A SULLEN FANATIC, EXETER, 1845.

Surprisingly the early-Victorian Board of Magistrates at the Guildhall of Exeter  often functioned as a type of Marriage Guidance Counsel as here in the case of a shoemaker reported in The Exeter Flying Post of 1st May 1845:

 "The wife of Alexander Tapscott. a snob, but anything rather than a jolly one, complained that he had been strapping her at a rather unmerciful rate with his stirrup, and also that he kept her without a sufficient supply of the "ready."

"This would seem to be one of the ill-assorted matches that take place.  Elick is a teetotaller, and the severity with which he disciplines his own body would seem to be such that his face might be taken for that of one of the old puritans, so lank is it and haggard.  His rib, on the contrary, has an eye full of fire, - a face in which spirit sits enthroned, - a form that is buxom, and, in short, appears altogether such as requires only a counter part in her helpmeet to render her a happy and industrious woman.  It appears they have one child 14 weeks old.

"The Bench deliberated whether they should not bind over the sullen fanatic to keep the peace; but on his promising not again to abuse his wife; and she promising also to accomodate herself to his peculiar habits and notions as well as she can, the parties were dismissed."

The jolly snob sounds to me like he should feature in a popular song but, if so, I haven't found him. Snob for shoemaker is still, in 1845, common usage in Exeter.

To strap someone with a stirrup. would be lethal but, bad enough!, it must be his stirrup-leather with which, our reporter tells us, Mr. Tapscott strapped Mrs. Tapscott.

Elick is merely a pet name for Alexander.  

Mrs. Tapscott is Alexander's rib and all the readers of The Flying Post have The Book of Genesis by heart and are familiar with the reference. 

The Post can't spell accommodate either.

THE LADIES FAVOURITE, EXETER, 1845.

In what purported to be a humorous peep into the future, a lively, 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 these 'voices' which are  presented as those of the average Exeter citizens of his time, an early type, perhaps, of Charles Pooter and family.  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.