of March, succeeded to his father's title and claimed the right to the
English crown. On Palm Sunday, March 21st, 1461, the forces of the Red and
the White Roses met at Towton-field. The battle raged during a blinding
snowstorm, and the Yorkists gained a complete victory. Edward then
proceeded to York and entered by Micklegate Bar. Here the saddening sight
of the head of his father and other brave men who had fallen fighting for
his cause were displayed, also that of his brother. He had them removed,
and in their stead, to still keep up the ghastly show, were placed the
heads of his foes at Towton, and amongst the number the Earl of
Devonshire, Sir William Hill, the Earl of Kyme, and Sir Thomas Foulford.
Shakespeare notices this act of retaliation in _Henry VI._ (Part III., Act
II., Scene 6).
"_Warwick_: From off the gates of York fetch down the head,
Your father's head, which Clifford placed there:
Instead thereof, let this supply the room;
Measure for measure must be answered."
Edward had the heads of his father and his brother taken to Pontefract,
placed with their bodies, and then with great pomp the remains were
removed to the church at Fotheringay and there reinterred.
An attempt was made in 1569 to dethrone Elizabeth, and place in her stead
Mary Queen of Scots. The leaders of the revolt were the Earls of
Northumberland and Westmoreland. It ended in failure, and was the last
trial with arms to restore the Papal power in England. The leaders for a
time made their escape, but the government, with a vengeance that has
seldom been equalled, cruelly punished the masses. Men were hanged at
every market-cross and village-green from Wetherby to Newcastle, the large
part of the north from whence the rebels had come. The Earl of
Northumberland managed to evade capture for nearly two years by hiding in
a wretched cottage. He was betrayed and brought to York. On August 22nd,
1572, he was beheaded, and he died, we are told, "Avowing the Pope's
supremacy, and denying subjection to the Queen, affirming the land to be
in a schism, and her obedient subjects little better than heretics." The
Earl's head was spiked above Micklegate Bar, where it remained for about a
couple of years, and then it was stolen in the night by persons unknown.
After the defeat of the Jacobites at Culloden on April 16th, 1746, the
Duke of Cumberland on his route to London visited York, and left behind
him a number of prisoners. On November 1st, ten of the rebels were hanged,
drawn, and quartered, and a week later eleven more suffered a similar
fate. The head of one of the unfortunate men, that of Captain Hamilton,
was sent to Carlisle. The heads of Conolly and Mayne were spiked over
Micklegate Bar, York, and eight years later were stolen. A reward was
offered for the detection of the offenders. The following is a copy of the
notice issued:--
"York, Guildhall, Feb. 4, 1754.
"Whereas on Monday night, or Tuesday morning last, the heads of two of
the rebels, which were fixed upon poles on the top of Micklegate Bar,
in this City, were wilfully and designedly taken down, and carried
away: If any person or persons (except the person or persons who
actually took down and carried away the same) will discover the person
or persons who were guilty of so unlawful and audacious an action, or
anywise hiding or assisting therein, he, she, or they shall, upon the
conviction of the offenders, receive a reward of Ten Pounds from the
Mayor and Commonality of the City of York.
"By order of the said Mayor and said Commonality, JOHN RAPER, Common
Clerk of the said City and County of the same."
A tailor named William Arundel and an accomplice were found guilty of the
crime. In addition to being fined, Arundel was committed to prison for
two years.
This last act closes a long and painful chapter in our history. Many of
our larger old English towns have their gruesome tales of Rebel Heads on
their chief gates.
Burial at Cross Roads.
It was customary in the olden time when a person committed suicide to bury
the body at the meeting of four cross roads. We are told by writers who
have paid special attention to this subject, that this strange mode of
burial was confined to the humbler members of society. A careful
consideration of this matter, from particulars furnished by parish
registers and from other old-time records and writings, confirms the
statement. Shakespeare, in the grave scene in _Hamlet_, puts into the
mouths of the clowns who are preparing the grave of Ophelia something to
the same effect. Here are his words:--
SECOND CLOWN: But is this law?
FIRST CLOWN: Ay, marry, is't; crowner's quest law.
