Some Selected Reports from The Windsor and Eton Express
10th February 1827
We are authorised by the Dean of Windsor fully to contradict the statement which has appeared in some newspapers, relative to the Dean and Canons of Windsor having claimed the baton of his Royal Highness the Duke of York, which was carried in the procession at the late royal funeral. The Dean conceives the erroneous statement to have arisen from the following circumstances: He was in the royal vault, as it was his duty to be after the funeral, and he saw the coffin placed in the niche destined for its reception, and the ducal coronet near it; observing that Sir George Naylor was detaching the baton from the cushion, he asked "Why is not the baton also to be left on the cushion, and remains in the vault ?" Upon which Sir George Naylor replied, "This is the real baton, and not artificial like the ducal coronet, which you see placed and it to be left near the cushion." The baton was then delivered to Mr.Seward (of the Board of Works,) that it might be sent into the hands of his Royal Highness's executors. Nothing further passed upon the subject; and the Dean also authorises us to state, that he attached so little importance to the conversation relative to the baton, that he did not think it worth while even to mention it to the Canons.
We have great pleasure in stating that the contributions in Windsor to the relief of the distressed manufacturers, have been upon that liberal scale which always distinguishes the inhabitants of this place in the cause of charity. On this occasion we attribute much influence to the admirable sermon preached by the Rev.I.Gosset, our excellent vicar, on Sunday last. It is pleasing to notice the general feeling of sympathy which pervades every rank of society, and disposes the humblest to contribute their mite to the relief of their suffering countrymen. The non-commissioned officers and privates of the Royal Horse Guards stationed here, have contributed handsomely toward the laudable purpose. The young gentlemen at Mr.Jone's establishment, and the children of the national and free schools of Windsor, have also individually bestowed their trifle. In our next publication, we shall give further particulars of the present subscription.
The annual meeting of that useful Institution, the Windsor Association for the protection of persons and property from felons and thieves, was held at the Castle Inn, on Wednesday last. Forty six members sat down to an excellent dinner. As proof of the general sense of the advantages of the association it may be right to mention that on this occasion twenty new members were added to the society.
The case of the forgers, the particulars of which we detailed in our last week's paper, is now nearly brought to a conclusion. The confidential agent to the Bank Directors was in Windsor on Saturday, and remained some days, during which time every effort was made to obtain some further clue to the depredations carried on by this infamous gang. We regret this has not been accomplished, inasmuch as no evidence has been gained to enable the magistrates to commit the prisoner Trundell, he was consequently discharged on Thursday. On the same day Giles and Burr were brought up and fully committed to Reading Gaol to undergo their trials at the ensuing Assizes. The prisoner, Thomas Langley, whom we mentioned had been apprehended, has been sent to Maidenhead, where he is in custody. The evidence against him is Mr.Rouse, a grocer, of Maidenhead, to whom he uttered a forged �10 note, in payment for some goods. The Bank Directors are unable to commit upon this case, not obtaining proof of the prisoner's knowledge of the note being a forgery. Every exertion is therefore now being made to discover another transaction in which he may be implicated, which we trust will soon be effected.
On Monday night or Tuesday morning, the premises of Mr.Perryman, of High-street, Windsor, were entered by some person, through the kitchen window, and money to the amount of �6 was taken from the parlour. Suspicion was attached to a lad in Mr.Perryman's employ, from the circumstances of a pair of high shoes being in his possession, with chalk marks on the toes as if struck against the wall, near the window, on which there were corresponding marks. The boy was brought before the magistrates on Thursday, but there being no conclusive evidence against him, he was discharged. The offenders have not yet been discovered.
Died, on Monday evening, 5th February, at Mereworth, in the 79th year of his age, the Rev.William Foster Pigott, D.D., F.A.S., of Abington Pigotts in the county of Cambridge; Fellow of Eton College; Rector of Mereworth, Kent, and Clewer, Berks; and one of his Majesty's chaplains.
Two men, named Smith and Jones, met in a field, near Marlow, on Saturday morning last, to decide a public house quarrel of the preceding evening. They fought upwards of an hour with great violence, when Jones fell from a blow on the side if the head, and never spoke again. He died in two hours after.
Mr.J.George, a farmer, at Mill-hill, Hendon, gave information at Queen-square police-office on Wednesday, that no less than seventy one Welsh sheep had been stolen out of his flock, which consisted of one hundred, of which he could gain no tidings.
Aylesbury
The total number of prisoners in Aylesbury gaol yesterday evening was 198; at one time during this week it was 204. There are already fifty prisoners for trial at the approaching Assizes, a number equal to the highest ever tried here, although some weeks have still to expire before the Assizes will be held.
