap in the half-light and quite inured to the follies of drunken navvies &c. until the blood spouted over her.  She seems to me an ideal type of  a Victorian woman of the humbler classes.

 

  

A BONE TO PICK, EXETER, 1845.

On 26th January, 1845, a fist-fight between Isaac Taylor and Charles Derrick was arranged at the  Victory Inn in St. Sidwells, Exeter.  It was not between known pugilists and, no doubt, would have passed unnoticed had not Charles Derrick died as a consequence.  Isaac Taylor together with James Jackson and Sambo (a black), the seconds to the combatants, were charged with manslaughter.   

Maria Moore,  a servant to Mr. Balkwill, the landlord of the Victory witnessed the challenge. She gave evidence to the Assize Court when the case came to trial, two months later:

" I was present and heard them talk about fighting,  Taylor sat near the fire, and Derrick sat opposite to him, but afterwards went and sat behind him.  Derrick said  'I.m damned if I won't give you a bone to pick to-morrow.'  Taylor replied  'Then meet me to-morrow morning at 10 o'clock for 10s. or for 20s. meet me in good fellowship, and come back and drink with us like a man.'  There was no appearance of a quarrel.

"Cross-examined:  I heard that Derrick challenged Taylor - not Taylor Derrick.  The first words I heard were from Taylor who said 'Charley did you mean what you said just now.'"

The fight took place the next morning. John Woollacott, an ostler at the White Lion, St. Sidwell's witnessed the fight:

"I was at a field near the Barracks between 11 and 12, there were many people looking at a fight between Derrick and the prisoner Taylor, who were both stripped.  They fought half an hour. Jackson seconded Taylor, and Sambo seconded deceased. They fought  for 10s.  Taylor threw Derrick several times - they fell together, Derrick being under, thrown by the 'fore-hip'. Derrick did not seem beat at all when the fight was over.  During the fight Taylor struck Derrick several times in the head.  They struck each other , but I did not see Taylor strike Derrick anywhere but in the head.  I left them both in the field  after the fight was over - they shook hands - Derrick was then standing up by Sambo.  I saw Derrick in the hospital next day and, after that, I saw the dead body of Derrick in the Hospital.

"Cross-Examined - I went to the field to see the fight - it was a fair stand up fight.  Derrick hit Taylor many times.  The ground  was very wet and slippery; and Derrick fell twice without a blow, from it being so slippery.  I heard no cries of  'shame, take the man away.'"

The Grand Jury found this a case difficult to judge.   They were away for a quarter of an hour. Of course the meeting itself was a breach of the peace and therefore an offence but everyone in England accepted that, as Mr. Slade, who defended Taylor and Jackson, (but not Sambo the black) said: "This was a fair stand up fight, without malice - there were no knives or deadly weapons used, which had occasionally of late disgraced the name of Englishmen.  It was a manly stand up fight, carried on according to the style which was characteristic of the English nation." 

The Jury returned a verdict of guilty against all, but recommended mercy, as the fight was fair and no advantage was taken of the deceased by the prisoners.

The judge sentenced all three to one month's imprisonment without hard labour.

*

Englishmen do not fight with knives.   It's just not done. That's the thing about all this knife-crime one reads about today - it's just not English!

I feel sorry for Sambo the black.  He had only gone along to see the fight but was roped in to be Derrick's second at the last moment.  He, presumably, could not afford to be represented in Court but perhaps had satisfaction in  finding that he, nevertheless, fared no worse than the others.

The place where they fought was called Snow's Field. It was beside the Cavalry (Higher) Barracks and a favourite place for such meetings.

The fight seems to have been as much fall-down as stand-up - a mixture of boxing and wrestling.

The White Lion Hotel and The Victory Inn were both on Sidwell St.  The former was bombed away in the Blitz;  the latter is an inn no longer.

Source: The Western Times, 22nd March, 1845.

