SALLY GRIBBLE, EXETER, 1841.

 Western Times of 2nd January 1841 reported at length the inquest following the death of a fortune teller called Sarah Gribble who had died in her bed in the two-room tenement she occupied in a back court in St. Mary Arches Street the week before.    The report includes this description of her:

"Clothes or linen upon her person, she had none - if we except an old pair of stays which she wore next her skin and a piece of coarse fustian cloth which was tied round her waist.  A dirty brown handkerchief was thrown over her shoulders, and tied in a knot upon her breast, and her head was covered with a cap, which she had never been known to change during the time she had resided in the house.  She wore neither shoes nor stockings, but, dressed as above described, used to sit continually in her bed, remaining constantly in the same position, with...."her nose and knees together."

"In her bedplace were found, after her death, a great quantity of articles of food, which appeared to have accumulated for some time, and which there is much reason to fear had been purloined by servant girls, who probably found it more convenient to satisfy their curiosity at their masters' expense rather than their own.  There were heaped together, in one heterogeneous mass, potatoes, turnips, and vegetables of all kinds, fruit, butter, bacon, dripping and a variety of articles of similar description, which the deceased was never know to have purchased, and the possession of which can only be accounted for in the way in which we have described.  A half pound of butter was found under her thigh immediately after her death and the other provisions were directly at her feet.

".....And yet, wretched as was her abode, Sally Gribble had numerous visitors, many from among the more respectable classes of society, and on a market day especially, her ante-room was thronged with customers, anxious to obtain admittance.  She was the daughter of a woman who was famous as a fortune teller in her day, and had never been married, and she delivered her predictions with an air of authority, which no doubt gave them all the greater weight.  Her manner was anything but conciliatory; and when displeased or unreasonable interrupted, she would order the intruder away, with the most horrible imprecations.

"She was always pretending the greatest poverty, although....a large quantity of money  was found in her apartment, and the necessaries of life were evidently supplied to her in abundance."

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Sometimes Victorian Exeter seems not to have moved far from the Middle Ages.  The description of this old witch whose imprecations could be most horrible sitting on half a pound of butter in her bed with her naked legs drawn up to her chin  and telling fortunes to silly servant girls and matrons who should have known better could be Geoffrey Chaucer's.

It's a pity we are losing the fun of the old pet names.  I had forgotten that Sarahs were Sallys.

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A MOURNFUL PROCESSION, EXETER, 1840.

 "On Wednesday last, the solemn and imposing spectacle of a military funeral took place in this city, the late Serjeant Major of the 14th Light Dragoons having been interred with full military honours:

"The mournful procession  walked from the Cavalry Barracks up Longbrook -street, through the High and Fore-streets, through North-street, unto St, David's church-yard.

"The charger of the deceased followed the corpse, appropriately caparisoned, and the remainer of the troop of the the regiment, together with the depot of the 75th foot, accompanied by the officers, attended.  The band preceded, and played the Dead March in Saul, through the city."

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What a treat was this for the hat-doffing burghers of Exeter and their tender-hearted wives and daughters!:  The dragoons, on foot for once, in their gorgeous uniform, with steps solemn, mournful and slow, marching through the town looking imposing,  the infanteers slow-marching (better!) behind, the Serjeant Major's coffin, (on a gun-carriage?) the caparisoned charger,no doubt looking mournful, all to the the music of Handel echoing throughout Exeter.

The little boys, OK, some little girls too, must have loved the drama of it and followed the procession all the way to St, Davids .  They went home with 'Saul' ringing in their ears.

Nowadays the profile of the military in Exeter is so low that a snake could crawl under it.  For the last two years the City has scraped together only a handful of regular servicemen in uniform to attend the Northernhay memorial-service (and that in the shadow of vulgar Winter Wonderland construction.)

Sic transit gloria mundi.

Source: The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette,  26th December, 1840. 

THE BRIG 'HOWARD'', TEIGNMOUTH, 1840.

On Monday the seventh of December, 1840, the brig, Howard, of Exeter,  with a cargo of timber from Miramichi,  anchored off Teignmouth, took on a pilot and waited for the night tide.   But a gale blew up and she parted from her anchors and came on shore on the beach near the public baths:

"At about half past 12  the inhabitants were roused by the report of a cannon, which proved to be Captain Manby's apparatus, that had been brought to the spot by Lieutenant O'Reilly of the coast guard, who, with his men, used every exertion to convey a line to the ill fated ship, which was now labouring very much and her crew, and the pilot, thirteen hands, were seen imploring for relief.  

