There is a reward of 350_l._ for taking him. He hath on a
whitish fustian frock, with bastard pearl buttons, and a
blue riding-coat.
Although no one ventured to justify the violence, and especially the
murders committed by Rogers, yet long within my remembrance a strong
feeling of compassion was generally entertained for him. One of his
sons lived to a very advanced age at Penzance, where he procured a
scanty living as a saddler, merely employed, I believe, from kindness.
In October 1812 I had a long conversation with this old man about his
father; and the following are minutes made on the occasion:
“On the 30th of October, 1812, I called on Mr. Henry Rogers,
formerly a saddler at Penzance, but then residing there in
great poverty, being supported by a small allowance from a
club, and by half-a-crown a week given him by the
corporation, nominally for yielding up the possession of a
house, but in truth to prevent his becoming a common pauper.
“Mr. Henry Rogers was then eighty-four years of age, and
remembered the unfortunate transactions at Skewis perfectly
well; he was between seven and eight years old at the time.
He recollected going out with his father into the court
after there had been some firing. His father had a gun in
his hand, and inquired what they wanted. On this his father
was fired at, and had a snuff-box and powder-horn broken in
his pocket by a ball, whilst he stood on the other side.
“He recollected that whilst he himself was in the bed,
several balls came in through the window of the room, and
after striking against the wall rolled about on the floor.
“One brother and a sister, who were in the house, went out
to inquire what was wanted of their father, and they were
not permitted to return.
“On the last night, no one remained in the house but his
father, himself, and the servant-maid. In the middle of the
night they all went out, and got some distance from the
house. In crossing a field, however, they were met by two
soldiers, who inquired their business, &c. The maid answered
that they were looking for a cow, when they were permitted
to proceed. The soldiers had their arms, and his father had
his gun. The maid and himself were left at a farm-house in
the neighbourhood, and Mr. Rogers proceeded on his way
towards London. Mr. Henry Rogers said that he was born in
Crowan, and he apprehended so were most of the children;
that his father, although bred a pewterer, had for many
years occupied land in that parish.”
All these circumstances, after so long an interval, were related to me
by the old man with tears in his eyes.
It is curious to compare this account of the escape of one man, a
woman, and a child, with the proclamation of the next day.
On the 8th of January, 1816, I called at Skewis, and saw several holes
in the partitions, made by shot of different sizes, when Mr. Henry
Rogers resisted the law in 1735.
I have an extract from a letter written by a Cornish gentleman in May
1735, who states that he had seen Rogers in the prison at Salisbury,
when he seemed to rejoice in what he had done. And I have found in an
account-book of my great uncle, Mr. Henry Davies, the following
receipt:
“1st July 1735. Received of Mr. Henry Davies, towards the
taking of Henry Rogers, two pounds two shillings, per
Francis Arthur.”
A print of Rogers was soon after published with the following legend:
“Henry Rogers lived at a village called Skewis. He was so
ignorant of the reason as well as of the power of the law,
that when a decree in Chancery went against him, he resisted
all remonstrances, and fortified his house, making loopholes
for his muskets, through which he shot two men of the posse
comitatus who attended the Under-sheriff. A little after he
shot one Hitchens, as he was passing the high road on his
private business. He also fired through the window and
killed one Toby, and would not suffer his body to be taken
away to be buried for some days. At length the neighbouring
justices of the peace assisted the constables, and procured
an aid of some soldiers, one of whom he killed, and
afterwards made his escape; but at Salisbury, on his way
towards London, he was apprehended and brought down to
Cornwall, when at the assizes in August 1735 five bills of
indictment were found againt him by the grand jury for the
five murders aforesaid; to save the court time he was tried
only on three of them, and found guilty of every one, before
Lord Chief Justice Hardwick. As he lay in gaol after his
conviction, the Under-sheriff coming in, he attempted to
seize his sword, with a resolution to kill him; swearing he
should die easy if he could succeed in that design. He was
attended by several clergymen; but they could make no
impression on his brutal stupidity, and he died at the
gallows without any remorse.”
Extract made at the British Museum July the 8th, 1812, from the Weekly
Miscellany, by Richard Hooker, of the Middle Temple, Esq. for Saturday
Aug. the 9th, 1735, No. CXXXIX.