A GUMBLE, EXETER, 1845

In The Western Times for 15th March, 1845, we read:

  "A butcher, named PAGE, was summoned by Mr. Stogdon for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on a charge of cruelly killing a terrier dog.

"The dog, which belonged to a person named Downing, got into the Lower Market, and after smelling around the defendant's stall, began to gnaw at a calf skin which hung temptingly near the ground. The defendant took up a 'gumble,' a heavy stick, used to spread the skin and 'hove' it at the dog, and struck it  on the head, and killed it instantly.

"The Mayor said the case was not one of wanton cruelty, and he would impose a small fine only to cover the expenses."

A gumble, here neatly defined by the newspaper, appears in none of my dictionaries.  The OED (online) offers one written reference to gumbles. (in 1688!) meaning a horse's cheekbones.  That there is, via butchers, bones and butchering a link here seems, to me, likely.  Perhaps the cheekbone of the horse was also used to spread calfskin.  It is, I learn, a large, flat bone.  In any case Page, the butcher was a dead shot with the gumble and could heave it with lethal consequence as Downing's terrier found out. 

Page the butcher said hove and, already in 1845, it is given speech marks.  It, the old and regular form,  is still common enough in Devon today as the past participle of to heave and certainly boats can only be hove to. 

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had only been founded in 1824.  I have the impression that Exeter magistrates were not yet taking it seriously. 

I have an image here of this butcher's stall in the Lower Market, with its scraped calfskins hanging to the ground, looking very different from today's butcher's shop, (as if there were any in Exeter!!)  In my imagination it is selling all kinds of tripe and offal and sweetbreads and sheeps' heads, pigs' heads &c. which we seldom see now.  Mind you, thanks to multiple cultures, I have seen that sort of thing on the Kingsland Road and elsewhere in London.  Coming soon to Sidwell Street? 

A BAD SHILLING, EXETER, 1845.

 "Two boys, named  ROBERT HORE and WILLIAM RAWLINGS were brought up on suspicion of passing base coin.  They had been lodging at the  Pestle and Mortar - a very suspicious haunt; and Wolcott and Joslyn who were sent there for evidence in another case, finding the youngsters in bed, thought it proper to search their pockets - in one of which they found a bad shilling.  

"The boys told their stories very circumstantially.  One of them had come the previous day from Chard, where he had been working.  The other said that he ran away from his parents at Falmouth; that he went to sea and to Swansea, for his first voyage; that having been discharged on the vessel getting to London, he had walked hither. He gave the names of the towns he had passed, and spoke with the earnestness of truth. He had made the acquaintance of the other boy in Exeter, and they had agreed to stay here till Monday, and then go on for Plymouth; they had got but five shillings, including the bad one, between them; and they protested that they "never took nothing from nobody."

"They were discharged." 

*

This is a rare mention of The Pestle and Mortar, a public house in Exeter on the corner where King Street (then known as Idol Lane) meets Smythen Street.  The few mentions of this house at this time note its disreputable nature.  It was, says one Exeter mayor, tantamount to a brothel.

These two boys, finding lodging there, would , I feel sure, have been very little lads.  These days they would have been sent home to their mothers and their "sixth form colleges".   Instead they were tramping the country and jumping on ships and making friends in strange places.  London to Exeter is two hundred miles.   Chard to Exeter is thirty miles,  an impressive day's walk.  Britain was still, as in the days of Richard Whittington,  an age of pedestrianism with working men and women walking the highways of Britain seeking what?  The bubble fortune? The better life? 

As so often, the Exeter policemen seem to be stupid. over-zealous. and unable to foresee the likely response of the magistrates.  To rummage through the pockets of two boys who just happened to be in an inn where they were looking for evidence in another case and then to book them on suspicion of passing base coin just because they found one bad shilling is just bad policing.  That sort of thing couldn't happen now, could it?

Let us wish Robert Hore and William Rawlings well as they tramp to Plymouth and, no doubt, beyond.

Source: The Western Times,8th February, 1845.