"After several attempts a shot from the apparatus took a line across the ship, by which the crew hauled a hawser on board from the shore....The pilot with great difficulty and danger reached the shore much exhausted; another man that followed him met a watery grave, the rope having broken.

"At this juncture,  Mr. William Warren with great promptitude constructed a grummet or sort of rope cradle. which was hauled on board, and by which nine more of the crew were safely landed....Two men were still missing, but as they did not make their appearance it was thought they were lost.  It was now half-past five a.m., Tuesday morning, and all having been done that human aid could accomplish the vessel was left to her fate.

"The gale now moderated and she held together, and on the falling of the tide the two misssing men were discovered on board safe.  Thus twelve of the thirteen were providentally saved."

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Captain George William Manby was still alive in 1840.  He died in 1854.  Between 1808,  the first such rescue, and 1842 over 1000 lives had been saved by his mortars (rockets came later).  

A gallant rescue effort but the two deckhands who went below and spent the night in their bunks (?) rather took the gilt off the gingerbread.   Providence gets it wrong sometimes! 

Mr. William Warren's grummet I take to be an improvised lifebuoy woven on the spot from rope and then hauled ashore ( through the waves ?)

Source: The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 12th December, 1840.

PROVIDENTIAL HERRING, THE EXE ESTUARY, 1840.

"THE HERRING FISHERY IN THE ESTUARY has continued during the past week and we are told that it is calculated that 1000 tons have been taken during the month of November.

"The Oyster fishery has been a complete failure, but Providence has bountifully supplied the fishermen of the district with a more profitable substitute.

Notwithstanding the plenty, the fishing has been carried on every day, though Lord Devon's water bailiff, Lieut. Cornick. R.N. has warned the Exmouth portion of the fishermen, to desist from Sunday fishing, but the Starcross and Topsham people have had a perfect immunity, or if any notice has been taken of their working the Sunday, they have not attended to it: many hands were out last Sunday.

The herrings have been sold at two shillings a thousand. They are small but exceedingly well flavoured and great store has been laid up, by the working classes, for the winter."

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A dried herring with a little bread, black or white, was a pretty standard winter meal for the working classes on the estuary.

I would think that Lieut. Cornick. R.N. had his work cut out trying to stop Sunday fishing when the herring were running up and down the estuary (presumably) in their thousands.

Ah yes, this must be that same Providence that sees to it that the holly has lots of berries before a hard winter so that the birds won't starve."

Source:  The Western Times, 5th December, 1840.

A STURDY VAGABOND, EXETER, 1840.

 "William Stevens was brought up before the bench, charged with an act of vagrancy.  He was a stout able bodied person, with a dark shock head and some five or six weeks beard.   He had a small bundle of brimstone matches under his arm, and a few shreds of shirt under his waistcoat but it sadly wanted mending, as it did not extend much below his throat, and the public , if so minded, had a full opportunity of judging the colour of his skin by actual inspection - for with the exception of an old waistcoat nothing covered the upper part of the matchman, so that his shirt wanted about as extensive a repair as Paddy's knife, which merely required a new blade and a new handle to make it complete.

"His trousers....with the repair of a leg up one side, and a leg down the other, some addition to the seat, and a few repairs in the front would still have been passable. He had shoes on - slashed and cut through to give air to his feet, and also to show that he had no stockings - his whole garb and garbage being so contrived as to give the appearance of great destitution and consequent suffering, which contrasted strongly with his able well coditioned frame which was equally significant of the fine feeding of cadger's hall....

"He was an incorrigible vagrant and had been sent home to his parish - some distance off - by Topsham at an expence of sixteen pounds. 

"Having nothing to say for himself save that he mumbled out that he could get no work, and had only a few matches.  He was sentenced to fourteen days imprisonment and hard labour.

"The Superintendent of Police said that much mischief was done by the 'relief' which cadgers were certain of finding in this city, having a billet always prepared for them on application to any of the Relief Society, whose humanity was often imposed upon by sturdy vagabonds of this class"  

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William Stevens must have been one of the last of brimstone matchsellers.  Such matches were on the way out in 1840.   He carried a few sticks dipped in brimstone (sukphur) which could  only be used in conjunction with flint and steel to create a flame.  He probably carried them only to escape a charge of vagrancy but the Exeter magistrates were having none of that. 

