THE DARK NIGHT OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY--THE SHADOW OF NAPOLEON.
The gloom which shrouded the night and morning, the death and birth, of
the two centuries, and its terrible consequences to the people of this
country, together form an event which has no parallel in our modern
history, nor, with the possible exception of the famine years in the
fourteenth century, in any known period of our history. The whole of
the last quarter of the eighteenth century has been very well described
as a period of high prices, low wages, and of unparalleled suffering.
The war dragged on, and to make matters worse, the century closed with
a most disastrous run of bad seasons. Prices continued to rise to an
alarming height, and with it popular discontent increased so much that
George III. was mobbed, hooted, and pelted on his way to the House of
Lords! The Bank of England stopped payment in 1797, and among country
banks which did the same was Wisher's Bank at Cambridge. Consols went
down to 47 7/8. With each succeeding bad season prices continued to
rise. Those who could keep corn for the rising market reaped their
reward, not alone of extraordinary prices, but of a storm of popular
indignation, against both farmers and corn dealers, and the farmers
were threatened, and in some cases actually had the precious ricks of
grain burned, because it was alleged they had created an "artificial
scarcity."
{57}
The century closed with one of the most severe winters (1799-1800)
known for many years, and the suffering was intense. In 1800, the
harvest was spoilt by incessant rains, and during the next year wheat
reached 184s. per quarter in Mark Lane, the 4 lb. loaf went up to 1s.
10 1/2d., or about 2s. 6d. of the present money value, and other
articles, including meat, almost in proportion. After the disastrous
harvest of 1800 the year of 1801 became the "memorable year of
scarcity," in which some wheat was sold as high as 25s. a bushel, and
the average official price is given at 119s. 6d. per quarter. The
average in Royston was a little below this, but both here and at other
Hertfordshire markets the price occasionally went up to 24s. a bushel.
In November, 1800, Parliament, by means of bounties, practically
guaranteed to every person importing foreign wheat that he should be
paid 100s. per quarter for it, and proportionate rates for barley, rye,
oats, flour, rice, &c. That the foreigners did not send much, even on
these terms, is shown by the straits to make the wheaten flour hold
out. Not only did the poor suffer and have to put up with such bread
as they could get--and a large part of it was made of barley-meal,
rice, &c.--but all classes suffered. Those who "farmed the paupers"
pleaded to be released from their contracts or for special
compensation; proprietors of Boarding Schools, or "Academies," as they
were generally called, had to modify their terms and to plead for
compensation, while the King on his throne found the Civil List
insufficient even with that Spartan order adopted by His Majesty,
George III., that the bread in his household was to be made of meal and
rye mixed, and that the Royal family were to eat the same bread as
their servants.
The first traces of the hard times which closed the century occur in
Royston as early as 1795, but the worst part had not come yet. In the
following year (1796) we find the principal inhabitants in public
meeting assembled, at the Red Lion, passing sumptuary laws binding
themselves to economy in the use of wheaten flour, with a view to
reduce the consumption of wheat. The meeting set forth its opinion in
the following statement, or pledge:--
"We, the undersigned, impressed with a sense of the evils which may be
experienced by His Majesty's subjects in consequence of the deficient
supply of wheat unless timely and effectual measures are taken to
reduce the consumption thereof; Do hereby jointly and severally pledge
ourselves in the most solemn manner to Execute and maintain to the
utmost of our Power, the following Resolutions, _and also most
earnestly recommend the same to be adopted in our respective
Neighbourhoods_.
"To reduce the usual quantity of wheat consumed in our families by at
least one-third, either by limiting to that extent the quantity of {58}
fine wheaten Bread used by each, or consume only mixed Bread of which
not more than two-thirds shall be made of wheat; also if necessary
prohibit in our families the use of wheaten flour in pastry; also
resolved that all Bread given away by public charity or used in the
Workhouse shall not contain more than two-thirds parts of Wheat; also
recommended to Bakers to use same proportion in supplying the Public;
also that Overseers do not allow any Families Collection from the
parish who do not commonly use the aforesaid kind of Bread.
"Agreement to remain in force until fourteen days after opening of next
session of Parliament, unless before then price of wheat falls to 8s.
per Winchester Bushel.
"Signed by Thomas Shield (vicar), J. Wortham, John Cross, Wm. Sparke,
Saml. Maling, George Careless, John Trudgett, Thomas Cockett, Wm.
Cockett and Thos. Watson."
In November, 1799, a Vestry was called "to consider the best means of
relieving the poor during this very hard time."