SECOND CLOWN: Will you ha' the truth on't If this had not been a
gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o' Christian burial.
FIRST CLOWN: Why, there thou say'st; and the more pity that great folk
should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves more
than their even Christian (that is, their equal fellow Christian).
Bearing somewhat on this subject, there is a striking passage in Hone's
"Every Day Book." Mention is first made of a fatal duel in 1803. It
appears two military officers quarrelled and fought at Primrose Hill,
because their dogs had quarrelled in Hyde Park. Moralising on the fatal
event, the writer concludes his reflections as follows:--"The humble
suicide is buried with ignominy in a cross road, and the finger-post marks
his grave for public scorn. The proud duellist reposes in a Christian
grave beneath marble, proud and daring as himself." The more humane of our
countrymen condemned burial at cross roads, and a much needed reform was
brought about. Before reproducing the Act of Parliament respecting the
burial of suicides it will not be without interest to give details of a
few burials in the highways.
Mr. Simpson in his interesting volume of Derby gleanings, states that on
the 10th of July, 1618, "an old incorrigible rogue cut his own throat in
the County Gaol, and was buried in Green Lane, Derby." We have not any
particulars of this "incorrigible rogue." He would doubtless be interred
at night, and a stake driven through his body.
The parish register of West Hallam, in the same county, supplies another
instance of burial at four lane ends. The entry reads thus;--"1698,
Katharine, the wife of Tho. Smith, als Cutler, was found _felo de se_ by
ye Coroner's inquest, and interred in ye cross ways near ye wind mill on
ye same day." The local historian is silent respecting this case of
suicide, and all that is now known of the poor woman's sad end is
contained in the parish register.
It is recorded in a Norwich newspaper, of 1728, that the body of a
hat-presser, after a verdict of _felo de se_, was accordingly buried in
the highway.
Not far from Boston is a thorn tree known as the "Hawthorn tree," which is
represented in a pretty picture in Pishey Thompson's well-known "History
and Antiquities of Boston" (1856). It is in the parish of Fishtoft, and at
the intersections of the Tower Lane and the road to Fishtoft Church by the
low road to Freiston. "This tree," says Thompson, "is traditionally stated
to have been originally a stake driven into the grave of a (female)
suicide, who was buried at cross roads." The story is generally believed
in the Boston district, although Mr. William Stevenson in a learned paper
in "Bygone Lincolnshire," vol. II., p. 212, states as far as concerns the
hawthorn growing from a stake driven into the ground the tradition has no
foundation in fact.
Mr. John Higson took interest in Lancashire lore, and from his gleanings
we draw the following particulars of the suicide and burial of James Hill,
a Droylsden innkeeper. He tells us that the poor fellow was inflamed with
jealousy, suddenly disappeared, and about a fortnight afterwards was found
hung or strangled in a tree in Newton Wood, near Hyde. A coroner's inquest
pronounced it an act of suicide, and in accordance with the verdict, the
corpse was interred on the 21st May, 1774, at the three-lane-ends, near
the brook, close by the present Commercial Inn, Newton Moor. Much sympathy
was exhibited towards Hill in Droylsden, and a band of resolute fellows,
about three o'clock on the morning of the 5th June, disinterred his
remains, and re-buried them in Ashton churchyard. A woman who casually met
them spread the information, and they were glad to convey back the body on
the 18th of the same month, when the final interment took place at Newton
Moor. A number of Droylsdenians joined to defray the expense of a
gravestone, on which the following epitaph was written by Joseph Willan,
of Openshaw, and was neatly engraved:--
Here is Deposited the Body of the unfortunate
JAMES HILL,
Late of Droylsden, who ended his Life May 6th, 1774,
In the forty-second year of his age.
Unhappy Hill, with anxious Cares oppress'd,
Rashly presumed to find Death his Rest.
With this vague Hope in Lonesome Wood did he
Strangle himself, as Jury did agree;
For which Christian burial he's denied,
And is consign'd to Lie at this wayside.
Reader!
Reflect what may be the consequences of a crime, which excludes the
possibility of repentance.
