and Roach, were also engaged in the perpetration of the murder; and, in
the course of a few days, the latter was apprehended. For some time
after they were taken into custody, the prisoners persisted in denying
their knowledge of the deceased or of his murder; but after about a
fortnight's imprisonment, they sent for Mr. Carter, a magistrate, to
whom each of them in succession made a statement. The story which they
all related implicated them in an intention to rob the deceased, but
they denied that they had attacked him with the object of committing
murder. Sams, however, they stated, was no party to the actual attack,
although he had consented to accompany them, for that he became alarmed
before they came up with the deceased, lest he should recognise him, and
turned back. The others then advanced, and, getting close behind the old
man, tripped him up and fell upon him. He struggled violently on the
ground, and exclaimed that he knew them, but they robbed him of his
money and then beat him violently. After this they went away and divided
the booty; and on the next day heard that the old man was dead. Roach
now absconded to London, but was taken into custody in the crowd
assembled to witness the procession of her majesty into the City on
Lord-mayor's day, by a police-constable, who recognised him from the
description of his person which had been circulated. They all stated
that Taylor, who was now nowhere to be found, had been the most active
in the murder and robbery; but that he, as well as they, had had no
original intention to commit any violence upon the deceased.
On Friday, the 2nd of March 1838, the three prisoners were put upon
their trial before Mr. Justice Vaughan, at the Hertford Assizes, and the
jury, after a patient inquiry, found Roach and Fletcher "Guilty," but
acquitted Sams.
Sentence of death was immediately passed on the convicts, and on
Wednesday, the 14th of March, their execution took place. Both the
culprits were mere lads, and the most strenuous exertions had been made
to save them, but without effect. They conducted themselves with much
propriety while they were in prison, but maintained a firm consistency
in their assertion that murder had formed no part of their object when
they first attacked the old man. They met death with much fortitude and
resignation.
In the following month of September, Taylor was recognised at Plymouth,
whither he had gone with the 15th regiment of foot, into which he had
enlisted almost immediately after the murder, in the name of Evans. He
was sent back to Hertford, and, at the ensuing Spring Assizes was tried,
convicted, and executed.
RIOTS AT CANTERBURY.
These singular but mischievous riots occurred on Thursday, the 31st of
May 1838, at a place called Bossenden Wood, situated about five miles
from the ancient city of Canterbury, and were the result of the pranks
of a madman who had assumed the title of Sir William Percy Honeywood
Courtenay, Knight of Malta, and whose insane spirit communicated itself
to the rustics, and produced severely calamitous consequences. The
infatuation with which this insane impostor was followed, and even
worshipped, by the peasantry of the district into which he intruded
himself, affords a striking and melancholy proof of the magic powers of
fanaticism. But while one is not surprised that among the lower orders
he should find persons incapable of resisting his wily and specious
arguments, and the impudent falsehood of his assertions, it cannot but
be the subject of the greatest astonishment that he should have procured
the countenance, during a very considerable period, of individuals of
superior rank and education in the county.
The best mode of introducing this extraordinary event will be by
detailing succinctly the circumstances of the early life of the supposed
Sir William Courtenay. The real name of this pretender was John Nichols
Thom, and he was the son of a small farmer and maltster at St. Columb,
in Cornwall. While yet a lad, he procured employment in the
establishment of Messrs. Plumer and Turner, wine-merchants of Truro, as
cellarman; but after five years' service, the firm was broken up, and
the business ceased. Thom now commenced trading on his own account, as a
wine-merchant, maltster, and hop-dealer, and for three or four years he
carried on his trade with great apparent respectability. At the end of
that time his premises and stock were consumed by an accidental fire,
and he recovered from an Insurance-office, for the losses which he
alleged he had sustained by this event, the sum of 3000_l._, being a
much larger amount than those judged him to be entitled to, who were
well able to form an opinion as to his probable station in the world.