"It was agreed that farmers and others employing labourers of this town
will provide for and take care of such Men, so that such Men or their
Familys be any ways Chargeable to the parish, and that a subscription
be raised for the relief of poor widows, and such as have no Masters,
and any Deficiency wanting for the latter description of people be
supplied out of the rates."
The farmers and other employers, however, did not respond sufficiently,
and in the following month (December, 1799) another vestry meeting was
held, at which it was--
"Unanimously resolved that as the present unusually high price of
nearly all the necessary provisions of Life are manifestly beyond the
power of the labouring poor to purchase by their ordinary Wages in
sufficient Quantities for the support of their Lives and the
maintenance of their Families, some effectual Assistance and Relief
must necessarily be given to them."
In January, 1800, the winter being especially severe, we find a soup
kitchen was fitted up, and in February another difficulty arose with
the Workhouse master "being unable to provide for paupers according to
contract on account of extraordinary high prices of provisions."
By April the demands upon the Overseers and Committee had become so
incessant that Robt. Hankin was appointed assistant to the Overseer at
a salary of six guineas a year. Some of the ratepayers stood out for
meeting the emergency without falling so much upon the rates, and at
the above meeting when a rate was produced to be signed for the purpose
of defraying the expense of the soup kitchen "A division arose, the
majority being in favour of the rate being signed."
{59}
With the approach of winter, things became critical, and in November we
learn that--
"A Quantity of Rice having been provided by several gentlemen of this
town who have generously offered to give up the same to the Parish at
Prime cost; Resolved that the offer be accepted and that the same be
paid for by the Overseers for the benefit of the Poor." A Committee
was formed for dispensing the same.
At this time nearly the whole of the labouring population must have
been upon the parish or next door to it, and the suffering rate-payers
made one more appeal to the farmers, for in November, at a meeting on
the subject--
"It was resolved that it be recommended to the Farmers of this Town to
allow their Labourers such wages as may prevent them from becoming
chargeable to the Parish, and it is also recommended that such Men as
belong to the Parish be employed in Preference to others."
This feeling was apparently prompted by the knowledge of the fact that
the farmers were reaping a harvest out of the famine, while other
ratepayers, such as the small tradesmen, were suffering as well as the
poor. It was not, however, every farmer who had any wheat to sell at
the famine prices then ruling, and hence any uniform plan of raising
wages became hopeless. The course taken by the farmers and others to
whom these appeals were made, was, to say the least, unfortunate, and
led to no end of trouble in after years. The parish was obliged to
step in, and to save the people from starvation, fixed a kind of
minimum scale of income upon which each family could subsist, according
to the number in family and the price of bread, and simply made up the
difference between the wages and the standard. The effect of this was
to pauperise for the time the whole labouring population, and that the
ratepayers, employing no labourers themselves, had to help to pay for
those who did!
In the evidence collected by Sir Frederick Eden in 1795 as to the
earnings and cost of maintenance of labourers' families, six families
were taken from the parish of Hinxworth, representing Hertfordshire,
and the earnings of each family averaged 12s. 6 1/2d., and their
necessary expenditure exceeded their receipts by L22 3s. 6 1/2d., or
about 9s. a week, which would have to be made up out of the rates.
Of the peculiar hardship which thus grew up a correspondent in the
_Farmers' Magazine_, for 1800, says:--"The present period to this class
(small shopkeeper, &c.) who has a cow, and while he has it cannot have
relief, is truly distressing, but as for the labouring people, _they
are all on the parish funds_." It was stated in Parliament that
farmers were making 200 per cent. profit! The probability is, however,
that the great majority of farmers had little or no corn left to sell.
{60} Here is a communication apparently from a farmer, to the same
magazine, from a provincial market:--
"I am truly concerned to inform you that the price of grain advances
every succeeding market day and that there is no prospect whatever of a
fall. Wheat 23s. to 25s. per bushel. A number of principal fanners
convened by the Mayor had agreed to sell their wheat at 21s. per
bushel. Not long adhered to, for while I and others were selling at
that price others were getting 28s., and so the matter dropped. Price
of bread now almost out of reach of the poor; we have subscribed sums
of money to purchase butcher's meat and potatoes for distribution,
leaving them to buy bread with money received from the parish. As for
rice as substitute, it, like everything else, has advanced to double
the price. Herrings are strongly recommended by the Government."
Even barley bread was not easy to obtain, and we further learn that (by
April, 1801) "the state of the poor cottager is now truly deplorable,
for though barley may still be had it is at an enormous price, and it
is impossible for labourers to provide for their families at such
prices. It is to corn merchants and dealers in grain whose very
existence they have been taught to curse and deprecate that the good
people of this country must now look for near five months to come for
subsistence." "If we have not an early harvest, God knows what will be
the consequences," is another remark of a correspondent!