In old parish registers we have found records of burials at cross roads,
and Lancashire history furnishes several examples.
It is stated in "Legends and Superstitions of the County of Durham," by
William Brockie, published in 1886, that in the Mile End Road, South
Shields, at the corner of the left-hand side going northward, just
adjoining Fairless's old ballast way, lies the body of a suicide, with a
stake driven through it. It is, I believe, a poor baker, who put an end to
his existence seventy or eighty years ago, and who was buried in this
frightful manner, at midnight, in unconsecrated ground. The top of the
stake used to rise a foot or two above the ground within the last thirty
years, and boys used to amuse themselves by standing with one foot upon
it.
Considerable consternation was caused in London towards the close of 1811
on account of certain murders. The foul deeds were committed by an
Irishman called John Williams. He was arrested, and during his confinement
in Coldbathfields committed suicide. His remains were buried in Cannon
Street, and a stake was driven through the body.
Many curious items dealing with this custom may be found in the columns of
old newspapers. The following particulars, for example, are drawn from the
_Morning Post_, of 27th April, 1810:--"The officers appointed to execute
the ceremony of driving the stake through the dead body of James Cowling,
a deserter from the London Militia, who deprived himself of existence by
cutting his throat at a public-house in Gilbert Street, Clare Market, in
consequence of which a verdict of self-murder, very properly delayed the
business until twelve o'clock on Wednesday night, when the deceased was
buried in the cross roads at the end of Blackmoor Street, Clare Market."
The most painful case which has come under our notice occurred at
Newcastle-on-Tyne. Martha Wilson, the widow of a seaman, was last seen
alive by her neighbours on Sunday, the 13th April, 1817, and on the
following Tuesday she was found dead, suspended from a cord tied to a nail
in her room at the Trinity House. She was subject to fits of melancholy,
and had threatened to destroy herself. On the Wednesday following an
inquest was held, and the jury returned a verdict of _felo de se_. Her
mortal remains were buried in the public highway at night, and the strange
sight was watched by a large gathering of the public. After a stake had
been driven through the body of the poor widow the grave was closed.
The last interment at cross roads in London of which we have been able to
discover any account occurred in June, 1823, when a man named Griffiths,
who had committed suicide, was buried at the junction of Eaton Street and
Grosvenor Place and the King's Road. The burial took place about half-past
one in the morning, and the old practice of driving a stake through the
body in this case was not performed.
Perhaps the few particulars we have given will be sufficient to fully
illustrate the old-time custom of the burial of suicides at cross roads.
At last the impropriety of the proceedings was forced upon Parliament, and
on the 8th July, 1823, the Royal Assent was given to an Act "to alter and
amend the law relating to the interment of the remains of any person found
_felo de se_." The statute is brief, consisting of only two clauses,
viz.:--
1. That after the passing of this Act, it shall not be lawful for any
coroner, or any other person having authority to hold inquests, to
issue any warrant or other process directing the interment of the
remains of persons against whom a finding of _felo de se_ shall be
had, in any public highway, but that such coroner or other officer
shall give directions for the private interment of the remains of such
person _felo de se_, without any stake being driven through the body
of such person, in the churchyard, or other burial ground of the
parish or place in which the remains of such person might by the laws
or custom of England be interred, if the verdict of _felo de se_ had
not been found against such person; such interment to be made within
twenty-four hours of the finding of the inquisition, and to take place
between the hours of nine and twelve at night.
2. Provided, nevertheless, that nothing herein contained shall
authorise the performing of any of the rites of Christian burial, or
the interment of the remains of any such person as aforesaid; nor
shall anything hereinbefore contained be taken to alter the laws or
usages relating to the burial of such persons, except so far as
relates to the interment of such remains in such churchyard or burial
ground, at such time and in such a manner as aforesaid.