Subsequently he re-built his house and continued his trade; but, after
about two years more, he made a considerable sum of money by a
successful venture in malt, which he disposed of in Liverpool. For two
years after this event he was lost sight of by his friends, and it was
presumed that he was out of England, and the first intimation which was
received of his return was his declaring himself a candidate to
represent the city of Canterbury in Parliament, under the name of Sir
William Courtenay, in the month of December 1832. He was found to have
taken up his residence at the Rose Hotel, Canterbury; and the splendour
of his dress, and the eccentricity of his manners, soon gained for him
many admirers, even among the respectable inhabitants of the town.
During his canvass he increased the number of his friends, and his
success in procuring supporters was most extraordinary. His effort,
however, was not fortunate. His opponent candidates were the Hon. R.
Watson and Lord Fordwich, the former of whom obtained 832 votes, the
latter 802, while Courtenay polled 375. This attempt gained him many
friends, and great popularity among the lower orders. His persuasive
language was exceedingly useful to him; but the peculiarity of his
dress, combined with the absurdity of many of his protestations, induced
a belief among some of those to whom he procured introduction that he
was insane.
After his defeat he did not confine his proceedings to Canterbury alone,
but he passed through most of the towns in Kent, declaiming against the
poor laws, the revenue laws, and other portions of the statutes of the
realm which are usually considered by the poor to be obnoxious to their
interests. By his speeches he obtained much éclat; but his exertions in
favour of some smugglers led him into a scrape, from which he was likely
to have suffered serious consequences. An action took place in the month
of July 1833 between the revenue cruiser Lively and the Admiral Hood
smuggler, near the Goodwin Sands, and, in the course of the flight of
the latter vessel, and her exertions to escape from the Lively, her crew
were observed to throw a great number of tubs overboard, which, on their
being picked up, proved to contain spirit. The Admiral Hood was
captured, but no contraband goods were found on board; and, on the men
being taken into custody, Courtenay presented himself as a witness
before the magistrates. He swore positively that he had seen the whole
of the action, and that no tubs had been thrown from the Admiral Hood;
and he further stated, that he had observed those which had been picked
up by the revenue men floating in the sea all day. This was so
diametrically opposed to the truth, that a prosecution for perjury was
determined on, and he was indicted at the Maidstone Assizes on the 25th
of July 1833. A verdict of conviction followed; and Mr. Justice Park,
the presiding judge, passed a sentence of imprisonment, to be followed
by seven years' transportation. The difficulty in which he was placed,
however, having reached the knowledge of his friends in Cornwall, they
made representations to the Home-secretary that he was insane; and,
after having suffered four years' confinement in a lunatic asylum at
Barming Heath, he was at length liberated, on bail being given for his
future good-behaviour.
He now took up his abode at the residence of Mr. Francis, a gentleman of
fortune, of Fairbrook, near Boughton in the neighbourhood of Canterbury,
and he speedily resumed his wild efforts to gain popularity for himself.
His dress now was similar to that which he had worn before his
incarceration; and the following sketch of his personal appearance,
extracted from the romance of Rookwood, by Mr. Ainsworth, well describes
him. "A magnificent coal-black beard decorated the chin of this worthy;
but this was not all--his costume was in perfect keeping with his beard,
and consisted of a very theatrical-looking tunic, upon the breast of
which was embroidered in golden wire the Maltese cross; while on his
shoulders were thrown the ample folds of a cloak of Tyrian hue. To his
side was girt a long and doughty sword, which he termed, in his knightly
phrase, Excalibur; and upon his profuse hair rested a hat as broad in
the brim as a Spanish sombrero. Exaggerated as this description may
appear, we can assure our readers that it is not overdrawn; and that a
counterpart of the sketch we have given of the ruffler certainly
'strutted his hour' upon the stage of life, and that the very ancient
and discriminating city of Canterbury (to which be all honour) was his
theatre of action. His history is so far curious that it exemplifies,
more strongly than a thousand discourses could do, how prone we are to
be governed by appearances, and how easily we may be made the dupes of a
plausible impostor."