 

TAFFIES, EXETER, 1845.

 "John TOZER was charged with a most riotous outrage.   In the Butcher-row there is a respectable gentleman who sells taffies and other sweetmeats. Last Saturday he was awakened out of his first sleep by a tremendous battering at the door.  He ran to see who was there and found the prisoner demanding a ha'porth of taffies. He could not serve him at that unreasonable hour; and the other kicked away at the door and swore if he did not serve him, he would beat the sanguinary door in.    He at last opened the door, when the prisoner bolted down the passage and  met a watchman in St. John-street, when he said "watchman, you're too late; there's been a hell of a row - and I've been  in it!"   Complainant then came up and gave him in charge, and the Bench fined him 5s. and expenses, and in default of payment locked him up for a week."

Taffies, of course, are toffees.  This was the original form, not written down, according to OED,  until 1817, a Creole word, coming, like the sugar cane, from the West Indies.  Taffy became first Toffy and then Toffee.

John Tozer  would seem to have been a taffy addict.  We are not told how old he was but cabinet maker or not, I guess he was only a teenager.  He lived with his parents but clearly they were not going to cough up the five shillings to keep him out of gaol.

The Butcher-row was an extension of Smythen St.  It was a poor district.  Would a seller of sweetmeats living in Smythen St. really be a respectable gentleman ? Perhaps not but if so he would be in the class of impoverished gentlefolk, a class we may be seeing more of in the decade to come.  There is a distinct sense of looming Brother, can you spare a dime?  about the present times.

Sanguinary door: No respectable newspaper in 1845 could print the word bloody, used as a vulgar adjective, a word not thus seen in print until 1840 (OED) hence the old humourous euphemism above.  When Bernard Shaw staged Pygmalion (1912)  the spoken word caused shock and dismay. 

Source : The Western Times, 8th March, 1845.  

A CHILD POISONED BY ITS FATHER, BRADNINCH, 1845.

 Under this heading The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, of 1st March 1845, reported:

"During the past week the quiet village of Bradninch, about nine miles from this city, has been the scene of considerable excitement, in consequence of the following circumstances.  

"A short time ago, a husbandman residing there lost his wife in childbed.  The infant was taken into the country by a female relative, who took charge of it.

"On the day of the wife's funeral this person came to Bradninch to attend it, and during the performance of the ceremony left the child in the care of its father, who had been indisposed and was receiving sick-pay from his club, being confined to his bed.

"He had previously provided himself with a bottlle of spirits of hartshorn, unknown to his nurse, by sending a casual visitor for it during her absence.

"He took the child into bed with him, whilst the funeral of his wife was going on and administered the spirits of hartshorn to it, hiding the bottle in a crevice of the floor.

"The female relative, who had interested herself in the case of the child, on returning from the funeral found it foaming at the mouth and very ill.  She was much alarmed and took it to the minister of the parish to be baptised. That gentleman caused the infant to receive medical attention but it died shortly afterwards.

"An inquest was held on the body on Saturday, which was adjourned to yesterday, when we learn that the father was committed for trial on a charge of Wilful Murder."

As so often, one is alarmed to see how quickly and to what degree the newspaper has prejudged a case.  

This seems to be a tale of ultra Victorian Gothic horror.   The degree of misery implied is shocking. We are not given enough detail but perhaps we shall see learn more at the next Assize Court. 

Spirit of hartshorn  was literally obtained from the antlers of the red-deer and some other horny sources.  They were an ammonia solution not particularly known to be poisonous but the child could only have been some days old.

The name of the father was Samuel Haydon.  His appearance at the Spring Assize was reported  in The Western Times on 22nd March.  Although there was considerable evidence that  suggested a murder had been committed  it was judged that there was not enough to convict him and he was acquitted.

It was clearly thought more important to have the child seen by the minister than the doctor.   I am  distrustful of female relatives;  innate misogyny I suppose!

In childbed  here meaning giving birth is noteworthy.