Another change was brought about in 1882 respecting the burial of
suicides. We gather from "The Chronicles of Twyford," by F. J. Snell,
M.A., that in the closing days of 1881 a factory operative, of
irreproachable character, with his own hand took his life. The jury
returned a verdict of _felo de se_, adding a rider to the effect that it
was committed whilst the deceased was under great mental depression. "It
was necessary," says Mr. Snell, "in order to comply with the requirements
of the law, that the interment should take place between the hours of 9
p.m. and midnight, and also within twenty-four hours of the issuing of the
coroner's warrant. In this case it was issued about eight o'clock in the
evening. The Superintendent of the Police was obliged to arrange for the
funeral the same night. Some delay was caused through the absence of the
cemetery keeper from home, but about 10 p.m. two excavators commenced
digging the grave in a remote corner of the cemetery, and the interment
took place a few minutes before midnight." After the burial, the pastor of
the church with which the poor man was associated offered an extempore
prayer. It is recorded that a large number of spectators watched with deep
interest the proceedings, and that extreme indignation was felt throughout
the town. In the following year, the two members for Tiverton introduced a
bill into the House of Commons "to amend the law relating to the interment
of any person found _felo de se_." The effect of the measure was to repeal
the enactments requiring hurried burial without religious rites, and to
sanction the interment "in any of the ways prescribed or authorised by the
Burial Laws Amendment Act of 1880."
Detaining the Dead for Debt.
On the Continent, in Prussia for example, it was formerly the practice to
detain the dead for debt. A belief long prevailed that such proceedings
were legal in England, and in not a few cases, acting upon this
supposition, corpses have been arrested, and in more instances precautions
have been taken to avoid such painful events.
The earliest record we have found on this theme occurs in the parish
register of Sparsholt, Berkshire. "The corpse of John Matthews, of
Fawler," it is stated, "was stopt on the churchway for debt, August 27,
1689. And having laine there fower days, was, by Justices' warrant,
buryied in the place to prevent annoyances--but about sixe weeks after, by
an Order of Sessions, taken up and buried in the churchyard by the wife of
the deceased."
In the churchyard of North Wingfield, Derbyshire, a gravestone bears the
following inscription:--
In Memory of
THOMAS,
Son of JOHN and MARY CLAY,
Who departed this life December 16th, 1724,
In the 40th year of his age.
What though no mournful kindred stand
Around the solemn bier,
No parents wring the trembling hand,
Or drop the silent tear.
No costly oak adorned with art
My weary limbs enclose,
No friends impart a winding sheet
To deck my last repose.
The circumstances which led to the foregoing epitaph are thus narrated.
Thomas Clay was a man of intemperate habits, and at the time of his death
was indebted to Adlington, the village inn-keeper, to the amount of twenty
pounds. The publican resolved to seize the body; but the parents of the
deceased carefully kept the door locked until the day appointed for the
funeral. As soon as the door was opened, Adlington rushed into the house
and seized the corpse, and placed it on a form in the open street. Clay's
friends refused to pay the publican's account, and after the body had been
exposed for several days, the inn-keeper buried it in a bacon chest.
This subject has received attention in the pages of _Notes and Queries_,
and in the issue of May 2nd, 1896, the following appeared:--"At
Brandeston, Suffolk," said a contributor, "there is a well-authenticated
story of the body of the 'old squire,' Mr. John Revett or Rivett, who died
in 1809, being removed secretly at night, by some of the servants and
tenantry, from the library at Brandeston Hall, where it lay, to the church
of Brandeston, which is in the park close by the Hall. Mr. Revett, like
many of the family, had been very extravagant, keeping his own pack of
hounds, etc.; and what with elections and unlimited hospitality, had got
heavily into debt, and had involved the old family estate so, that
Brandeston and Cretingham, which had been in the Revett family from 1480,
got into Chancery after his death, and passed out of the family in 1830,
or thereabouts. The belief of the people, with whom the old squire was
very popular, was that if the body was not removed to the sanctuary it
would be seized for debt; hence their action." A son of one of the old
servants, whose father assisted in carrying the body to the church,
related the story in 1895 to the correspondent of _Notes and Queries_. It
is well known in the village.
