there Tom provided them with breakfast, for which he paid twenty-seven
shillings. Thence they marched to Newnham, where, at the George Inn,
they received a similar treat. What they went marching for not one of
these deluded men seemed to know, unless it were to gather recruits; and
in this he was successful. Wherever he went--at Eastling, Throwley,
Sildswick, Lees, and Selling--he delivered speeches, made promises, and
obtained adherents. Then the whole party returned to Bossenden Farm.
Here there was an extensive wood, in which the true Canterbury bell is
found. The district is called the Blean, and here a condition of affairs
existed that greatly helped on the cause of Tom. In the eighteenth
century much of the Blean was taken possession of by a number of
squatters, who settled on the ground, then extra-parochial, as a "free
port," from which none could dislodge them, and there they remained
paying rent to none. Now the poor deluded peasants of the neighbourhood
conceived the idea that Tom, or Courtenay, as he had called himself, was
the promised Messiah who was come to give to them all lands to be their
own, on which each man might sit under his own vine, and that the rich
and large-landed proprietors would be cast out and consumed by the
breath of his mouth.
During the tramp of these enthusiasts about the country, a farmer
named Curling lost some of his labourers, who were enticed away from
their work to follow with the rest. Curling at once mounted his horse
and went to a magistrate, and procured from him a warrant for the
apprehension of Courtenay _alias_ Tom. Nicholas Meares, a constable,
and his brother were entrusted to execute the warrant; and on Thursday
morning, 31st May, about six o'clock, they hastened to Culver's farm
to secure the men. Upon their presenting themselves, Courtenay stood
forward, and before Meares could read the warrant shot him dead. He
then went into the house, exclaiming to those who were there, "Now am
I not your Saviour?" and then issuing from the house again, he
discharged a second pistol into the body of Meares, and proceeded to
mutilate it barbarously with his sword.
The news of this murder was conveyed to the magistrates, and they
proceeded to take steps for the apprehension of Courtenay. But the
latter at once called out his men, and they marched into Bossenden
Wood, and there profanely he imitated the Last Supper and administered
to his dupes in bread and water. This over, a man named Alexander Foad
knelt down in the presence of the rest and worshipped him as his
Saviour, and demanded whether he were required to follow him in body,
or whether he might be allowed to return to his home and follow him in
spirit. Courtenay replied, "In the body"; whereupon Foad sprang to his
feet, exclaiming, "Oh! be joyful, be joyful! the Saviour has accepted
me. Now go on; I will follow till I drop."
Another man, named Blanchard, also worshipped him, and Courtenay then
said, in reference to the murder of Meares, "I was executing the
justice of Heaven in consequence of the power that God has given me."
At twelve o'clock Tom and his followers shifted their position to an
osier-bed, and there he harangued them, informing them that he and all
such as believed in him would be invulnerable. He defied the magistrates
and all the power of the world: his was the Kingdom of Heaven; and
then he advised his followers to take up a position in ambush in the
wood. At this time Tom noticed that a Mr. Handley, of Herne Hill, was
observing their actions, and Courtenay _alias_ Tom fired at him; but he
was beyond the range, and he happily missed his aim.
[Illustration: PERCY HONEYWOOD COURTENAY, KNIGHT OF MALTA, ETC., ETC.,
AS HE APPEARED AT THE ELECTION IN 1832]
In the meantime the magistrates had taken steps to put an end to this
fiasco. They had despatched a messenger to Canterbury to summon the
military, and a detachment of a hundred men of the 45th Foot, under
the command of Major Armstrong, was placed at their disposal, and
marched to Boughton. As the party of Courtenay was in the wood, the
magistrates and the soldiery and the constables marched thither. The
wood is of very considerable extent, but was intersected by the main
road from London and Chatham to Canterbury, which was cut across by
another road, a parish road, at right angles. It was found that the
insurgent party was so placed that their front and rear were covered
by the roads right and left. The military were in consequence divided;
and whilst one party of fifty took the road leading to Canterbury,
under the command of Captain Reed, the other was conducted by Major
Armstrong, assisted by Lieutenants Bennett and Prendergast, along the
road that led to Boulton-under-Blean. Thus the insurgents were placed
between two bodies of troops, and their only chance of escape was to
retreat in a straight line through the wood. But Tom _alias_ Courtenay
had no intention of retiring, and he boldly faced Major Armstrong with
the men behind him drawn up, armed with picks and reaping-hooks. He
was summoned to surrender, but turned and bade his followers be of
good cheer and prepare for conflict. These numbered from thirty to
forty men. Courtenay gave the order to charge, and advanced on the
soldiers, when Lieutenant Bennett drew his sword and, heading the
military, ran forward, and was shot by Courtenay; the ball, entering
his right side, passed completely through the body of the young
officer, who reeled and fell dead on the spot. At this moment a
constable named Millwood sprang forward and felled Tom, but as the
madman rose to his feet again, he was struck by a ball from the
military, for they had received orders to fire from Major Armstrong,
who was on horseback. By the discharge eight men were killed on the
spot and several were wounded; but the wretched peasantry fought
desperately, till at last dispersed by the charge of the soldiers
under Armstrong, and those under Captain Reed taking them in flank,
when they scattered and fled through the wood.