His impositions, unfortunately, proved as mischievous as they were
plausible. He succeeded in persuading many of the ignorant peasantry
that his origin was as high as that of the Saviour. His visits to the
cottages of the labouring classes were numerous; and his striking
appearance seems to have had considerable influence upon the minds both
of men and women. An observation made by one of them, that he was like a
picture which was suspended in a room where he stood, representing the
Son of God, induced him to assume this holy character; and the
infatuation of the lower orders forbade their disbelieving the stories
which he related. He is stated even to have asserted that he was the
Redeemer himself, and that the marks of wounds were still visible upon
his hands and feet, and on his sides, but it can hardly be supposed that
he could long have maintained this character, as his hands upon
subsequent examination proved to be unscarred. Many of the poor people
believed that he was in the habit of receiving barrels of sovereigns
every week to meet his current expenses, and that he was the rightful
owner of some of the largest estates in Kent, from the possession of
which he was only driven by the violence and fraud of their present
holders.
A misunderstanding with Mr. Francis compelled his retirement from that
gentleman's house, and he took up his abode at the residence of one of
his most devoted followers named Wills, from whence subsequently he
again removed to the farm-house of a person named Culver, at Boughton.
During these changes he was constant in his exertions among the poorer
classes; and the influence which he obtained over them was
extraordinary. The women excited their husbands and sons to join him,
"because he was Christ, and unless they followed him, fire would come
from Heaven and burn them." They asserted, as he had declared, that "he
had come to earth upon a cloud, and would go away from it on a cloud;"
and instances were not unfrequent in which the misguided people, the
subjects of his imposture, had actually worshipped him as a God.
At length this excitement was destined to be brought to a conclusion;
but not without the occurrence of events which are deeply to be
lamented.
On Monday, the 28th of May, Courtenay, with about ten or fifteen
followers, sallied forth from the village of Boughton, without having
any very distinct or apparent object in view, and proceeded at once to
the cottage of Wills. Here they formed themselves into a species of
column; and a loaf having been procured, it was broken in halves, and
one half of it was placed on the top of a pole, which bore a flag of
blue and white, upon which a lion rampant was drawn. Wills having joined
them, they all proceeded to Goodnestone, near Faversham; Courtenay, as
they went along, haranguing them and the country people whom they met,
and producing a great deal of excitement and astonishment at his
proceedings. From thence they went to a farm at Herne Hill, where they
received food, and then to Dargate Common. By Courtenay's desire they
all went to prayers here; and after that they returned to Bossenden
Farm, where they retired to rest in a barn. At three o'clock on Tuesday
morning, they went to Sittingbourne, and Courtenay provided them with
breakfast, for which he paid twenty-seven shillings; and then they went
to Newnham, where, at the George Inn, they had a similar treat. After
visiting Eastling, Throwley, Seldwich, Lees, and Selling, where, as at
Sittingbourne and Newnham, speeches were made, and new followers
obtained, the party again returned to Bossenden farm.
During these progresses, it appears that Mr. Curling, a respectable
farmer, lost some of his labourers, who were enticed away from their
work by the crowd; and disinclined to permit them to join the riotous
proceedings of Courtenay and his party, he went before a magistrate of
the district, by whom, at his desire, a warrant was issued for their
apprehension. Nicholas Mears, a constable, and his brother, were
entrusted with the warrant for execution; and on Thursday morning at
about six o'clock they went to Culver's farm-house to secure the men.
Upon their presenting themselves, Courtenay and several of his followers
appeared; and almost before the unfortunate Mears could state his
object, Courtenay drew a pistol from his breast and shot him dead. He
returned into the house, exclaiming to the men who were there, "Now, am
I not your Saviour?" and then going out again, he discharged a second
pistol at the body of Mears, and mutilated his body with his sword.