Launceston, August 1.
This day came on before the Lord Chief Justice Hardwick, the
trials of Henry Rogers and John Street, one of his
assistants, for murders committed in opposing the Sheriff of
Cornwall in the execution of his office.
Rogers was arraigned upon five indictments, and Street upon
two. The trials began about seven in the morning and ended
about two in the afternoon. Rogers was tried upon the three
first indictments, and being found guilty on all three, the
Court thought it unnecessary to proceed upon the other two.
Street was found guilty of the two indictments against him.
And they both received sentence of death before the Court
rose.
The Counsel for the king were Mr. Serjeant Chapple, Mr.
Fortescue, jun. The Counsel for the criminals Mr. Pratt and
Mr. Draper. The Solicitor for the Treasury Richard Paxton,
Esq. was also there on the part of the Crown, he being sent
down purposely to prosecute the affair.
* * * * *
At the assizes at Launceston Henry Rogers and John Street
received sentence of death for a murder they committed in
opposing the Sheriff of Cornwall in the execution of his
office, and were executed on the 6th of August 1735. They
seemed very penitent, particularly Rogers, who did not care
for any sustenance but bread and water. He said he was
guilty of one of the murders, but knew nothing of the other;
but had it been in his power he would have killed as many
more, and thought he committed no crime. Street, who was his
servant, had little to say, but that what he did was to
defend his master, and he was willing to die, for by the
course of years he could not live much longer, and he hoped
God would receive his poor soul.
And lastly, I subjoin an address to the parish of Crowan, by Sir John
St. Aubyn, the gentleman whom I have mentioned as one of the opponents
of Sir Robert Walpole’s administration.
“As I am obliged to attend at the assizes, I must earnestly
recommend the care of the parish in my absence to you, and
hope that you will do your endeavours to prevent the very
great expense and mischief which must otherwise fall upon
us; although you do not at present seem to perceive the
danger that threatens us; for the outrage and murder which
happened in our parish have justly alarmed the government,
and induced his majesty to issue out a proclamation, wherein
he offers a reward of two hundred pounds for apprehending
Henry Rogers, and one hundred pounds for each of the other
offenders, together with a pardon to any who shall discover
and apprehend them. He likewise commands all civil
magistrates, upon pain of his majesty’s displeasure, to be
diligent in suppressing this riot, and bringing the authors
of it to the punishment which their crimes deserve. In
obedience to this, I think myself obliged, in the faithful
discharge of my duty for the preservation of the public
peace, and the good of our own parish in particular, to
admonish you and the principal inhabitants of it, to give me
your aid and assistance in this dangerous and troublesome
affair. His Majesty, as he declares in the proclamations,
being firmly resolved to put an effectual stop to such
enormous practices, hath by his warrant from the Secretary
of War, sent orders to the commanders of regiments of
soldiers at Exeter, to send to the Sheriff so many soldiers
as he shall require and think sufficient to suppress this
notorious violation of the laws of the land, and which
certainly will be done by force of arms, if it cannot be
stopped by a gentle and careful process. This is a true and
exact state of cause; and whoever considers it with due
temper, must be filled with the most melancholy
apprehensions of the mischief that must happen, if every
good subject and Christian does not endeavour to keep off
this evil, by endeavouring, as far as his influence can
prevail, to make the usual method of bringing crimes to
justice effectual. It is for this reason I now write this
letter to you, which I hope you will read with serious
attention more than once, that it may have a good effect
upon you. I myself can foresee, and I wish you likewise
could, the dreadful inconvenience and expense of a regiment
of soldiers sent down and quartered upon us; particularly
this parish, being the unfortunate place of this disorder,
must, in a much heavier manner, feel the burthen of it.