In the course of the afternoon twenty-seven prisoners were taken, of
whom seven were suffering from wounds, two of whom died shortly after.
Of the party employed in maintaining the law, George Catt, a
constable, was shot under a mistaken apprehension that he was one of
the rioters; and Lieutenant Prendergast received a contused wound on
the head from the bludgeon of an insurgent.
During the remainder of the week the coroner was engaged in conducting
the necessary inquiries into the cause of death of the deceased
persons. Verdicts of "Wilful murder" were returned in the cases of the
constable Meares, and of Lieutenant Bennett, against Courtenay and his
adherents; whilst in the case of Catt, the jury found "That he had
been killed upon an erroneous belief that he was a rioter."
In the cases of death among the insurgents, the jury found a verdict
of "Justifiable homicide."
The coroner conducted the investigations at the Red Lion Inn,
Boughton, where the yard was full of the wives, widows, and children
of these deluded men; whilst the wounded lay on stretchers, as also
the bodies of the slain, in a stable; the prisoners were in a lockup,
whence they were brought handcuffed to the tavern to be examined.
During the sitting of the jury, two of the wounded men died, and upon
their decease being communicated to those outside, they gave vent to
their feelings in loud wails. The body of Lieutenant Bennett lay in an
upper chamber of the inn. He was but about twenty-five years of age,
and had just obtained leave of absence when the news of the outbreak
reached the barracks, whereupon he applied and obtained permission to
join the party. At the conclusion of the proceedings before the
coroner and the magistrates nineteen prisoners were committed for
trial. Ten of the rioters had been killed. Out of the prisoners,
Meares, a cousin of the murdered constable, Foad, and Couchworth were
wounded. Foad was a respectable farmer, cultivating about sixty acres.
A woman, Sarah Culver, was kinswoman of the farmer who had first sent
to the magistrates. She was possessed of considerable property, and
was forty years of age. She had been a devoted follower of Courtenay;
but it may be presumed that she, like him, was insane.
On Tuesday, 5th June, the greater number of those who had been killed
in the riot were interred in the churchyard of Herne Hill. Amongst
these was Tom. Great crowds attended, amongst them his adherents, who
were in expectation that he would rise again and confound his enemies.
Some apprehensions were entertained lest the mob should use violence
to prevent the burial of their late fanatical leader, but the whole
affair passed off quietly.
At the Maidstone Assizes on Thursday, the 9th August, 1838, the trial
of the prisoners commenced before Lord Denman.
Ten of the prisoners were found guilty of murder and were condemned to
death, but were informed that the sentence would be commuted, and
their lives be spared. The prosecutions in the cases of the other
prisoners were not proceeded with, and they were discharged.
From the admissions of the prisoners, it was ascertained that
Courtenay had promised his followers on the following Sunday to lead
them to Canterbury, to set fire to the city and to have "a glorious
but a bloody day."
Tom had assured his adherents that death had no power over him; that
even though he might seem to die he would rise again in a month, if a
little water were applied to his lips. Accordingly, for a considerable
time after he was buried, the ignorant people waited in lively
expectation that he would reappear.
Of the prisoners, Meares and Wills were ordered to be transported for
life; Price for ten years. The other seven were to undergo one year's
imprisonment with hard labour. A pension of £40 per annum was granted
to the widow of Meares the constable.