This diabolical murder was communicated to the magistrates directly
afterwards, and they proceeded to take steps for the apprehension of
Courtenay. But the latter immediately called out his men, and marched
them to Bossenden Wood, and there he administered the sacrament to them
in bread and water. This over, a man named Alexander Foad, knelt down in
the presence of the rest and worshipped him; and while on his knees, he
demanded to know whether he should follow him in the body or whether he
should go home, and follow him in the spirit? Courtenay answered, "In
the body;" upon which Foad jumped up with great exultation, exclaiming
"Oh! be joyful, be joyful; the Saviour has accepted me. Now go on; I
will follow you till I drop." Another man, named Blanchard, also
worshipped him; and Courtenay then, in answer to a question which was
put to him, said that he had shot the constable, and had eaten a good
breakfast afterwards; and added, "I was only executing the justice of
heaven in consequence of the power God has given me." At twelve o'clock
Sir William and his followers had shifted their position to the
Osier-bed, and here he harangued them, informing them that he was
invulnerable, and that they also could not be hurt by reason of the
faith they put in him. He defied the attack of the magistrates, which he
declared would do neither him nor them any harm; but then he proposed
that they should take up a position in ambush in the wood. This was
agreed to; and on their way thither, seeing the Rev. Mr. Handley, of
Herne Hill, observing their motions, Courtenay fired at him, but happily
missed his aim.
In the mean time the magistrates had been taking such steps as they
deemed advisable, for the maintenance of the public peace; and in order
to secure the person of the leader of these extraordinary proceedings,
with his followers. Acquainted with the desperate violence of Courtenay,
by his act of the morning, they deemed it unfit that an unarmed force
should be brought in opposition to him and his party, and they in
consequence despatched a messenger to Canterbury, requiring the aid of
the military. A detachment of one hundred men of the 45th Foot, under
the command of Major Armstrong, was at once placed at their disposal,
and marched to Boughton. The rioters were known to be posted in
Bossenden Wood, from the information of out-scouts; and in that
direction the troops, accompanied by the magistrates and special
constables, were marched. The position of Courtenay was ascertained to
be about a mile from the road in Bossenden Wood. The wood was of very
considerable extent, but was intersected by two roads; and it was found
that the insurgent party were placed so that their front and rear were
covered by the roads right and left. The military were in consequence
divided; and while one party of fifty took the road nearest Canterbury,
under the command of Captain Reed, the other was conducted by Major
Armstrong, assisted by Lieutenant Bennett, and Lieutenant Prendergast,
along the road next Boulton-under-Blea. Thus the insurgents were placed
between the two bodies of troops, and their only chance of escape was to
take a straight line through the woods. For this, however, the madman
who was their leader, was in nowise disposed, and he soon presented
himself to Major Armstrong's troop. He was required to surrender; but
without waiting to give any answer, he called upon his followers, (now
only between thirty and forty in number), as if to prepare for the
approaching conflict, and rushed at Lieutenant Bennett, who was rather
in advance of the soldiers. Lieutenant Bennett observing this movement,
rushed forward also, sword in hand; but almost before he had reached his
assailant, Courtenay presented a pistol, fired, and the ball entered the
right side, and passed completely through the body of the young officer,
killing him instantaneously. At this moment Courtenay was felled to the
ground by a constable named Millwood, but he jumped up again, and at the
instant of his regaining his feet, he was shot by the troops. The order
to "fire," was then given by Major Armstrong, and being mounted, he
dashed in among the peasantry. By the discharge eight men were killed on
the spot, and several others were wounded; but the wretched peasantry
fought desperately, until at length, perceiving the dreadful
consequences which must result from persevering in their resistance,
they at once dispersed, and scattered themselves through the woods. In
the course of the afternoon twenty-seven prisoners were made by the
military and constables, and of these seven were wounded, two of them
mortally. Of the party who were employed in maintaining the law, George
Catt, a constable, who acted with much determination, was shot under the
mistaken impression 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 of the county was engaged
in conducting the necessary inquiries into the cause of death of the
deceased persons. Evidence, the general effect of which was that which
we have stated, was produced, and the result of the investigation fully
bore out the course which had been adopted by the magistracy. Verdicts
of "Wilful Murder" were returned in the cases of the constable Mears,
and of Lieutenant Bennett, against Courtenay and his adherents; while 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 which had
occurred amongst the insurgents, the jury found a verdict of
"Justifiable Homicide." The scene which presented itself, during the
sitting of the jury, was distressing in the extreme. The Red Lion, at
Boughton, was the place at which the coroner conducted the
investigation; and there also all those prisoners who were suffering
from the wounds which they had received were detained; while in the
stable attached to the house, the bodies of the slain were extended. In
the yard were the wives, widows, and children, of these deluded men,
lamenting bitterly the position of danger into which the fanaticism
[Illustration: _Courtenay shooting Lieut. Bennett._
_P. 454._]
of their relations had drawn them. During the sitting of the jury, two
of the wounded men died, and upon their decease being communicated to
the crowd outside, they gave vent to new expressions of grief. The body
of Lieutenant Bennett lay in an upper chamber of the inn, and was a
melancholy spectacle. The unfortunate gentleman was about twenty-five
years of age, and had just obtained leave of absence, when the news of
the riots reaching the barracks, he applied for and obtained permission
to join the party.