The most painful case of arresting a dead body which has come under our
notice, is that of John Elliott, in 1811. The particulars are given in the
"Annual Register," and also in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for that year,
but not so fully nor correctly as in a newspaper report of that period,
which is reproduced in the pages of _Notes and Queries_ for March 28th,
1896. The facts of the case are as follow:--John Elliott, at the time of
his death, on October 3rd, 1811, was indebted to Baker, a bricklayer, and
Heasman, a carpenter, a small sum for work done. These two men, with two
sheriffs' officers, on Monday, October 7th, proceeded to the house where
Elliott lay dead, and were there met by the son of the deceased. He stated
that his father was dead. The officers informed him that they had a
warrant to arrest the deceased, and asked where the body lay. The son
pointed out the room, saying the door was locked, and his mother had gone
out and taken the key, but was expected every minute. After waiting a few
minutes, one of the men violently kicked the door, broke it open, and
entered the room where the body lay in a coffin. The body was identified,
and possession taken of it. The interment was fixed by the family for the
following Wednesday, and at four o'clock on that day, the undertaker and
his man arrived for the purpose of removing the body to Shoreditch Church
for burial, but Baker and Heasman and the sheriffs' men entered the house
with a shell, and took it into the room where the corpse lay. After asking
the son to pay the debt and prevent his father's body being taken away,
and he replying that he was unable to discharge it, Baker and Heasman
literally crammed the naked body into the shell, and put it into a cart
before the house, where it remained over half-an-hour, attracting to the
place a large number of people who behaved in a riotous manner. The body
was then removed to Heasman's house, and placed in a cellar until October
11th, when it was conveyed by him and others to Bethnal Green, and left in
a burial vault.
Such are the details briefly stated that were given to the judge who tried
the men who committed this outrageous public indecency. The jury, after
retiring for a few minutes, returned, and awarded damages L200.
We have given at some length the foregoing case, to illustrate the lawless
condition of the country at the commencement of this century. We may
congratulate ourselves on living in happier times.
It was currently reported at the death of Sheridan, in 1816, that an
attempt would be made to detain his body for debt, but at his funeral no
such action occurred.
Mr. John Cameron, in his work issued in 1892, under the title of "The
Parish of Campsie," states that in 1824 died the Rev. James Lapslie, vicar
of the parish, who was, at the time of his death, in debt, and the
proceedings of a creditor are thus related:--"On the day of the funeral,"
says Mr. Cameron, "the body was arrested at the mouth of the open grave,
and further procedure barred by some legal process, until the arresting
creditor had satisfaction given him for the payment of the debt owing by
the deceased. Sir Samuel Stirling, sixth baronet, became security to the
arresting creditor, and the body was then consigned to the grave."
Much reliable information on old-time subjects has been carefully
chronicled by Mr. I. W. Dickinson, B.A., the author of "Yorkshire Life and
Character." He tells us that in the earlier years of the present century
it was generally believed that a corpse could be detained for debt, and it
was, in several instances in the West Riding, successfully carried out,
the friends subscribing on the spot in order to be enabled to pay their
last respects to the dead. Mr. Dickinson also tells me of another West
Riding belief, that a doctor, summoned to a sick bed, could legally take
the nearest way, even through corn fields and private grounds, or whatever
else intervened, without rendering himself liable for damages.
We gather from _Notes and Queries_ of March 28th, 1896, that the fact was
established in 1841, that the body of a debtor, dying in custody, cannot
be detained in prison after death. It appears that Scott, gaoler of
Halifax, acting for Mr. Lane Fox, the Lord of the Manor, detained the body
of one of the debtors who died in prison. It was subsequently buried in
the gaol in unconsecrated ground, on the refusal of the debtor's executors
to pay the claims that were demanded of them. Action was taken against the
gaoler, and at a trial at York Assizes he was convicted of breaking the
laws of his country.
A Nobleman's Household in Tudor Times
The Earls of Northumberland, members of the Percy family, for a long
period were a power in the north of England. Their pedigree has been
traced back to Mainfred, a Danish chieftain who rendered great service to
Rollo in the Conquest of Normandy. William de Perci, of Perci, near
Villedieu, landed on the English shore with Duke William, and for valour
at the battle of Hastings he was rewarded with extensive grants of land in
Yorkshire.