Good comes out of evil, and one result of this lamentable affair was
that attention was drawn to the abysmal ignorance of the peasantry of
the Blean, and that schools were at once erected at Dunkirk, to
introduce a better knowledge and sense into the heads of the rising
generation.
A full account of the whole affair was published at Faversham directly
after the event, of which this is the title: "An account of the
desperate affray which took place in Blean Wood, near Boughton,
Thursday, 31st May, 1838, between a party of agricultural labourers,
headed by the self-styled Sir William Courtenay, and a detachment of the
45th Regiment of Foot, commanded by Major Elliott Armstrong, acting
under the orders of the County Magistrates, together with the whole of
the evidence taken before T. T. Delasaux, Esq., coroner, the Rev. Dr.
Bow, N. J. Knatchbull, Esq., and W. C. Fairman, Esq., drawn from
authentic documents. With an account of the funerals of the parties."
There is another work, a copy of which is now in the British Museum,
and is illustrated with a portrait of Tom, a plate representing the
murder of Meares, soldiers entering Bossenden Wood; the scene of
action, the "Red Lion," where the bodies lay; the interior of the
stable with six of the bodies; Sir William Courtenay as he appeared
after the post-mortem examination, and portraits of Tyler and Price,
two of the rioters. The title of the work is: "The Life and
Extraordinary Adventures of Sir William Courtenay, Knight of Malta,
_alias_ John Nichols Tom, formerly spirit merchant and maltster of
Truro in Cornwall, being a correct detail of all the incidents of his
extraordinary life, from his infancy to the dreadful battle of
Bossenden Wood ... with facsimiles of that eccentric character,
concluding with an accurate account of the trial of the rioters at the
Maidstone Assizes. By Canterburiensis. Canterbury: published by James
Hunt, and sold in London by T. Kelly, Paternoster Row, 1838."
_Passages from the Autobiography of a Man of Kent_, edited by R.
Fitzroy Stanley (i.e. Robert Coutars) 1866, may be consulted; also
_The Times_ for June, 1838.
THE BOHELLAND TRAGEDY
In the parish of Gluvias by Penryn is Bohelland. Fifty years ago there
was a ruin here of a roofless house, with the gables standing. Now all
that remains is a fragment of wall. Tradition regarding the field in
which the house stood is, that it invariably brings ill luck to him
who owns or rents it. The way from Penryn to Enys, a lane, leads by
it, and the fragment of wall abuts on the lane. Bohelland is not
marked on the one-inch, but is on the six-inch ordnance map. Anciently
it was called the Behethlan, and Gluvias Church was called Capella de
Behethlan under S. Budock.
In the possession of J. D. Enys, Esq., of Enys, is a MS. pedigree of the
family to whom Bohelland belonged. It runs as follows: "John Behethlan
was seized of lands _in agro Behethlan_, and had issue two daughters,
Margery and Joan, and the said Margery took to husband Roger
Polwheyrell, and had issue Nicholas Polwheyrell; the said Nicholas
Polwheyrell had issue James Polwheyrell; the said James Polwheyrell had
issue Richard, Margery, Joan and Isabel, and the said Richard married
Maud Polgiau, and they had issue Nichola, and the said Nichola took to
husband John Penweyre, and had issue Thomas Penweyre, who died without
heirs. The said Margery took to husband Symon Martharwyler, and had
issue Elsota and Meliora. The said Elsota took to husband Nicholas
Mantle, now living, and had issue Isabel, who took to husband John
Restaden, now living. The said Meliora took to husband Michael John,
vicar,[36] and had issue Joan, Elizabeth, and Margaret.
"The said Joan took to husband Hugh Sandre, now living. The said
Elizabeth took to husband Laurence Michell, now living; the said
Margaret took to husband James Curallak, now living. The said Joan,
second daughter of the said James Polwheyrell, took to husband John
Trelecoeth, and had issue Marina and Joan. The said Isabel, third
daughter of the said James, took to husband William son of John
Tryarne, and died without issue."
Unfortunately this pedigree does not contain a single date, but we
should obtain one approximately by the marriage of Meliora, daughter
of Simon Martharwyla, with Michael John, vicar, if we could trace him.
With her descended the inheritance of Behethlan to her daughter Joan
who married Hugh Sandry.