The old tales of "barley bread as black as your hat," which many
persons living have heard their grandfathers speak of, were no mere
tradition, but a stern hard fact, and whenever, in that terribly
anxious spring time of 1801, the poor could get a scrap of bacon, a
dish of tops of slinging nettles was by no means an uncommon resort to
eke out the means of a precarious existence. It is hardly an
exaggeration to say that the harvest of 1801 was looked forward to with
as great a degree of anxiety as ever the children of Israel looked for
a sight of the Promised Land!
What the memorable year of scarcity really was in a locality like this
is best understood by means of the poor rate.
The poor rate in Royston was very heavy during the previous twenty
years, averaging about six or seven shilling rates in a year. In the
old Parish Books are preserved all the rates made, and the months in
which they were made, for Royston, Herts., and from these entries it is
possible to trace the effect of the scarcity for each year. In 1796
there were ten shilling rates made, in 1797 nine, in 1798 (a more
favourable year than the others) eight, after which it went up with
bounds. In 1799 the rates rose to eleven, and in 1800 to eleven 1s.
rates and three of 2s. each, or 16s. in the pound. In 1801 the demands
became so pressing that to have collected the requisite amount in
shilling rates {61} would have necessitated the making of a fresh rate
almost every fortnight all through the year! The Overseers therefore
made out the rates in 2s. at a time, and for that memorable year of
scarcity eleven 2s. rates were necessary for the relief of the poor, or
a rate of 22s. in the pound! A shilling rate produced about L42 for
Royston, Herts., at that time (now it is about L200), and the total
amount of rate required for that single year was L944 15s. 2d., or more
than three times the average of even the scarce years of the two
previous decades! The Overseers for these memorable years were Thomas
Wortham and E. K. Fordham for 1800, and Joseph Beldam and John Phillips
for 1801.
In some places in Essex the rate was as high as 48s. in the pound for
the year 1801, or more than twice the amount of the rent of the
property rated!
The highway rates, levied upon the land to make up the tolls sufficient
to repair the turnpike road from Royston to Caxton, were in arrear for
1801 and the whole of the next year!
To understand the effect of the misery upon the whole of the people,
War had brought Napoleon to the front in a manner which caused many in
England to take a gloomy view of the future, and to express the opinion
that "the sun of England's glory is set"! While British ships were
upholding British heroism in the Mediterranean, the hungry mass of the
people at home were paying more attention to the sun in the heavens and
the promise of harvest. Happily the season promised well, and in
Royston the religious bodies held special meetings in July and August
for prayer and thanksgiving for the encouraging signs of a bountiful
harvest, which was shortly afterwards gathered. Then to add to the
sense of relief their came the joyful tidings "Peace with France," on
printed bills pasted on the sides of stage coaches passing through our
old town, by which means the glad tidings passed through the country
like a gleam of sunlight into many a home, and brought about a sudden
and extraordinary reaction from despair to hope! In a very short time
corn went down to a comparatively low rate, and the poor rate for
Royston, Herts., went down to L355 18s. 3d., or little more than
one-third of the previous year!
Though, as we shall see, the shadow of Napoleon was shortly to settle
again over even the local life of England with a new terror, yet that
short-lived burst of joy, if it did not quite close, gave a brighter
turn to a bitter crisis in which the people of this country were
pressed down by want and war, and may be said to have subsisted upon
barley bread and glory!
The memorable re-action from the scarcity and suffering already
described, in the peace rejoicing of 1802, had scarcely died away in
our streets before, in 1803, the action of Napoleon aroused suspicion,
and {62} our old Volunteers (to be referred to presently) found
themselves called upon in earnest, for "the magnanimous First Consul,"
suddenly changed into the "Corsican Ogre" with a vengeance!
The firmament breaks up. In black eclipse
Light after light goes out. One evil star
Luridly glaring through the smoke of War,
As in the dream of the Apocalypse,
Drags others down!
War broke out and Napoleon formed a great camp at Boulogne for invading
England. This aroused a remarkable outburst of patriotism, and led to
the enrolment of an army of three hundred thousand Volunteers. We, who
sometimes discuss, merely as a theory, the possibility of an invasion
of England, can form a very inadequate idea of how terribly real was
the Napoleonic bogie to our great-grandfathers! They knew that "Boney"
was a character who would stop at nothing in carrying out his designs,
and so it came about that the shadow of that collossal stride of the
Corsican adventurer, darkened the homes in every town, village, and
hamlet in this land, and you cannot even to this day turn over the
pages of old parish records, or stir the placid waters of old men's
memories, without finding traces of this old ghost which Wellington
wrestled with so terribly on the fields of Waterloo!