No-one in Exeter, certainly not newspaper reporters, went around wearing T shirts with the logo 'BE KIND!' in those days.  

Source: The Western Times,  17th October 1840.

A MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT, TORQUAY, 1840.

 This blog seldom strays so far from Exeter, but Mr. J Hammick's extraordinary take of herrings at daybreak, Tuesday 10th September 1840 somewhat above Maidencombe, about a quarter of a mile off the shore, as reported by a correspondent to The Western Times  of 19th September, 1840 seems to me the fisherman's tale to beat all fishermen's tales, not excluding that of Saint Luke:

"....after drawing the sean near the shore, the body of herrings now enclosed proved so dense that all further exertions were abortive; in consequence of which the sean was immediatley laced up beyond the coarse yarn, it being a mackerel sean, and from this time until Sunday the fish were continually with a tuck net drawn out of the sean, which was now moored with four anchors to keep the sean from strapping or falling together.

The weather being particularly fine, parties were formed from all the neighbouring watering places to visit the scene of slaughter and as many as 20 boats were present at a time, filled with all the fashion of the neighbourhood, standing astonished at the immense body of fish before them, whilst the sides of the sean presented a mass of fish resembling a wall 20 to 25 feet deep.

There was at least 100 boats load of fish taken, besides a quantity of fish that were taken in sloops to Portsmouth, Weymouth and Guernsey, and on Sunday boats from all parts of the coast were obliged to return unladen, thus six days were spent in emptying and taking up the sean, besides the spoiling of from 10 to 20 boat loads of fish.

The whole of the fish was sold, and made about £500, at the low price of 3s. per thousand, thus well paying the men and proprietors for their exertions, and rendering a great public benefit to the country at large. The above sean belonged to Messrs Joan and Thomas Hammick, William Rossiter, &Knightons, of Torquay as proprietors."

There seems to me to be a worthy touch of national sentiment implied by this correspondent's spelling of seine.

Alas!  The great shoals of herring come no more to Maidencombe. 

STRANGE AND DISGRACEFUL HOAX, EXETER, 1840.

Under this heading The Western Times of 5th September 1840 reported how all the old sympathizers of the slave were fooled into attending a meeting at the Exeter Subscription Rooms that never took place.  It was advertised that Dr. Scoresby would be there as chairman.

Dr. William Scoresby was a whaler, a scientist, an explorer and a clergyman.  He was a great man, too great to require more to be written about him here.      He had been well-known and well-loved in Exeter, where he had been, for seven years, 1832 to 1839, Chaplain of the Bedford Chapel. but he left Exeter, according to The Times, 'under a cloud'.

The bills advertising the meeting had, allegedly, been sent up from London and they read:

"Abolition of Slavery, Royal Subscription Rooms, Exeter.  A Public Meeting will be holden (D.V.) at the above rooms , on Monday August 31st, 1840.  The Rev Dr. Scoresby in the Chair, to take into consideration the propriety of adopting means of procuring the general abolition of negro slavery, throughout the United States of America....The Chair will be taken at one o' clock precisely."

Accordingly at one o'clock:

"A full muster of the Bedford Chapel congregation took place, and the ladies schools in which he (Dr. Scoresby) found so many admirers poured forth their pattern pupils to see the worthy doctor as President.  The general question drew forth all the old sympathizers of the slave, and many a drab bonnett with mild and gentle features beneath graced the foremost seats,  the broad brim and the peculiar cut broad-cloth betokening the presence of the genuine devoted undomitable. haters of slavery and oppression. We observed also most of the leaders of the evangelical sections of the Christian Country and the sturdy Unitarian also was present - and taken in." 

It was no more than an elaborate hoax.  Neither Dr Scoresby nor any of the promised speakers turned up.  Some disgraceful, 'cakes-and-ale' joker had had his fun with the then Exeter progressives.  After waiting over an hour the sympathizers and the admirers all went home. 

Bring back 'holden'!!  

Undomitable is different.

I like the subtlety of 'D.V.'-  He clearly wasn't willing! - and in 1840 everybody knew what D.V. meant  - and  I like the ambiguity of 'taken in'! 

There is a crater on the moon named after William Scoresby.