The story of the Bohelland or Behethlan tragedy is contained in a
pamphlet of eight leaves, black letter, and accompanied by rude
woodcuts, entitled _News from Penrin, in Cornwall, 1618_. A unique
copy is in the Bodleian Library.
Sanderson, in his _Annals of King James_, 1656, gives the same story.
Sir William Sanderson says that "the imprinted relation conceals the
names, in favour of some neighbours of repute and kin to the family,"
and that "the same sense made him thereon silent also."
Now, according to the story, there were four deaths, one a murder, and
two by suicide, and one might expect to obtain these names from the
parish register. But this register, which goes back into the middle
of the sixteenth century, has the page or pages removed for the
burials of 1618; that is to say, from the first days of 1618 to the
middle of 1621. This looks much as if the family sought to destroy
every trace of the crime.
Hals, in his MS. _History of Cornwall_, under the head of Gluvias, does
not mention Bohelland. There is no help to be obtained from the title
deeds of the estate. Our sole clue is the descent in the pedigree.
Meliora, who married Michael John, vicar, cannot have done this before
the reign of Edward VI, and it is not probable that the marriage took
place till that of Elizabeth. They were not married at Gluvias, and
Michael John was not the vicar then. Now the pedigree carries down the
descent, with possession of Bohelland to John Restadon and his wife
Isabel. The name Restadon does not occur in the Visitations of Cornwall.
The only other possible owner would be Hugh Sandry and his wife Joan,
daughter of the vicar, Michael John. But whether it were either the
Sandrys or the Restadons, or some one else, cannot be determined till
further light enters on this extremely dark occurrence.
The owner of Bohelland was a man of some consideration and substance,
"unhappy only in a younger son, who taking liberty from his father's
bounty, with a crew of like condition, that wearied on land, they went
roving to sea, and in a small vessel southward, took booty from all they
could master, and so increasing force and wealth, ventured in a Turk's
man in the Streights; but by mischance their own powder fired
themselves, and our gallant, trusting to his skilful swimming, got on
shore upon Rhodes with the best of his jewels about him; when, offering
some to sale to a Jew, who knew them to be the Governor's of Algier, he
was apprehended, and as a pirate sentenced to the gallies among other
Christians, when miserable slavery made them all studious of freedom,
and with wit and valour, took opportunity and means to murther some
officers, got on board of an English ship, and came safe to London,
where his misery and some skill made him servant to a surgeon and sudden
preferment to the East Indies. There by this means he got money, with
which, returning back, he designed himself for his native county,
Cornwall. And in a small ship from London, sailing to the west, was cast
away upon that coast. But his excellent skill in swimming and former
fate to boot, brought him safe to shore, where, since his fifteen years'
absence, his father's former fortunes much decayed, now retired him not
far off to a country habitation, in debt and danger.
"His sister he finds married to a mercer, a meaner match than her
birth promised. To her at first he appears a poor stranger, but in
private reveals himself, and withall what jewels and gold he had
concealed in a bow-case about him, and concluded that the next day he
intended to appear to his parents, and to keep his disguise till she
and her husband should meet, and make their common joy complete.
"Being come to his parents, his humble behaviour, suitable to his suit
of clothes, melted the old couple to so much compassion as to give him
covering from the cold season under their outward roof, and by degrees
his travelling tales, told with passion to the aged people, made him
their guest so long by the kitchen fire, that the husband took his
leave and went to bed, and soon after, his true stories working
compassion in the weaker vessel, she wept, and so did he; but,
compassionate of her tears, he comforted her with a piece of gold,
which gave assurance that he deserved a lodging, to which she brought
him; and, being in bed, showed her his girdled wealth, which he said
was sufficient to relieve her husband's wants, and to spare for
himself, and being very weary, fell fast asleep.
"The wife, tempted with the golden bait of what she had, and eager of
enjoying all, awakened her husband with this news, and her contrivance
what to do; and though with horrid apprehensions he oft refused, yet
her puling fondness (Eve's enchantments) moved him to consent, and
rise to be master of all, and both of them to murder the man, which
instantly they did, covering the corpse under the clothes till
opportunity to convey it out of the way.
"The early morning hastens the sister to her father's house, when she,
with signs of joy, enquires for a sailor that should lodge there the
last night. The parents slightly denied to have seen such, until she
told them that he was her brother, her lost brother. By that assured
scar upon his arm, cut with a sword in his youth, she knew him, and
were all resolved this morning to meet there and be merry.