There was, in Napoleon's work, an over-mastering will to accomplish, at
whatever cost, the purpose he set himself, and our great-grand-fathers,
with all their contempt for the French, had the sense to recognise
something of what Wellington afterwards so well expressed of the man,
Napoleon Buonaparte,--"I used to say of him that his presence on the
field made a difference of forty thousand men."
Of more interest even than the enrolment of the Volunteers were the
measurers taken for local defence and for the protection of the civil
population and property--the women and children and livestock. This
was taken up as a complete organization, county by county, hundred by
hundred, town by town, and village by village. In the month of July,
1803, we find the Deputy-Lieutenants of Cambridgeshire, thirty-four in
number, meeting at Cambridge, and adopting an address to the King,
expressing determination to support him in the war with France. Sir
Edward Nightingale, Bart., of Kneesworth House, presided. It was
resolved to adopt the measures indicated for establishing a system of
communications throughout each county, and also for rendering the body
of the people instrumental for the general defence in case of an
invasion. Also that the several hundreds in the county be formed into
divisions with a lieutenant over each, to report to, and act in concert
with the County Lieutenancy, that the lieutenant for each division {64}
appoint an inspector for each hundred, and that the inspector for each
hundred appoint a superintendent for each parish. For the division of
the county formed by the union of the hundreds of Armingford (Royston
district), Longstowe, Wetherby and Thriplow, Hale Wortham, Esq., was
the responsible lieutenant.
[Illustration: NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE.]
A similar meeting was held at Hertford, and men were called to arms
between the ages of 15 and 60, and in all towns and villages there was
nothing but swearing in and drilling of soldiers, to resist the
impending invasion, by which it was said that England was to be divided
among the French--"the men all to be killed and the women saved."
In accordance with the above mentioned county scheme each parish had
its Council of War, so to speak, at which men more accustomed to "speed
the plough" found themselves in solemn conclave discussing such
strategical proposals as the local circumstances of each neighbourhood
seemed to suggest for arresting the onward march of the invader when he
had landed, as it was feared he would. Necessity was the mother of
invention, and what the farmer class wanted in military knowledge, they
made up for in practical sagacity directed to the intensely personal
ends of protecting their own homes and families, their herds and stacks
from the ruthless hands of the coming hosts! It was naturally expected
that Napoleon would land and enter England from the South or East, and
that in the latter case the inhabitants of Hertfordshire and
Cambridgeshire would, in the event of a flank movement through the
Eastern Counties for London, be among the first to bear the brunt of
the devastating march! The horror of the expected invasion was
intensified a thousandfold by the Englishman's attachment to his home
and family, and deliberations of the village councils often showed less
regard for the national scheme of defence than the protection of their
homes and property in the time of trial coming upon them. They set to
work devising means of local defence as real and as earnest as if every
village was already threatened with a state of siege!
This is clear from an intelligible means of local defence which was
taken in this neighbourhood. The expectation that "Boney" and his
"Mounseers" were coming from the South or East, naturally suggested the
expedient of arranging for the transport of non-combatants, and live
stock away farther Northward. The expedient was arranged for by the
villages around Royston along the Old North Road; and a plan had been
devised that as soon as tidings arrived that Buonaparte had landed,
each village was to assemble their live stock at a common centre in the
village, and then unite with those from other villages. Thus the route
for the removal of stock was settled, until it was expected that quotas
from each village would make one united common herd wending {65} its
way Northward to a safer distance from the ravaging hordes! One seems
to see that terrified exodus----
Now crowding in the narrow road,
In thick and struggling masses.
* * * *
Anon, with toss of horn and tail,
And paw of hoof and bellow,
They leap some farmer's broken pale,
O'er meadow-close or fallow!
From chronicles in the British Museum I am able to supplement the
foregoing arrangement in force in Cambridgeshire by more definite
particulars of the organized precautions to be taken in counties lying
nearest the coast as soon as the presence of the Invader became known.
As a preliminary, returns had to be made as to the driving of
live-stock farther inland away from the coast "in order that
indemnification might be estimated for such as could not be removed."
The removal of stock and unarmed inhabitants was to be effected after
the following fashion:--
First in order were to go the horses and wagons conveying those persons
who were unable to remove themselves; then (2nd) cattle; and (3rd)
sheep, and all other live-stock; intelligent and active persons to be
set apart to superintend these measures.