At the conclusion of the proceedings before the coroner and the
magistrates, the following prisoners were committed for trial,
viz.:--Thomas Mears, _alias_ Tyler, (the cousin of the murdered
constable); Alexander Foad; William Nutting; William Price; James
Goodwin; William Wills; William Spratt; John Spratt; John Silk; Edward
Curling; Samuel Edwards; Sarah Culver; Thomas Myers, _alias_ Edward
Wraight; Charles Hills; Thomas Ovenden; William Couchworth; Thomas
Griggs; William Foad; and Richard Foreman.
The names of those rioters who were killed, were, William Courtenay;
William Burford; George Griggs; George Blanchard; William Foster;
Phineas Harvey; Edward Wraight (the elder); William Rye; George
Bonchett; and Stephen Baker.
The prisoners Mears, Alexander Foad, and Couchworth, were wounded. Foad
was a respectable farmer, cultivating a farm of about sixty acres; and
it was a matter of some surprise that he should have been implicated in
so extraordinary a proceeding. The prisoner Sarah Culver was a woman
about forty years of age, of respectable connexions, and possessing
considerable property. She had been a devoted follower of Courtenay; but
it was presumed that she, like him, was insane. The other prisoners were
all persons of inferior station.
On Tuesday the 5th of June, the greater number of those who had been
killed at the riot were interred in the churchyard of Herne Hill.
Amongst these was Courtenay; and the funeral attracted a vast assemblage
to the place. Considerable apprehensions were entertained lest the mob
should use any violence to prevent the burial of their late fanatical
leader, for many had been heard to declare their firm belief that he
would "rise again;" but the whole affair passed off quietly, and no new
outrage was committed. The bodies of the other deceased persons were
buried by their friends.
At the Maidstone assizes, on Thursday the 9th of August, 1838, the trial
of the prisoners commenced before Lord Denman.
The first persons who were tried were Mears and Price, and after a long
investigation they were found guilty of being parties to the murder of
Mears the constable, but recommended to mercy, on the ground of their
having been led astray by their infatuation in favour of Courtenay.
Sentence of death was at once passed upon the prisoners, but they were
informed that their lives would be spared.
On the next day, William Wills, Thomas Myers, _alias_ Edward Wraight,
Alex. Foad, Edward Curling, Thomas Griggs, Richard Foreman, Charles
Hills, and William Foad, were indicted for the murder of Lieutenant
Bennett; but upon their being arraigned they pleaded guilty, upon the
same understanding as that which existed in the former case, namely,
that their lives should be spared. The prosecutions in the cases of the
other prisoners were not proceeded with, and they were discharged from
custody.
On Friday the 17th of August, the extent of the commutation of the
punishment of the convicts was made known to them. Mears and Wills were
ordered to be transported for life; Price was ordered to be transported
for ten years; and Wraight, the two Foads, Curling, Griggs, Foreman, and
Hills, were directed to undergo one year's imprisonment and hard labour
in the House of Correction, during which, each of them was to pass one
month in solitary confinement. A pension of 40_l._ per annum was granted
to the widow of Mears the constable, in consideration of the death of
her husband.
The unfortunate Courtenay appears to have been a man by no means devoid
of ability, and who had turned what little education he possessed to the
very best account. His speeches were energetic and well put together,
and he possessed an ample flow of language. He was abundantly supplied
with scriptural quotations, and appeared to be fully and intimately
acquainted with the Old and New Testaments.