Consider the charges and the trouble of having every house
in the parish filled with soldiers; consider what must be
the consequence of abetting and supporting Rogers, whose
house will be fired about his ears, and those lives which
may be lost if he continues in his extravagance. Take
notice, that I have done my duty as justice of the peace and
a parishioner; and if you all likewise do yours, by
encouraging a proper subjection to authority, and aiding the
civil magistrates in discovering and bringing the offenders
to justice, these dismal calamities may be prevented. I
think more reasonable to advise you of this, because there
is too general a mistake and prejudice, or rather vicious
encouragement shown, and that too by many who should and do
know better, to the unhappy author of this disturbance. To
pity the unfortunate is a virtuous character, even to those
whose vices have made them so; but at the same time we ought
to detect their crimes, and it is for the public good they
should be punished; and this consideration ought to prevail
over the concern we may feel for a private person. Murder is
a crime of the basest nature, and what the law in common
cases never forgives; but when it is committed on any
officer in the execution of his duty, and in supporting the
usurpation of another’s right, and what the law shall
determine such, it is certainly a more complicated guilt.
Whosoever abets a murderer, or does what he can to conceal
and defend him from justice, is in the eye of God a murderer
himself in cold blood. To justify a murderer is the
strongest indication of a most base temper; and whosoever
does not cry out against the misguided spirit of the people
in behalf of Henry Rogers, deserves that character. Whilst
the lawsuit was depending all people were at liberty to
weigh on either side. It does at first sight seem a little
hard that one brother should give away an estate from
another; and there must be some strong provocation to make
it appear reasonable; but the circumstances of the whole
case are not known, and therefore no man is able to form a
true judgement of it; not even to pass harsh censures on
particular persons; but when the law has determined right,
all people must submit to that determination; otherwise no
man is secure in his property, but a number of idle resolute
fellows may wrest it from him, and declare that in their
opinion he has an unjust title to it. So that if you give
your estate by will unequally among your children, as they
may have behaved more or less dutiful to you, that which has
the least may take the other’s part from him; or another
relation may possibly hire such another mob, to take away
the whole from them. We shall not at such times see property
determined by judge and jury, but by force of arms; and the
richest and most powerful man will be able to swallow up all
the estates of his lesser neighbours. The law is the only
protection of our lives and estates, and if that is once set
aside, we must hold them only by the base sanction of a
giddy rabble. The law therefore should be strictly
maintained by all such who have any possessions. The
inferior people indeed, who have nothing to lose, will be at
all times for breaking down the fences, that they may have
some share of the common plunder. I should mention one
instance. Suppose any of you had bought this estate of the
late Rogers, being advised by your lawyer that he had the
power to sell it, (which he certainly had, as the law has
declared he had a right of giving it away,) you would then
think it very hard that the present Rogers, with his wicked
crew, should come and take it away by force, and afterwards
keep it as he now does. Suppose the money you paid him for
it he gave to his widow; should you in such a case agree
that ’tis his brother’s right to have the estate? Let every
one make this his own case.
“I believe you all honest men, and wo’nt suspect any one of
you of justifying this affair; but I have put these
arguments into your mouths to warn other people from this
vicious way of thinking, and that you may exert yourselves
in keeping this hardship from the parish, from which I could
never learn this Rogers deserved so much kindness as to
suffer on his account; for he never paid church, priest, or
poor, when he was in possession of the estate, and withheld
from many their just due. The character of the honest and
just man is to relieve the poor, to pity the unfortunate;
but to use their utmost endeavours to punish the guilty, and
to recommend and enforce an obedience to the laws of the
land, which are the only protection of our lives and
properties.”
I am, gentlemen,
Your friend and servant,
JOHN ST. AUBYN.
The church of Crowan was given, by William Earl of Gloucester, to the
priory of St. James in Bristol (which was a cell to Tewkesbury Abbey),
and confirmed by Henry II. It contains a series of monuments to the
family of St. Aubyn, which are engraved in thirteen plates in Mr.
Polwhele’s History of Cornwall. There was formerly a chapel of ease at
Binnerton, of which there are no remains. The charity-school in this
parish was endowed with the interest of 100_l._ by the St. Aubyn
family, about the year 1830.
This parish contains 6742 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815. 13,175 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 1,588 17 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 2587 | 3021 | 3973 | 4332;
giving an increase of nearly 67½ per cent. in 30 years.
Parish Feast the nearest Sunday to the 1st of February.
Present Vicar, the Rev. William Grylle, presented by Sir John St.
Aubyn in 1828.