With regard to the unarmed inhabitants, generally, the arrangement was
that they were to "form themselves into companies of not less than 25
or more than 50, the men to come provided, if possible, with pickaxes,
spades, and shovels, billhooks and felling axes, each 25 men to have a
leader, and for every 50 men a captain in addition." For the purposes
of transport, the nobility, gentry, and farmers, were requested to sign
statements showing how many wagons, horses, and carts, they could place
at the disposal of the nation in an emergency. Similar returns were
required from millers and bakers as to how much flour and bread they
could supply.
Turning once more from documentary evidence, to the recollections
handed down from parents to children, I am reminded that the
inhabitants of Bassingbourn and other villages were farmers first and
soldiers afterwards; for, having settled the momentous issue of
providing for the safety of their families and herds, these village
yeomen joined with others in seeking means for thwarting the too ready
advance of "Boney's" legions. It is said that as a last resort it was
intended to cut down the trees standing by the sides of the North Road,
felling them across the road, so as to impede the march of Napoleon's
artillery! For how long these efforts could have withstood the march
of the legions who crossed Alpine heights, or for how long that great
caravan of non-combatants and live-stock could have {66} out-distanced
the invaders, could not have been very re-assuring questions, nor have
I been able to find out what was to be the destination of the
live-stock.
It is true that if the worst fears were realized our great-grandfathers
in this district would have had some little warning, for did not the
old coach road to the North pass through our town and district? and did
not the old semaphore stand there on the summit above Royston Heath,
waiting to lift its clumsy wooden arms to spell out the signal of the
coming woe by day? By night was the pile for the beacon fire, towards
which, before going to bed, the inhabitants of every village and hamlet
in the valley turned their eyes, expecting to see the beacon-light
flash forth the dread intelligence to answering hills in the distance!
Only the simple act of striking a flint and steel by night, or lifting
of the arm of the newly invented semaphore telegraph by day, seemed to
separate the issues of peaceful rural life and the ruthless invasion of
War! The dread was a real and oppressive one, such as we cannot
possibly realize to-day!
But, amidst the fearful presages of War and Invasion, the affair had
its lighter side, and provoked not a little of comedy and burlesque.
In the Library of the British Museum there is an extremely interesting
collection of squibs! satirical ballads, mock play-bills, &c., upon the
expected appearance of Buonaparte, with caricatures by Gillray and
others. In searching through such a collection, it is difficult to
stay the hand in making extracts, but a few must suffice. In one the
First Consul is styled "the new Moses," and there is a list of his Ten
Commandments; in another there is a Catechism as to who is Buonaparte,
with not very flattering answers. In others there are sketches of the
imaginary entry of Napoleon with graphic scenes of pillage, &c., and
again adaptations of theatrical language, such as--
"In rehearsal, Theatre Royal of the United Kingdom. Some dark, foggy
night, about November next, will be attempted by a Strolling Company of
French Vagrants, an Old Pantomimic Farce, called Harlequin's Invasion,
or the Disappointed Banditti."
In others, M. Buonaparte was announced as Principal Buffo, "being his
first (and most likely his last) appearance on the Stage!" Perhaps the
best of this ephemeral literature were lines which found their way in
lighter moments into the songs on our village greens; and, sung to the
fine old air of the "Blue Bells of Scotland," helped for the moment to
banish anxiety over some alehouse bench!
When, and O when, does this little Boney come?
Perhaps he'll come in August! Perhaps he'll stay at home;
But it's O in my heart, how I'll hide him should he come!
and so on through a number of stanzas.
{67}
But though there was a light side, out of which the humorists of the
period made a market, the Napoleonic scare was no laughing matter for
the poor people, who had nothing to gain and everything to lose, by
even the possibility of the thing. We, who, in these peaceful times,
are apt to swagger about Britannia ruling the waves, cannot perhaps
realize what it meant to have this great military genius sitting down
with his legions of three hundred thousand opposite our shores, keenly
watching for and calculating our weakest point of defence! What should
we think if, in every cottage home in this district, it was necessary,
on going to bed at night, to be prepared for a sudden alarm and
departure from all that was dear to us in old associations; if our
little children, before retiring to rest at night, took a last look in
fear and trembling to the hills above Royston Heath, where the beacon
was ready to flash out the portentious news to all the country round,
and asked "is it alight?"--if each little one had to be taught as
regularly as, if not more regularly than, saying its prayers, to pack
up its little bundle of clothes in readiness for the dread news that
Boney had indeed come! Yet all this is only what really happened to
our great-grandfathers in that terrible time of 1803!
It may be of interest to glance at the means taken for repelling the
invader should he make his appearance. This was no mere machinery of
conscription, such as under other circumstances might have been
necessary, for a spirit of intense patriotism was suddenly aroused,
fanned into flame by stirring ballads, such as the following, to the
tune of "Hearts of Oak"----
Shall French men rule o'er us? King Edward said No!