On Thursday night, a man of the name of Culverhouse, (the person who a few weeks ago stole some fowls, the property of Mr.Gurney, of this town, and was liberated on account of his insanity,) in a paroxysm of his disorder, committed several acts of the most wanton mischief. He is traced by his work; first, he appears to have gone into a field of Mr.Tindal, where he dressed out the cows by tying straw to their tails, and round the neck of one of them he tied an apron, used by the man who milks them, which had been left in the cowhouse, he then drove the cows into Mr.Tindal's lawn; next he stabbed and wounded several pigs with a pitchfork; he then went into Mr.Read's kilnhouse, where he burnt several working tools, and set fire to some straw lying there; fortunately, one of Mr.Read's men, who went into the kilnhouse between three and four o'clock in the morning, disturbed him in his operations, and Culverhouse, on seeing him, ran away. Mr.Read's man, having put out the fire, gave an alarm; Culverhouse was then pursued and taken in a field belonging to Richard Gurney, where he had already killed one lamb by throwing it over a hedge. He was conveyed to the cage, and the next morning taken to the lunatic asylum. An order to that effect was granted by the Magistrates at the time he stole the fowls, to be acted upon in case his madness continued or recurred.
On Saturday last, a man apparently about 35 years of age, of respectable appearance, came down from London as an outside passenger by the Old Union Banbury coach. Whilst the coach stopped at Aylesbury to change horses, the passenger went into the George inn and asked for a glass of brandy and water, which he not only forgot to pay for, but took away with him a carpet bag, containing a variety of articles, belonging to Col.Badcock. Mr.Bennett, the landlord of the inn, anxious for the credit of his house, sent a constable in pursuit of him on the following Monday, in the direction of Buckingham, the passenger having in the course of conversation stated to the coachman that he was going into the service of - Pierrepoint, Esq., at Emley, as butler. Mr.Cross, the constable, despatched on this service, met the Old Union coach on the road to London between Aylesbury and Buckingham, and took the passenger into custody. - The case was heard before the Rev.Mr.Ashfield, and the person accused stated in his defence that he was so much intoxicated when he took the bag that he did not know what he was about; he added, that he could procure testimonials of good character from Mr.Bebbs, an East India Director, with whom he had lived a year and three quarters. He accounted for his prompt dismissal from the house of Mr.Pierrepoint, by saying that gentleman was disgusted with him on account of his arriving there in a state of intoxication. This statement, joined by the respectability of the man's exterior, induced the Magistrate to doubt that he took the bag with felonious intent, and he was in consequence committed for re-examination only. In the mean time inquires were directed to be made to ascertain the truth of his narration respecting his having lived with Mr.Bebbs.
On Saturday se'nnight Mr.Bonham, a butcher, of Nash, terminated his existence by hanging himself. The Jury who sat on the body gave their verdict that he was insane at the time he committed the rash act. - It is little creditable to the parties concerned, that in three or four hours only after the body of Mr.Bonham was discovered, some of his creditors increased the distress of his widow and children by seizing upon part of her deceased husband's effects.
The paragraph respecting the aged persons in the almshouses at Chesham, as it has appeared in this and other papers, was not quite correct. The almshouses at Chesham are only four in number, and the united aged of the occupiers amount to 363 years; the names of these ancients are Wm.Hawkins, aged 95; Widow Symonds, aged 92; Widow Francis; aged 88; and Widow Barnes, aged 88.
Died at Chesham, a few days ago, Mr.Wm.Price, at the advanced age of 99; he was until a few weeks before his death in full possession of all his faculties. He was the oldest Member of the Goldsmiths Company, and used frequently to express a wish that he might attain the age of 100, for he would, in that case, he said, be entitled to an annuity allowed by the Company to those of their Members who live to be centenarians.
Wycombe Heath, near High Wycombe, Bucks, is memorable for battle fought there between the Saxons and Danes. Some weeks back a labourer, who had enclosed a piece of ground upon it for a garden, near to a valley called "Deadman Dane Bottom," (from the Danes having there suffered a dreadful defeat,) dug up a small vessel of perculiar construction, containing a number of very ancient coins. Fragments of a large vessel, supposed to have been an urn, were found on the same spot. This is not the first discovery of the kind made at this place; and it is highly probable that valuable relics of antiquity lie concealed in the high mounds thrown up in various parts of the Heath.
At the village of Penn, Bucks, are two fir trees which are said to be the loftiest in the kingdom. They may be seen from St.Paul's Church, and from several places at a still greater distance. The village stands on a highly commanding eminence. It is stated in "Prior's Life of Burke," lately published , that the cannonading of Valenciennes in 1793 was distinctly heard by the inhabitants of Penn and its vircinity.