"The father hastily runs up, finds the mark, and with horrid regret of
this monstrous murder of his own son, with the same knife cuts his own
throat.
"The wife went up to consult with him, when in a most strange manner
beholding them both in blood, and aghast, with the instrument at hand,
readily rips herself up, and perishes on the same spot.
"The daughter, doubting the delay of their absence, searches for them
all, whom she found out too soon, and with the sad sight of this
scene, and being overcome with horror and amaze of this deluge of
destruction, she sank down and died; the fatal end of that family."
There are several points in this narrative that awaken mistrust. How
is the story of the son's life known? He tells it to his sister, but
she dies. Then we have an account of what went on in the house between
the parents and the son, and the wife urging her husband to commit the
murder. As both killed themselves on discovering what they had done,
all this part must be painted in by guesswork.
That there is a substratum of fact cannot be doubted. The mysterious
mutilation of the parish register for the year of the murder indicates
a desire that the names might not be known.
Lillo turned the story into a tragedy, _The Fatal Curiosity_, 1736.
According to him the name of the family was Wilmot. He took a slight
liberty with the story, in that he made the returned sailor present
himself to the girl he had loved fifteen years before, and not to his
sister. But he laid the scene at Penryn.
FOOTNOTE:
[36] No such a vicar was in Gluvias or is known to have been in
Cornwall in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
MARY KELYNACK
The Kelynack family has been one of fishermen and seamen at Newlyn and
its neighbourhood for many generations.
Philip Kelynack was the first to fly to the rescue of John Wesley when
pursued by a mob while preaching on the Green between Newlyn and
Penzance 12th July, 1747. He was a remarkably powerful man, and was
known by the name of Old Bunger. His son Charles was the first to engage
the Mount's Bay boatmen to take part in the Irish Sea fishing in 1720.
Mary, the subject of this notice, was the daughter of Nicholas Tresize
and the wife of William Kelynack. She was born at Tolcarne, in Madron,
1766.
In 1851 was the Great Exhibition in London, and the tidings of opening
of a Crystal Palace and the wonders that it contained reached to the
extremity of Cornwall. Said Mary Kelynack, "I'll go and see'n too, I
reckon!" and away she trudged.
The _Illustrated London News_ for October 26th, 1851, gives the
following account of her:--
"On Tuesday, September 24th, among the visitors of the Mansion House
was Mary Callinack, eighty-four years of age, who had travelled on
foot from Penzance, carrying a basket on her head, with the object of
visiting the Exhibition and of paying her respects personally to the
Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress. As soon as the ordinary business was
finished the aged woman entered the justice-room, when the Lord Mayor,
addressing her, said, 'Well, I understand, Mrs. Callinack, you have
come to see me?'
[Illustration: MARY KELYNACK]
"She replied, 'Yes, God bless you. I never was in such a place before
as this. I have come up asking for a small sum of money, I am, sir.'
"The Lord Mayor: 'Where do you come from?'
"Mrs. C.: 'From the Land's End.'
"The Lord Mayor: 'From what part?'
"Mrs. C.: 'Penzance.'
"She then stated that she left Penzance five weeks ago, and had been
the whole of that time walking to the metropolis.
"The Lord Mayor: 'What induced you to come to London?'
"Mrs. C.: 'I had a little matter to attend to as well as to see the
Exhibition. I was there yesterday, and mean to go again to-morrow.'
"The Lord Mayor: 'What do you think of it?'
"Mrs. C.: 'I think it very good.'"
She then said that all her money was spent but 5-1/2d. After a little
further conversation, which caused considerable merriment, the Lord
Mayor made her a present of a sovereign, telling her to take care of
it, there being a good many thieves in London. The poor creature, on
receiving the gift, burst into tears and said, "Now I will be able to
get back."
She was afterwards received by the Lady Mayoress, with whom she remained
some time, and having partaken of tea in the housekeeper's room, which
she said she preferred to the choicest wine in the kingdom (which latter
beverage she had not tasted for sixty years), she returned thanks for
the hospitality she had received and left the Mansion House.
Her next visit was to the Exhibition.
She was also presented to the Queen and to Prince Albert, and there
is mention of this presentation in Sir Theodore Martin's _Life of the
Prince Consort_ (1876), II, p. 405.