And No said King Harry, and Queen Bess she said No!
And No said old England--and No she says still!
They will never rule o'er Us--let them try if they will!
In all parts of the country, where Volunteers and Loyal Associations
had not already been formed, these sprung up with one common purpose so
finely expressed by Wordsworth--
No parleying now! in Britain is one breath,
We all are with you now from shore to shore.
Ye men of Kent, 'tis Victory or death!
Even little boys in the streets, as Cruikshank has told us, formed
regiments, with their drums and colours "presented by their mammas and
sisters," and made gun stocks with polished broom-sticks for barrels!
It is a singular circumstance and comment upon the much smaller extent
to which our food supply depended upon foreign countries then than now,
that, in the midst of all this perturbation and impending evil, wheat
was selling in Royston market as low as 32s. per load!
Even before the eighteenth century had closed Napoleon had been
suspected of designs upon England, and among the local Volunteers {68}
enrolled for service against a possible invasion, according to their
numbers none were more conspicuous for public spirit than the Royston
and Barkway men, enrolled under the command of the militant clergyman,
Captain Shield, vicar of Royston. The following notice of the temper
and disposition of the Corps and their Commander is characteristic:--
"The Royston and Barkway Loyal Volunteers, commanded by Captain Shield,
have unanimously agreed to extend their services to any part of the
military district in case of invasion."
The Rev. Thomas Shield, vicar of Royston, 1793 to 1808, was evidently
both a courageous and patriotic townsman, for among the characteristics
of him which come down to us is the statement that he would ascend the
pulpit wearing his surplice over his uniform, and having finished his
sermon would descend from the pulpit, slip off his surplice, and march
to the Heath at the head of his company of Volunteers for drill on a
Sunday afternoon! "A gallant band of natives headed by their military
Vicar, the Rev. Thomas Shield, in full regimentals, and accompanied by
good old John Warren, the parish clerk and music-master, as leader of
the Band, marched through the streets on Sunday afternoons to the sound
of the fife and the drum, and all the little boys in the place learned
to play soldiers." I have been unable to verify this to the letter,
but something approaching it, though not on a Sunday, took place on one
memorable occasion, when the ceremony of the presentation of colours
was performed in 1799, of which I give some particulars below:--
Thursday, 1st August, 1799, was a memorable day in the history of this
Corps and a great day for Royston; the event being the presentation of
colours to the Corps by the Honourable Mrs. Peachey, in the presence of
a very respectable company. At 11 o'clock the Corps, attended by
Captain Hale's troop of Hertfordshire Yeomanry, were drawn up on the
Market Place, where Mrs. Peachey was accompanied by Lady Hardwicke,
Lord Royston, and other noble ladies and gentlemen. Mrs. Peachey, in
an elegant speech, referred to the day as the anniversary of Nelson's
great Victory, and feeling sure that the Captain of the Corps would
receive the colours with the elevated zeal and Christian spirit best
suited to the solemnity of their consecration. Captain Shield was
equal to the occasion, and in a strain of oratory in keeping with his
patriotic spirit, accepted the colours in suitable terms, and,
addressing the men, said:--"At a most important crisis you have stood
forth against an implacable enemy in defence of everything that is dear
to us as men, as members of society, and as Christians! With a
reliance therefore on your zeal, with a confidence in your virtuous
endeavours, I commit this standard to your care, and may the Lord of
Hosts, and the God of Battles, make you firm and collected {69} under
every trial, and securely under it to bid defiance to the desperate
enterprises of those who may rise up against us"!
After the ceremony of presentation the company marched to Church, where
the Colours were consecrated by prayers, read by the Rev. Mr. Bargus,
vicar of Barkway, and the Prebendary of Carlisle preached a powerful
sermon. The local choir of fiddles and clarionets, &c., was not equal
to so great an occasion, and a choir of singers from Cambridge
attended, and chanted the Psalms and sang the Coronation Anthem. A
cold colation given by the Rev. Captain followed, and the Volunteers
marched to the Heath, where "they performed their manoeuvres and firing
with great exactness." At five o'clock a company of 200 ladies and
gentlemen, exclusive of the Corps, sat down to a "handsome dinner" on
the Bowling Green [at the Green Man] in a pavilion erected for the
purpose. Here we are told that "loyal and appropriate toasts kept the
gentlemen together till eight o'clock, soon after which they joined the
ladies at the Red Lion, where the evening was concluded with a very
genteel ball." The old chronicle adds a curious complimentary note
upon the moral and spectacular aspects of the day. "So much
conviviality, accompanied with so much regularity and decorum, was
perhaps never before experienced in so large a party." Two bands of
music, the Cambridge Loyal Association Band, and the Royston Band, were
present, and we further learn that "the number of people that were
assembled in Royston on this day is supposed to be greater than is
remembered on any former occasion."
The identical colours presented by Mrs. Peachey are still in existence,
and are in the possession of Mr. Rivers R. Smith, whose father was a
member of the band.
The above was not the only occasion upon which Captain Shield and his
soldiers kept the town to the front, for, on the anniversary of the day
of the presentation of colours in 1800, they wound up the century with
another note of patriotic defiance of Buonaparte, by holding a field
day on Royston Heath, and then, after dining together upon the Bowling
Green as before, spent the evening with their guests, and wound up with
"an elegant ball" at the Red Lion.
Having thus foreseen the evil day, and got together a well disciplined
body of men, the Rev. Thomas Shield kept up an _esprit de corps_, and
had frequent field days with his men on the Heath. This universal
soldiering and heralding and closing the day with bugle, fife, and
drum, naturally had a great effect in stirring the life of the people,
but such an institution could not, any more than its modern example,
exist long upon patriotism and applause.
Mr. Thomas Wortham, the treasurer to the Corps, found that the Royston
people came out well with their money and equipment for {70} repelling
the invader. E. K. Fordham's name appears in the list for L25; the
Rev. Thomas Shield for L10 10s., and "personal service"; William Nash
L10 10s.; John and James Butler for L5 5s. each; Waresley and Fordham
L5 5s.; Thomas Cockett "two stands of arms and accoutrements complete"
[what kind, not specified], and others followed suit.
Royal reviews and grand hospitalities were common in the Metropolitan
district, such as the Grand Review in Hyde Park, but perhaps the most
memorable in which the Hertfordshire Volunteers took a part was the
Grand Review of the Militia, Yeomanry, and Volunteers in Hatfield Park,
on the 14th June, 1800, in the presence of the King and Queen and other
members of the Royal Family, Cabinet Ministers, and a host of
distinguished people, whom the Marquis of Salisbury entertained at
Hatfield House with such splendid hospitality that the entertainment
cost L3,000. Forty beds were made up at Hatfield House for the
accommodation of visitors. The general company must have been immense,
for carriages and wagons, gaily decorated, "extended in a line for
three miles in length," and the scene was brightened "by the presence
of the ladies wearing white dresses." The hospitality for the men
under arms was on the most generous and famous scale. About seventeen
hundred men sat down at 17 tables, laid out on the Western side of the
House. The following is a list of the good things placed upon the
tables upon that memorable occasion:--80 hams, 8 rounds of beef, 100
joints of veal, 100 legs of lamb, 100 tongues, 100 meat pies, 25
edge-bones of beef, 100 joints of mutton, 25 rumps of beef roasted, 25
briskets, 71 dishes of other roast beef, 100 gooseberry tarts, &c., &c.
The commissariat appears to have been at the "Salisbury Arms," for this
part of the hospitality, where we learn that there were killed for the
occasion:--3 bullocks, 16 sheep, 25 lambs.
Inside the historic building of Hatfield House the scene was worthy of
the occasion too, for here, in King James' Room, King George and the
Royal Family sat down to a sumptuous dinner, while the banquet for the
Cabinet Ministers and others extended to 38 covers, and the whole
affair engaged the services of 60 regular servants, and 60 extra
waiters were employed for the occasion besides. Such a gathering
inside and outside the home of the Cecils as that of 1800 has scarcely
been equalled since, excepting perhaps by that of royalty in the
Jubilee year of Queen Victoria in 1887.
The following was the muster of Volunteers with their captains
assembled at this memorable review:--
Royston and Barkway, captain, Rev. Thomas Shield, 70 men; Hertford,
Captain Dimsdale, 103; Hatfield, Captain Penrose, 77; Ware, Captain
Dickinson, 76; St. Albans, Captain Kinder, 74; {71} Hitchin, Captain
Wilshere, 70; Bishop Stortford, Captain Winter, 58; Cheshunt, Captain
Newdick, 48; Hunsdon, Captain Calvert, 39; and Wormley, Captain Leach,
29.
In accordance with the plan of drafting the Volunteers out for
permanent duty in other districts, we find in 1804 the Royston and
Barkway Corps, under command of Captain Shield, doing 23 days permanent
duty at Baldock, concluded by the firing of three excellent volleys in
the Market Place. Having completed this patriotic duty, they were
reviewed by Colonel Cotton, and afterwards dined together on the
Bowling Green, and "the day was concluded with the utmost conviviality
and harmony." The Bassingbourn Corps (afterwards incorporated with
Chesterton) in like manner went on permanent duty at Newmarket; an
event which was followed by a review on Foxton Common by General
Stewart, when, "at the end of the town they all mounted in wagons
stationed there to receive them, and drew together a great part of the
beauty of the town to witness the scene," and were afterwards
hospitably entertained by Mr. Hurrell.
The efficiency of the men got together in defence of their homes and
kindred was generally spoken highly of in the records of the times, but
I am sorry to add that in one case a drummer belonging to the Royston
Volunteers was tried by Court Martial and sentenced to receive 50
lashes for absenting himself without leave, but the rev. captain,
though a stern disciplinarian, had a tender heart and fatherly interest
in his men, for we further learn that "when the proceedings of the
Court had been read to the Corps, and everything prepared for the
execution of the sentence, Captain Shield the commandant, after an
impressive address to the Corps and the prisoner, was pleased to remit
the punishment."
Upon the subject of Volunteer marksmanship a little piece of
statistical information in the British Museum, referring to the Boston
Volunteers, shows the capacity of the men for hitting the target (no
question of Bullseyes!) The total number of men firing was 108 and,
after several rounds each, the number of men who had actually hit the
target was 37, the number of those who did not hit the target 71--not
quite Wimbledon or Bisley form!
Though the immediate danger of an invasion passed away by Boney having
other work on his hands, the French were afterwards in evidence in a
different capacity, for as many as 23,600 French prisoners were at one
time maintained in different parts of England, a famous centre for them
being Norman Cross, between Huntingdon and Caxton. They lingered here,
now amusing their hosts with representations of Molière's plays; now
making fancy articles in straw, &c., some of which are still to be
found in many houses in Cambridgeshire. {72} Companies of them were
even so far indulged as to be shown over the University buildings at
Cambridge previous to resuming their march through Royston, en route
for Chatham and Tilbury, to be returned home to France!
At last, Buonaparte's reign of fighting seemed over, and with his
retirement to Elba there was such a peace-rejoicing as comes only once
or twice in a century.
Come forth ye old men, now in peaceful show,
And greet your sons! drums beat and trumpets blow!
Make merry, wives! ye little children stun
Your grandames ears with pleasure of your noise!
At Cambridge, Marshall Blucher was lionized, and here, as elsewhere,
the celebrations were on a grand scale. At Royston it was one of the
social land-marks of the first quarter of the century. The peace
rejoicings took place here on June 29th and 30th, 1814. On Wednesday,
about 12 o'clock, the Under Sheriff of the county, preceded by a band
of music--and such a band of music! made up of some thirty or forty
players on instruments--followed by a numerous cavalcade, proceeded
first from the Bull Hotel to the Cross, and there the proclamation was
first read. The procession then returned to the Market Hill, where it
was read a second time, and from thence to the top of the High Street,
where it was read for the last time. In the evening, "brilliant
illuminations" took place with transparencies and variegated lamps. On
the following day (Thursday) the bells rang merry peals, and at one
o'clock about nine hundred of the inhabitants sat down to a good dinner
on the Market Hill. At four o'clock the gentlemen and tradesmen sat
down to an excellent luncheon on the Bowling Green at the Green Man
Inn, after which many appropriate toasts were given by the chairman,
Hale Wortham, Esq. At intervals the Royston Band, "who very politely
offered their services," played some popular pieces. To conclude the
day's festivities, a ball was given at the Assembly Room at the Red
Lion. I believe the only person now living who remembers sitting down
to that famous dinner on the Market Hill is Mr. James Jacklin, who was
then a very little boy with his parents.
The rejoicings were unbounded and images of "Boney" were carried about
in almost every village on donkeys or men's shoulders, and afterwards
burned on the village green. No one dreamed that Waterloo was still in
store, but alas it soon appeared as if all this patriotic eloquence,
and peace rejoicing, would have to be _un_said, for in a short time
there came the alarming news that Napoleon had escaped from Elba and
was returning to France! He did return, and so did Wellington!
Waterloo was fought and won, but, the English people having, as the
Americans say, been a little too previous with {73} their rejoicings
over Elba, made less of the greatest battle of the century than they
might otherwise have done.
So passed away a figure which had troubled the peace and conscience of
Europe for a generation, the tradition of whose expected advent on our
shores did for many a year after discolour the pages of our country
life, like some old stain through the leaves of a book, and the old
Bogie which frightened children in dame schools only disappeared with
the Russian scare which set up the Russian for the Frenchman in Crimean
days.